David’s gone online with TD9

TD9 Radio founder David Henderson and presenter Liam Wheelan at the studio in Hawick.

TD9 Radio is only available online at the moment at td9radio.online, but like its sister station in Galashiels, TD1 Radio, there are plans afoot to take it further.

TD1 founder David Henderson is the man behind the new station, which is based on the first floor of Hawick library in North Bridge Street.

He told us: “We were supposed to go live at the end of March, but of course, coronavirus put paid to that.

“We had a half-built studio that we weren’t able to do anything with until recently, but we went live on August 17, and it appears to have gone quite well so far.

“It’s a purely community radio station, non-profit-making, and staffed by volunteers.

“We’ve managed to get some of the original TD1 Radio presenters, such as Jed Smith, Graham Ford and Gerry Monaghan ... most of whom had travelled from Hawick anyway back in the day.

“And there’s a few new names as well, such as Brent Quigley and Liam Wheelan, who is also doing some work behind the scenes and trying to put together a youths’ show, which has proved tricky given the current social distancing guidelines.”

Also involved are radio legend Brian Brown – who was with Radio Tay when it began 40 years ago and will be airing Scottish traditional and easy listening programmes – as well as Simon Watson, Graham Godsell Jr and Paul Rayner.

David added: “We’ve also got a Salvation Army captain from the town, Caroline Brophy-Parkin, who is doing a mix of Christian music and church news on a Sunday morning.”

“There’s also a few in training, such as Stuart Kevan and June McKain, who hope to be going live very soon with a chart-based show.”

TD1 Radio started online, too, but went on air on 106.5FM in 2015, based at Ladhope Golf Course. There’s hopes TD9 can follow a similar path, but it may have to wait a while.

David explained: “It’s only online at the moment, as there are no FM licences available through Ofcom just now, although they may decide to open up more licences at a later date.

“When that comes, we might consider either going for an FM licence or possibly even DAB (digital audio broadcasting). There are some trials going on for small-scale DAB, which is cheaper than national DAB multiplexes, so it’s something to look at for the future.”