The driving force behind BCfm

Pat Hart has been the driving force behind Redfield-based BCfm for the past seven years. His passion and commitment to the radio station has seem it win numerous broadcasting awards and give a voice to the under-served communities of Bristol

Pat is also man who is lucky in love. He loves his job, he is passionate about training and developing the next generation of broadcasting talent and he works alongside the love of his life.

Under his direction, BCfm is going from strength to strength. Pat describes the station as “local radio for the under-served communities of Bristol”.

It would be a mistake, however, to think this station is an amateur outfit. Pat is constantly driving the quality of community radio to match that of commercial stations.

“Initially the station was based around training people in the inner city area but, when I arrived, I took the view that the best way to train and inspire people was actually to lead in quality broadcasting and to say to people within the local community, if you are community you don’t have to be rubbish community.”

If you switch to BCfm from elsewhere on the dial, Pat wants you to hear the same quality, but different views and voices: “We need to be able to look at subjects that affect us in a very different way… so we make it quite mainstream in terms of how and what we do, but we challenge mainstream media like the BBC and Sky and everybody else – providing a balanced but local and alternative angle to a story. 

“A good example is the current anti-Islam feeling. We broadcast in an area which has a really big Muslim population. There are sects of Islam which are divided even greater than Christianity, so it is about creating an understanding amongst our community that the Muslim communities are very different and don’t all agree. We provide balance to national stories that have a local context.”

It is a formula that works and the station has picked up an array of awards. But it’s not just what they broadcast is different – their presenters are different as well shows for the elderly are presented by the elderly, people with disabilities and mental health issues make their own programmes and, as Pat adds, they also have shows by some renowned DJs and presenters from BBC and Kiss: “it’s a real balance of community programming that is designed to inspire and inform our communities”.

It is certainly not the money that drives Pat to keep going: “Everybody at BCfm is a volunteer . I’ve been a volunteer for many years here and I now get paid the equivalent of a day a week for my work.

“We have advertising, but we refuse pay day loan companies and organisation that we feel are there to exploit everyday people. 

“We are not driven to earn cash from our listeners, so the output is not driven by advertising. If it’s time to have a Somali show or a South American show then we will have it and we know that it won’t upset the advertisers, because they don’t dictate what we do.”

When it comes to teaching the next generation of broadcasters and entertainers Pat knows from experience the highs and lows of the profession: “I was in a band, worked at BBC and Galaxy when I wanted everyone to recognise me. I am now at the stage of my life where I have some ability which I can use to make a difference.”

Much of this inner peace comes from his six-year marriage to presenter Sherrie Eugene Hart and his extended family: “I feel that as long as our kids can eat and we have a roof over our heads that’s enough. To me it’s not about amassing money because there is very little I can do with that. 

“I lost my mum five years ago and that changed my perspective on life in terms of what I felt was important. What drives me now is people – the fact that I can assist and train somebody and my yardstick is they must be better than me after I have finished training them.”

For more information on BCfm, visit www.bcfmradio.com.

Photo by Jon Kent