SLIR, or ‘scarletloungeiradio’ as it is known in the industry, is an online radio platform which is directly aimed at the local community radio market, and is a venture based in Merseyside with an overall objective of training and motivating young people in the 16-21 age range demographic, by fostering their education in skills based around music, music programming and editing, broadcasting and overall media training. The venture is ably supported by Invest Sefton, other leading businesses and Kick Start, the focused government scheme enabling young job seekers to gain valuable paid work experience.
Circle & Hen have had a hugely successful trading period last year, and all of their venues place a huge onus on supporting live music, as well as being supportive of local community activities, so this collaboration is a natural extension for them. SLIR is an organic progression for this area of interest, and as an exciting, urban-orientated station, SLIR is designed to promote interest in this chosen age group.
Lloyd Lewars of Circle & Hen group explains: ‘It is a really busy time for us now, and SLIR is a hugely important part of our future plans. As a business group we are really proud of our connections within the communities where we are based, as well as extending that reach out across the region.
SLIR is all about capturing the attention and enthusiasm of young people with an interest in music who may feel they need encouragement, direction and guided experience. Our plan is to pick out youngsters with raw talent, who will then have the opportunity to be involved in SLIR, honing skills across all areas of the radio station business. Hopefully this will then lead to future employment prospects within the industry, with some direct jobs being available at SLIR, where applicable.
We are really proud to be collaborating with organisations like Invest Sefton, which is the enterprise, business support and inward investment service of Sefton Council, which leads on and supports economic growth in the borough. Their expertise will be very welcome indeed.
As a commercial entity with a CIC objective, a percentage of future profits from SLIR will go to local community projects with a music angle: we look forward to talking about this more in due course, and feeding back success stories.
Circle & Hen as a group is also very proud of its track record of promoting apprenticeships within our pub and restaurant venues, and coupled with our vested interest in live music, it seemed a natural opportunity for us to become involved in SLIR – we do like to do things differently, we enjoy a really democratic style of leadership and employee participation, and SLIR is going to be a really exciting venture fo us.’
As the group prepares itself for an exciting 2022, and always having innovation and community creation in mind, SLIR is on hand 24 hours a day to provide the perfect soundtrack, with opportunities behind-the-scenes to really engage and provide practical experience for young people who are motivated to get their careers in music on the decks.
For more information or to set up an appointment over a course please email – Scarletloungeiradio@live.com
To access this freshly launched radio station and tune in directly go to www.slir.co.uk
