Punch Records music development agency has been awarded an Ofcom UK Restricted Service Licence (RSL) to create the city’s first pop-up festival radio station, BASS FM on 87.7FM.

BASS FM will broadcast for a month starting on the 2^nd of June and will coincide with Punch’s 8^th annual BASS (British Arts and Street Sounds) Festival. The station will be staffed by a selected group of volunteers who have been recruited through a ‘broadcasting bootcamp’, created by Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA) to give aspiring young producers and DJ’s the opportunity to train with professionals at the station and gain valuable experience for their CVs.

The BASS FM station will be ran by the BASS FM COLLECTIVE, consisting of the 18 local bootcamp winners who are receiving training from industry professionals; including BBC’s Janine Kempadoo and Ryan Newman, and Choice FM’s Jade Avia.

Former Radio 1Xtra DJ, Ronnie Herel will also make up the Collective and will have a weekly spot on the station that will showcase the exciting artists from the BASS Festival line up.

Punch’s CEO Ammo Talwar commented that, “The proven track record of these presenters shows the exciting potential of BASS FM. This station is already mixing up both national and international names, and is combining these with our region’s emerging talent. This will create some very special programming."

BASS Festival started in (2005) and is the UK’s only month-long, annual celebration of urban creativity and culture, which will be reaching its largest audience ever this year with BASS FM. 

BASS Festival 2013 at Various Venues, Birmingham, West Midlands Sat 1st to Sun 30th June 2013