AFTER A tumultuous and challenging 18 months working remotely, Flirt FM, Galway’s alternative, community, radio station, based at NUI Galway, is finally getting to re-open its doors to volunteers.
All staff, full-time, and interns, have a blended working life, splitting their time between home and the office, but it is the presenters and producers that are most excited to broadcast live from Studio One again.
“Blended working is not without its challenges, but we have such a strong team at Flirt FM, who are used to having to adapt and work around just about anything,” said Flirt’s head of training and outreach, Heather Hinchon-Quinn. “Of course, we have such wonderful volunteers who have been creating their shows at home since March 2020. They have really inspired us.”
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NUIG journalism intern Isabel Filby at Flirt FM.
Ahead of the new volunteer training and arrival of first year students on campus, the station has launched several new series, including Access the Airwaves (a ‘takeover’ show ), Science Waves (a primary school science discovery show in collaboration with Cúram and Science Foundation Ireland ) and a new season of both the successful Community Takeover strand, featuring local NGOs, CBOs, student groups, arts organisations, and university society happenings (campus listings and interviews ).
Several shows will also be celebrating their 10th anniversaries this year too - The Big Friday Show, Trivia Matters, Bad Radio, Planet of Sound, and Famous Last Words.
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Alice and Ruby, recording Science Waves, the first episode of which premiered on Culture Night.
This year, in addition to welcoming first years in, Flirt is also looking forward to meeting its second-year volunteers in person for the first time. New volunteer training begins online on September 27 and will move to in person as soon as volunteers are assigned time slots.
“It has been marvellous to be able to have some of our volunteers come back into the studio,” said Heather Hinchon-Quinn. “Hopefully over the coming months we will get to see more and more friendly faces. Our volunteers are the soul of Flirt FM and we have missed them greatly over the last 18 months.”
The station will also be taking part in World College Radio Day 2021 on October 1. The theme for this year’s celebration is ‘In Tough Times We Thrive’, celebrating the resilience of student radio globally.
