NCB Radio is officially a teenage dirtbag’ for we’ve just celebrated our 13th anniversary of broadcasting to whoever cares to listen in North Cornwall and beyond. 

Our micro radio revolution began at 6pm on January 7, 2011, with the first song being played being that of ‘Alive and Kicking’ by Simple Minds. In our youthful, excitable minds, the choice of the song was as much a declaration of our arrival as it was a riposte to those who doubted that it would ever happen. 

Our first studio, of all places was a garden shed. But more on that in a minute.

It began nearly 14 years ago when a group of mostly bored teenagers along with big teenagers and led by one who had reached peak nostalgia levels 40 years early thought it would be a good idea to launch a radio station in a shed which was a tanning salon in summer and a winter wonderland with real icicles when it was cold. While the planning started in March 2010, it was January 2011 that it would finally launch after a few trial broadcasts during June 2010, funded through a donation from the students union of the college the founder attended at the time.

Although, it was no ordinary trial broadcast, for it saw the team let loose at the Royal Cornwall Show, testing the waters of live broadcasting in a time where internet radio was still very primitive.

In that shed of dreams, the home for the first year, they played music ranging from current and contemporary to reggae, ska, metal, drum and bass, almost anything and everything, talked about movies in a style known now as ‘podcasts’, North Cornwall, touring cars and everything short of the legacy of Thatcher. It was funded by whatever the hell was down the back of the sofa. 

We even had comedy courtesy of Justice H. Keystone.

From that shed three of NCB would go onto have careers in the field of media or communications. One of them is part of your local news team.

And as for NCB. Well, the next 12 years would see faces come, go, come back and in the odd case go again while some kept the show on the road throughout that time. 

It was a miracle that NCB Radio managed to get to the first year, for the funding ran dry late in 2011 and the second-hand equipment which had powered the station for 24 hours a day began to become increasingly unreliable. 

It was only saved through a team effort, making money by hosting music nights in pubs across Cornwall, with the proceeds keeping the station afloat, while the studios were temporarily moved from the icicle works of the garden shed in winter to the living room of one of the presenters. 

Needless to say, the sight of presenters coming into do their show was a genuine delight for the mother of the presenter whose living room it was, as in her mind it provided better entertainment for the television and was an audible treat for a music lover. Such was the DIY setup of that studio, that sometimes broadcasts were interrupted by Jeremy the Cat coming in to demand attention. 

As for what happened next? That is a story for another time. Happy birthday NCB Radio.