We understand we can't be everything to everyone, but we can be something to someone.
When we launched The Buzz Mcr we braced ourselves for some abuse.
After all, we knew we had taken away the foundations of what most people understood radio to be - presenters talking, adverts, news, weather and travel reports; so we expected people to take offence to us breaking the rules so irreverently.
But, they didn’t.
In fact, 99% of people absolutely loved it, and they let us know in the most beautiful, kind messages.
Thank you so much for taking the time to let us know. It means the world to us.
But, there was the 1% who vented their exasperation at what they perceived we were doing; but even then they asked some interesting questions; apart from a man named Frank who just put two swear words back to back.
Thanks for that Frank, we hear ya.
One of the questions that came up was ‘How can we call ourselves a local, community radio station when we don’t have local news, weather and travel reports?’
Now we’ve made some bold, and rather obnoxious, claims over the last few months for sure, but being a local, community radio station has most definitely not been one of them.
You see we have always said that we built The Buzz Mcr to be for A community, not for THE community.
When you make radio for THE community, and several of these quaint, local stations already exist, you do have to fulfil certain civic expectations.
In fact, radio stalwart Alan Partridge is the perfect role model of such classic community broadcasting.
And, before you may think anything too derisory, to some people it is indeed important to know that Edith’s cat has got himself stuck in the tree, again; that the car boot sale in the library car park starts at 9 am, not 8 am, on Sunday; and the big phone-in question of the morning is ‘Which is your favourite condiment?
But that’s not the kind of community we are here to serve.
Our community is for people who really love music; people who are proud of their city; people who want to belong to something meaningful; people who don’t want to feel that the best times of their life are just in the past.
And as for the consternation at us not offering news, weather or travel reports, we have two words for those cynics:
Mobile. Phone.
Why do people need to rely on hourly radio bulletins to let them know something that they can instantaneously get from a huge variety of apps on a device they carry everywhere with them?
The most honest answer is - they don’t.
But, we also understand that people don’t like change.
It frightens them.
The unknown is also the uncertain.
So we totally accept that we can’t be everything to everyone, but we do know that we can be something to someone.
And so, we believe in doing things differently, and we know now that those people who do get us are also unique thinkers, they don’t play by the rules either, they don’t settle for doing things just because that’s the way they’ve been done before.
They are always looking for something unique and different.
And, that’s why we are all going to get along famously.
We had this quote from Steve Jobs on the wall throughout the journey of building The Buzz Mcr, and in those moments when we doubted ourselves and what we were attempting to do, it reminded us to stay focused and keep on.
"Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes...the ones who see things differently; they're not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things....” - Steve Jobs
By the way, you will be pleased to know that after much commotion, and one fire engine later, Edith did eventually get her cat back.