Medway Pride Radio is a Not For Profit Community radio station run by volunteers. The station was founded by Shea Coffey, Hilary Cooke & Helanna Bowler-Irvine, to support Medway Pride, the LGBTQIA+ communities and Allies from across all the diverse communities of Medway & Kent.
MPRadio is based at Medway Gender & Sexual Diversity Centre in Rochester in the heart of INTRA, where we aim to be part of the local community. We start broadcasting from 1st February 2021 to support LGBTQIA+ History Month.
Check out our web app at www.mpradio.app once the app is loaded on your device you can save the app to your screen.
The station has a mix of DJ’s and Presenters who will be providing programs that are varied and intresting.
Have a listen to our programs and give us your feedback via our social media or contact details.
Are you a interested in working in broadcast radio? Would you like an opportunity to join a local community radio station as a voluntary DJ?
We are looking for volunteers to help produce and deliver our programs. You could be media students or older people, DJs, musicians, presenters, who wish to work professionally or as a hobby in radio broadcasting. People who would love to be part of the MP Radio project, to join our voluteers, gain experiance in presenting and what happens behind the scenes of a internet based community radio station.
If you are a member, allie, supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community, are over 16 and you would like to join MP Radio as a volunteer DJ / Presenter, Blog writer, journalist, please contact in**@me**************.uk
A Voice for the Community
MP Radio will be a voice for the whole community. We will have a focus on giving a voice to the LGBTQIA+ community, its allies, voluntary organisations and businesses that support the community.
We also want to be a champion for all voluntary organisations to promote the fantastic work they do for every community in Medway & Kent.
MP Radio is based in the INTRA area of Chatham & Rochester and we will be supporting the developments and projects in INTRA by giving a voice to those involved and the work they are doing.
If you are a voluntary organisation who wish to join the MP Radio community, we are looking to promote you and the work you do for the community through our community pages and broadcast articles. If you are interested in promoting your work, are able to give an audio presentation / interview about yourself, the work you and your organisation provides we will include you as one of our voluntary community organisations which we will advertise for free during our weekly schedule of programs.
If you are a business that wishes to advertise with MP Radio and support the work we do we can deliver an advertising package to suit your requirements.
If you are interested in any of the above please contact us at in**@me**************.uk
MP Radio
Posted: February 6, 2021 by Hilary Cooke Leave a Comment
Outing Medway’s Past
Click to Visit Outing Medway’s Past Website
Outing Medway’s Past is a project to uncover the histories of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, intersexual, asexual and agendered people of the Medway Towns.
If you would like to be involved in the project and have a story to tell, please get in touch by emailing ro*@ou***************.uk or use the contact form below.
We’re especially looking for stories about the Dockyard, its workers, the merchant seamen and the sailors that passed through, stories about the pubs and social life in the Towns – both pre- and post-the 1967 partial decriminalisation, and what it was like to grow up as a non-hetero person in this area.
The project is in three parts;
Posted: February 5, 2021 by Hilary Cooke Leave a Comment
What a week
What a week it has been, turbulent, tiring, and so, so busy. More staff have come on board, and we have loved every second of it.
The standard of DJs (most of whom have never broadcast before) has been amazingly high!
Both on air and behind the scenes we have been treated to an amazingly diverse range of music. Our team is starting to get to know each other and the help and time that the old hands are giving in coaching and teaching the new peeps is amazing as well. Team (and I can call you that, even at this early stage) I know I keep saying it but thank you…
If you were on Twitter last Friday, there is every chance your timeline was swamped by the band Deco with their mash up of Smalltown Boy and Wonderwall, if you haven’t heard it then please check it out. They have been kind enough to take time out to visit (socially distanced of course!) MPR and will be chatting with us on the Sunday Sessions. We will also be joined by 11-year-old Astrid, if you don’t know Astrid, she wowed us all last year with an original composition ‘Little Jazz Singer’ and had to be a guest on our first ever Sessions. We will be talking all things records, Dr Who, and cats (won’t forget the cats!) with Andrew Cartmel, author of the fabulous ‘Vinyl Detective’ series.
