This year sees Liskeard Radio celebrating its tenth anniversary of broadcasting to the local community.

The very first meeting to discuss the possibility of starting a community radio station for Liskeard and the surrounding areas of South East Cornwall was held at the then Deputy Mayor Phil Seeva’s house on a balmy evening in the summer of 2013. Present were Phil and his wife Jo, John and Hella Tovar, ex-Heart Radio DJ Dean Moore, Ray Meadows and Steven Tolfrey.

John Tovar passionately believed that Liskeard Radio would attract people who did not usually engage with community activities, and would inform people how much happens in their town.

Back in 2013 it was not as simple as it is now to broadcast online. So the station began the hard way. The day after the meeting John wrote a cheque for the necessary equipment to start broadcasting and Liskeard Radio was born. Local jazz saxophonist Jenny Jones heard that Stroud FM were folding and two people made the journey to purchase the necessary broadcasting equipment: a transmitter, an aerial and most importantly a mixing desk that had the necessary power to patch in telephone calls.

Originally broadcasting on a 28 Day RSL licence as Liskeard FM in 2013 (and briefly as Lyskerrys Radio in 2014) the station’s name eventually became Liskeard Radio in 2016 and in 2020 the station achieved its ultimate ambition of broadcasting full time.

Initially based in a room above Liskeard Carpets in Barras Street, Liskeard Radio subsequently used an even smaller room above Early’s Property Lettings a few doors along before utilising an even smaller windowless room at Liskeard School And Community College in Luxstowe Drive. Finally Liskeard Radio achieved John’s dream of opening their own studio (The John Tovar Studio) in Barras Street in 2019.

In April 2014 Liskeard FM CIC was briefly set up with John Tovar and Dean Moore as directors. When Liskeard Radio Limited was set up as a limited company in May 2016 the original directors were Bryan Ugalde, James Outten, Adrian Elliott and Lucy Walker. Current directors are Bryan Ugalde, Alex Blackwell and Paul Program.

Unlike most community radio stations in Devon & Cornwall, Liskeard Radio has always been funded by sponsorship from local businesses. There have been grants from Liskeard Town Council and donations from the British Lions and Co-op but the bulk of the funding has come from the in house radio adverts created over the years by Dean Moore, Nic Early, Paul Program and Keiron Patrick Standfield.

You can listen live on www.liskeardradio.com, watch the live video streams on Mixcloud and interact in real time via Mixcloud chat, Facebook and WhatsApp.