The borough is going through an independent radio boom – streaming their community feel straight to your screen.
So many of us rely on the internet to watch TV and listen to radio, and with the wealth of content and constant availability, it’s not hard to see why. But while the likes of BBC iPlayer dominate the catch-up market, original online broadcasting is having a moment of its own. Hackney in particular is home to several online stations streaming exciting and innovative content straight to us.
In a world where our attention and precious time are being torn in different directions, it is possible, if you look hard enough, to cut through all the noise and go straight to what we want. Online radio caters for both the broadest, and most niche of markets; it can cater for specific tastes as well as being able to reach a worldwide audience. It’s no surprise that the creative culture that made Hackney London’s start-up paradise has become the breeding ground for several online-only radio stations streaming live radio and curated music via the web.
London Fields Radio, which is broadcast from The Wilton Way Café, was set up four years ago when its owners bought the cafe and married it with the idea of a new radio station.
“The idea behind it is a community radio station that thinks about radio a bit differently.” Tom Wiltshire, the station’s manager explains.
“We’re part of a growing amount of new independent radio in London. We’re quite unique being in a café but I think we have the potential to grow much bigger so that’s the plan right now.”
A 2010 study showed that 74% of users who listened to radio online did so at least once a week.
DIY spirit
The station hopes to be streaming live radio by the summer and wants to create an experience that is as much about being there live as it is listening at home. “We want to make the radio booth in the café bigger and have both an inside and outside experience, so people can walk past and see what’s going on.”
It’s all about the community, Tom tells me. It has to be when everyone that contributes to and works for the radio does so alongside a full time job. While the licence fees are significantly lower than regular radio and stations are relatively easy to set up, the prospect of making any money from projects is usually slim.
Tom assures me that money is pretty low down on the list of priorities, certainly for London Fields Radio. “It’s never going to be commercial. We will always be void of any commercial influence like sponsorship or advertising.
“Right now we are creating curated playlists that go out online but we hope to be live streaming soon which is the next step. What makes us different from other radio stations is that we’re committed to creating timeless curation that you can listen back to whenever.”
It’s clear that London Fields Radio is in it for the long game, and with the likes of NTS, Haggerston Radio and Hoxton Forward Movement also thriving in Hackney, it seems like a refreshing addition to the mass of online content to which we are exposed.
“Hackney is a hub of creativity,” Tom explains. “Many Hackney residents don’t just do your standard 9-5 jobs, which allows for independent stations to have people hosting shows throughout the day.
“There’s a DIY spirit in the area and a strong sense of community. Hackney definitely attracts creative minds.”
Broadcasting worldwide
That DIY spirit has also extended itself to a breed of online video broadcasting that is so much more than a few YouTube videos. So when journalist and presenter Georgia Lewis Anderson (LA), alongside fellow broadcasters Georgie Okell from T4 and Radio1 DJ Gemma Cairney, came up with the idea of making their own show, where they called all the shots, it was online that they found a home.
They pitched the idea to new media start-up Telegraph Hill, who took it on and The Fox Problem was born.
The first series of the show was broadcast live via Google+ Hangouts, and was the first to do so. “We came in at a really good time when Google wanted to show off their new technology,” Georgia says.
LA, who herself doesn’t own a TV, has become a pioneering force in online broadcasting, presenting shows for SB.TV and Internet music giant VEVO. “I don’t think we would have had this much control if we were on TV. With the show we’ve got we can change things if we don’t like them and we write all our own scripts. We’re completely in control of the show we produce, which is great.
The coolest thing she’s done on The Fox Problem? “Probably interviewing Richard Branson and introducing him to the astronaut Chris Hadfield [whose rendition of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’ was broadcast from space and has over 20 million YouTube views].”
It’s a bit of a mind bender; Branson was being interviewed from Necker Island and Hadfield from Las Vegas, both via Skype, live on the show in London, which in turn was being broadcast online.
The Fox Problem was initially filmed in a room above The Birdcage Pub on Columbia Road, but as it moves into its second series is now recorded in a studio under some railway arches in Shoreditch.
“Hackney is such a collaborative area. The first venue we had, above the Birdcage, we blagged for free.” she explains. “Hackney’s just such a creative place. It’s the beating heart of east London.”
