Radio Halesowen Town will be taking to the airwaves on Saturday as their second full season gets underway.
Launching in March 2024 under the expert guidance of Frank Williams and Matthew Ponter, the station has gone from strength-to-strength, providing commentaries on all Yeltz home and away games.
“Frank and I initially ran a few pilot broadcasts towards the end of the 2023/24 season, which were well received,” co-founder, Matthew Ponter, told us. “We then launched things properly exactly a year ago and we are delighted with how things have gone during our first 12 months.
“Feedback has been good and we’ve been able to grow the station pretty quickly. We started from a solid foundation; Frank has plenty of experience and know-how in the industry and having run the Hereford FC in-house radio station for a number of years, we also had the equipment to get us started.
“In terms of the equipment, we built a home kit and away kit and made sure there were back-ups for all eventualities, including broadcasting from simply a phone!
“We built up a team of commentators and pledged that between us we would cover every first-team home and away game. For some of the games we had our full team there, whilst for others there was just one of us present, but we made it work.
“Not only did we achieve our objective to cover all first-team games, but we were also able to feature other affiliated teams over the course of the season, including selected Women’s matches and some Under-18 fixtures.
“Being a community station, we have also been able to provide weekly round-ups of local cricket, tennis, athletics, rugby and more, whilst we were also able to give some coverage to our other closest non-League team, Cradley Town, including their JW Hunt Cup Final at Molineux, which was a very special occasion for the club.
“We also found a couple of opportunities to cover other clubs in the Premier Central, with them being involved in games of interest to Halesowen Town. Towards the end of the season, we covered Alvechurch v Kettering Town, a game which had a huge say at the top of the table of which Halesowen were in a battle.
“The station has even branched out to supporting the town by getting involved with events on the high street, and supporting local issues.
“On a charity side, we raised money near the end of the season for Andy’s Man Club, with the prize being a day’s commentary for the highest bidder.
“Being involved in this project is extremely rewarding; when we set up the station, both Frank and I realised quickly that we would need a strong team behind us to make it work in the way we envisaged.
“I head the club’s Media operation, whilst Frank is Station Manager. Tom Cartwright joined us initially as a summariser but he has been able to take the lead role on multiple occasions as he learns the ropes.
“The club’s Kit Man, Nick Morgan, also offered his services and occasionally joins our broadcasts as summariser, so we have a strong team who are passionate about the club.
“Our listener figures grew throughout the season and peaked in our play-off semi-final game against AFC Telford United, with almost 600 people tuning in.
“We created the station to give those fans who are unable to make games for whatever reason the chance to still be involved on matchdays. We always make sure that we give them the opportunity to say hello to us, by offering a live chat on our website or on social media.
“It’s heart-warming to know that the service we provide is allowing supporters to still feel that they are in amongst the action, especially those who live far away.
“We are looking forward to starting pre-season commentaries at Malvern Town on Saturday. We’ve been making sure throughout the close season that we are ready to go and we’re excited to be able to continue developing our service in 2025/26, which is going to be a fantastic season.
“We’re gradually working on areas of improvement; our hardware is always being picked at as every so often we find a new cable or new device to help us out. It’s very much a work in progress, but always looking to improve means that our listeners get a better experience every game!
“This season is going to be so exciting on the pitch in the Pitching In Southern League Premier Central with a lot of teams fighting it out at the top, in much the same way as last term.
“It goes without saying that anyone can beat anyone in this League and there are never guaranteed points. Whatever happens, we know that it is going to be just as competitive as the last two seasons the club have been back at Step 3.
“The squad is looking fit and healthy; Russ Penn and his coaching staff have been working hard to make sure everyone is set for Saturday’s pre-season opener against Malvern Town, and then building up to that first League game.
“There have been a few ins and outs, but it’s to be expected at this level. Those that have departed have moved to clubs either closer to home or to levels higher. Likewise, we are very fortunate to have been able to attract some great talent to fill those gaps.
“In terms of aims and targets for 2025/26, for the Radio Station we want to continue growing our listenership and get them more involved throughout the campaign. We are also looking to increase listener numbers for the other sports that we cover and generally build a bigger audience.
“We have already made a start on this by creating a podcast channel on Apple, Spotify, and Amazon.
“As for the team, hopefully we can be challenging amongst the leading pack once more and enjoy some exciting games.”
IMAGE: Radio Halesowen Town
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