[Judge J]

RADIO STATION LICENSED TO HIT BRISTOL AIRWAVES

BY SAM RKAINA S.RKAINA

07:00 - 11 June 2008



A new community radio station - believed to be the first officially licensed one to serve the St Paul's and Easton areas - is due to hit the airways next month.

Ujima 98 FM is due to launch on July 4 and aims to provide music and talk with an Afro-Caribbean flavour.

It will be broadcast on FM to the whole of Bristol and to the rest of the world on the internet.



The station, which has won a five-year licence, will play modern and traditional music and is intended to celebrate the city's diverse culture and heritage.

Natalia Edwards, 22 is one of a group of six volunteers who will run the station, from the CEED (Centre for Employment and Enterprise Development) Media Centre in Dean Street, St Paul's.

UWE student Natalia said: "There will be a mixture of talk and music, we'll have R'n'B, hip-hop, reggae, gospel and traditional African music.

"The station first launched in 1998 but it didn't stay on air, it was a pirate station.

"We're relaunching it 10 years later and this time we have a licence and a slot. There are other unlicensed stations in the area, but they have to go off air at 10pm while we will be on 24 hours a day.

"It will be entirely run by volunteers, serving the community."

Ujima FM has its own website, which can be found at MySpace.com - Ujima Radio - UK - Other - www.myspace.com/ujimaradio.

The name Ujima comes from one of the seven principals of Kwanzaa, a week-long festival started in the 1960s in the USA to celebrate African-American heritage.

Ujima means collective work and responsibility, and is about communities working together to achieve the common good. It is celebrated on the third day of Kwanzaa.

The CEED Media Centre provides a range of media courses, from filmmaking to music and radio production. Lord Mayor Chris Davies will officially launch the radio station on the day before this year's St Paul's Carnival.

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