We could not have an inaugural Sunday Session without inviting Elberace AKA James Haslam into the studio to cause the campest of chaos. James will also be joining the team with a 7pm show on Saturdays called ‘Divalicious With James’, what has he got instore? I have no idea, but it will be sensational.
While we are talking new shows, Monday sees the triumphant start of The Breakfast Show with Mike Maingard. Yes, I know 3 weeks before I said we would start a breakfast show, but the man is eager to bring the finest tunes, his dulcet tones and the occasional traffic report to you. Starting at 7am he will wake you all with a ‘Well hello there’
There is still time to enter our competition to win Jecca Blac lipsticks. There will be a chance to get your hands on a Celeste signed CD on Sunday night too, and we are still looking for Jingles!
New Releases…
Lilly Winwood, daughter of Steve has stepped clear of her father’s shadow with her debut album ‘Time well spent’.
The machine that is the William Loveday Intention keep producing great (is that 4 albums this past 6 months?) tracks with new album ‘Blud under the Bridge’
Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings get a vinyl re-release of “Just dropped (in to see what condition my rendition is in)”, a must for funk fans.
And of course, Celeste has a self-titled album out…
It’s been a big week here in the heart of Chatham’s Intra. We are all tired but soooo happy, and next week things get even BIGGER!
Shea
Last Updated: March 14, 2021 by Hilary Cooke Leave a Comment
Febulous February 2021: Lockdown
After the success and popularity of Febulous February 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 FioxiRose, writer, performance poet and lesbian, living in Kent, is reaching out again to friends, colleagues and associates who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, intersex and those of you questioning your sexual orientation and/or your gender identity. Family members are also included. The invitation to you all is to submit a short piece of your own, unpublished writing as a celebration during LGBTQI+ History month. The pieces, whether prose or poetry, may have specific LGBTQI+ content whilst others simply come from those perspectives.
FioxiRose continues to dedicate this anthology to her dear friend and former partner Sheila, who sadly died very suddenly on 13 February 2015. Sheila championed Febulous February, contributed extracts of her keen writing and did a great PR job on it.
THE THEME THIS YEAR: LOCKDOWN (500 WORDS MAX.)
FioxiRose has agreed to post a piece here every day during LGBTQI+ History month, culminating in the creation of Febulous February (2021), an anthologywhich celebrates us in all our beautiful queerness, as well as embeds a landmark in our LGBTQI+ History.
Submissions to fi*******@gm***.com between 23 January – 10 February 2021 to enable planning of the month. Feedback on submissions within this site are welcomed and encouraged.
Last Updated: March 14, 2021 by Hilary Cooke Leave a Comment
The Superstar DJ Show is coming!
Medway Pride Radio is pleased to announce The Superstar DJ Show for 10 to 16 year olds. Every Saturday morning at 10am we will be turning the station over to the next generation for an hour of…. well that’s up to them!
To join, email us for a parental permission slip, then return the slip with your recorded set (29 minute running time please), and choose a suitable DJ name (as we will not broadcast real names), and we will get you on air!
For further details, and a permission slip email In**@me**************.uk
Last Updated: January 29, 2021 by Hilary Cooke Leave a Comment
Open a radio station they said, It’ll be fun they said…..
……And it is
I was asked about this back in December (you remember shops were open) by Hilary Cooke. There were many reasons NOT to do this project, and as many reasons to do it, ultimately what convinced me to do it was the passion of Hilary, and her overwhelming belief that we can make things better for all people not just the LGBTQIA+ community.
However, it is with the LGBTQIA+ community where this starts! In the coming weeks and months, we will be reaching out across Medway and indeed much, much further to bring you great music, some fantastic entertainment, a mix of DJ’s and presenters, and hell, we may even do some good locally!
