By Sean Boyle

Johnstone Sound which is a local community radio station based in Johnstone, Renfrewshire is looking for people to help them by donating what they can or even volunteering at the radio station where you can gain experience in the radio industry.

The radio station has now been running for five years and is looking for support so they can continue to produce original audio broadcasts.

Johnstone Sound and other places like it are great starting points for young journalists who are just starting out in the industry and are looking to get some experience in radio.

Alisdair Connell who is a presenter, the secretary of the stations management committee, and also the news editor stated that ‘we are open to everybody and anybody basically wanting to come on board.’

“The current situation is that we are in need of money, we are appealing for advertisers and sponsors to come on board, it is the only means of income the station actually has in order to survive, we are a non-profit organisation so we do rely heavily on donations coming in.”

“We are open to everybody and anybody basically wanting to come on board, it’s also a fantastic time for students to come on board that are maybe starting out in journalism, we’ve had several students come through our doors over the last five years and they’ve been an absolute fantastic asset to the station.”

With it obviously being a community radio station as well Johnstone Sound has taken part in multiple events throughout the local community in Johnstone.

For example some include school events, and of course the big Christmas light switch on every year in Johnstone at Houston Square in the centre of the town.

John Hood who is the Vice chair at Johnstone Sound stated that ‘I definitely think it benefits the community.’

“I definitely think it benefits the community by giving them more diverse music over the air getting a bit of self identity.”

“lots of events where we can be out there advertising for the local community, local shops, and events that are happening in our area, the likes of the Johnstone lights switch on which we are doing this year.”