I wanted to say a couple of things about the past few days.
Sadly I work in an industry that is full of cynical people (not a nice trait) and I find it sad how some people often think the worst of others, it's not a great quality. I've had some people saying all sorts about me in the past 24 hours. It's for these reasons I decided to do this Blog, I simply wanted to set the record straight and tell the true story, instead of the various forum trolls 'thinking' they know what happened, or in most cases putting two and two together and getting seven (nothing new there then) It's normally the type of person who's never actually done anything new, original, creative or taken any risks themselves, that likes to slag off other people who do take risks and are creative and try different things. Anyway, I felt compelled to say a few words on the subject of Forever FM. To understand why I launched Forever FM on DAB in Manchester, and on line everywhere else, you have to understand me. I started my career in Radio aged 16. I love radio, I always have, i like to try new ideas, I especially love being creative and modern technology is so amazing now it allows so many exciting creative opportunities. Despite being accused of Car Share bandwagon jumping, I can assure you this was not my driving thought. The thrill of being creative was my motivation in making Forever FM in to a real radio station. My Radio skills and the amazing modern technology available, allowed me to turn a fictitious radio station (Forever FM) into a real and proper radio station remarkably quickly. From the moment I had the idea, I managed to make it happen and get it on the air in less than 3 days. This involved building an entire 24 hour radio station from scratch....on my own. Music, jingles, links, Ofcom, music licences etc Despite what some may think (cynics) I didn't do it for any financial gain, I did it because I have the skills to do it and wanted to do it, almost a labour of love really, a hobby. Anyone in radio understands how it all works and will know there are costs involved in doing something like this. A Playout system is required, PRS & PPL music licences need to be purchased, there are streaming costs plus the hundreds of hours of my time to put the whole thing together. All of this I paid for myself with no personal financial gain or planned financial gain. So why did I do that? Because I love radio, I love music and more than anything else, I love trying out new ideas and being creative, and whether the cynics buy that, I absolutely couldn't care less, it happens to be the truth. Too much traditional radio for me now I find mind numbingly generic, predictable and quite frankly, boring. It's the same formats, doing exactly the same thing over and over again, month after month, year after year. These days I like to create NEW ideas, NEW formats, have a go at something different. Recently I created Radio Dead and The Wind-Up Channel, both of these radio stations are absolutely unique radio formats. So, my desire to create new formats and new ideas led me to Forever FM. Although Forever FM is a fictitious radio station on a TV comedy show, it doesn't really exist as a proper and real radio station and I thought I would bring it alive and make it real. My thought process was..... Car Share is based in and around the Manchester area, I'm a heritage Manchester radio name, let's get it on DAB in Manchester and see what happens. I honestly thought the people behind Car Share would like it, and be flattered that I had gone to so much trouble and personal expense to make it come alive and turn it into a real radio station. I've done this a long time, so I'm no idiot, but quite frankly it never crossed my mind to seek permission to do it, mainly because I wasn't doing it for any selfish personal financial gain, I was only doing it for the love of being able to make it happen, but more than that, a tribute to the show and the people involved in it. Because there was only positive thought in my head and a creative desire to make it real, I was clearly blinded by my own enthusiasm to make it happen and get it on the air as quickly as possible, during the current run of the new series of Car Share on BBC1. In hindsight, I WAS stupid, but again if you know me, I sometimes get over excited with my own creativity. I'm impatient sometimes and I simply got carried away. Once I got Forever FM on to DAB, the media coverage and reaction from listeners across the UK was truly amazing, far bigger than I honestly expected it to be. It went live on DAB in Manchester on Friday and the response over the weekend just grew and grew. At one point, the numbers of people trying to listen was so huge, it crashed the internet and the servers couldn't cope. I was swamped on social media with wonderful positive comments, listeners were loving it. Even one of the co creators of Car Share tweeted me to thank me. The tweet simply said - 'Thank you Steve Penk for making Forever FM a real thing, now and Forever' Creatively I felt thrilled that so many people were enjoying it, the previous 4 days of virtually no sleep putting it all together suddenly felt like it was all worthwhile. Whatever you do for a living, you want to be good at what you do and in Radio and television there is no greater thrill, satisfaction or endorsement than when the public give you the thumbs up, and they were absolutely giving me a firm thumbs up. The whole weekend just got better and better, it was great (apart from City losing in the FA Cup Semi final of course) If I say so myself, the station sounded amazing, I was proud and pleased with the sound I had created using so little resources. I'm not going to mention any names at this stage, but on Monday I received an email objecting to my use of the name Forever FM. I totally respect and understand the rights of the person concerned. We spoke on the phone, they were very nice and pleasant to me and so was I in return, but after the email and phone call I immediately took the decision to cancel the project and close down Forever FM, it just felt like the right thing to do. I simply didn't want to fight or turn something that was meant to be fun and a joy into something ugly and toxic, it was just easier and more pleasant to close it down. It hadn't been received by certain people in the way I had hoped. Creatively I find it a terrible shame that I've had to close it down, especially after spending so many hours putting it all together and with so many people enjoying it. Forever FM has now been totally closed down and removed from DAB in Manchester. From today (Wednesday April 26th 2017) I have replaced it with my other station, Radio Dead. Radio Dead is a Globally unique format of my own, a radio station that only plays artists who are....Dead. They may be gone, but their music lives on. A celebration of amazing iconic artists who are sadly no longer with us. Radio Dead is now broadcasting on DAB from the Dead centre of Manchester. You can also listen everywhere else via @ukradioplayer @tunein radio or download the free Radio Dead app.
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January 2021
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