We start broadcasting on Monday at 6pm, and from the beginning you will notice some things that are very different. The starting line up of DJ’s range from those with bags of experience to someone who, as I write this on Thursday night has just ‘gone live’ for the first time, having never done anything like this before (Jayne, you were amazing!). So please bear with us in the first couple of weeks if we don’t quite get everything right, that said I am so very proud of each and every person who has gotten involved. It is a lot of fun, but also a commitment and fair bit of work.
I want to thank my fellow co-founders Hilary and H for partnering with me on this exciting project and putting their faith in me. Sarah, who is designing the social media and putting up with me, and the DJ’s/presenters who have come onboard some at very short notice. All have been working hard this past couple of weeks to create a station we can rightly be proud of, and it would not have happened with everyone’s efforts.
I’ll be posting (mostly) about music every Friday.
In the coming weeks we will be showcasing the great and the good of Medway and beyond, and we will be having a fantastic time doing it. I hope you tune in. I hope you enjoy what you hear, and I hope you feel inspired to get involved either at the station or at one of the community groups we help promote.
It is after all your station, your community, your Medway. Take Pride.
Shea
Last Updated: January 18, 2021 by Hilary Cooke Leave a Comment
Join MP Radio Community
Medway Pride Radio is a Not For Profit Community radio station run by volunteers. The station was founded by Shea Coffey, Hilary Cooke & Helanna Bowler-Irvine, to support Medway Pride, the LGBTQIA+ communities and Allies from across all the diverse communities of Medway & Kent.
MPRadio is based at Medway Gender & Sexual Diversity Centre in Rochester in the heart of INTRA, where we aim to be part of the local community. We start broadcasting from 1st February 2021 to support LGBTQIA+ History Month.
Check out our web app at www.mpradio.app once the app is loaded on your device you can save the app to your screen.
The station has a mix of DJ’s and Presenters who will be providing programs that are varied and intresting.
Have a listen to our programs and give us your feedback via our social media or contact details.
Are you a interested in working in broadcast radio? Would you like an opportunity to join a local community radio station as a voluntary DJ?
We are looking for volunteers to help produce and deliver our programs. You could be media students or older people, DJs, musicians, presenters, who wish to work professionally or as a hobby in radio broadcasting. People who would love to be part of the MP Radio project, to join our voluteers, gain experiance in presenting and what happens behind the scenes of a internet based community radio station.
If you are a member, allie, supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community, are over 16 and you would like to join MP Radio as a volunteer DJ / Presenter, Blog writer, journalist, please contact in**@me**************.uk
A Voice for the Community
MP Radio will be a voice for the whole community. We will have a focus on giving a voice to the LGBTQIA+ community, its allies, voluntary organisations and businesses that support the community.
We also want to be a champion for all voluntary organisations to promote the fantastic work they do for every community in Medway & Kent.
MP Radio is based in the INTRA area of Chatham & Rochester and we will be supporting the developments and projects in INTRA by giving a voice to those involved and the work they are doing.
If you are a voluntary organisation who wish to join the MP Radio community, we are looking to promote you and the work you do for the community through our community pages and broadcast articles. If you are interested in promoting your work, are able to give an audio presentation / interview about yourself, the work you and your organisation provides we will include you as one of our voluntary community organisations which we will advertise for free during our weekly schedule of programs.
If you are a business that wishes to advertise with MP Radio and support the work we do we can deliver an advertising package to suit your requirements.
If you are interested in any of the above please contact us at in**@me**************.uk
MP Radio
Last Updated: January 31, 2021 by Hilary Cooke Leave a Comment
A New Beginning
Medway Pride Radio
February 2021 during LGBT History Month is when the opening broadcast from MPR begins. Come back on the 1st of February for some great music for the LGBTQIA+ comnunity and everyone else.
MP Radio is a community not for profit internet radio station, looking to support the promotion of voluntary groups and organisation across Medway & Kent that support the LGBTQIA+ and the wider comunity.
LGBTQIA+ Community Radio
MPR Live Chat Room
Look for stuff
Medway Pride Radio Web App
HIlarys Medway Pride Fund
MPR DJ’s & Presenters
Medway Pride Radio Programs