About Us
Once upon a time, Tony Gillham, a professional broadcaster with more than 30 years experience, presenting and working for the BBC as well as in local radio, had the idea for a radio station – a radio station for the community, run by the community.
With hard work and with loads of help and support from his assembled team of dedicated volunteers, Black Cat Radio Ltd (a not-for profit company) was created and the station was very quickly establishing itself as the ‘voice’ of St Neots.
The team’s dedication was rewarded when in 2015, Ofcom granted Black Cat Radio Ltd a full time FM licence. The hard work continued with the station rebranded and launched on 107FM on 17th April 2017.
In 2018, Black Cat Radio Ltd applied for, and was awarded a licence to transmit on DAB+ in Cambridge.
The increase in digital listening and in particular, via smart-speakers prompted us to re-brand on 3rd June 2019 to Black Cat Radio. Alongside that, Ofcom approved an increase in power and a transmitter move to give better reception across its community.
In 2023 the station was nominated in five categories of the National Community Radio Awards and won in four of them – Volunteer of the year (bronze); Specialist Programme (Silver); Newcomer of the year (Silver); and Male Presenter (Gold) – a proud moment for everyone and great recognition from across the sector.
Another milestone for the station was in December of 2023 when random research was carried out in St Neots. Out of 500 people asked, 8 out of 10 responded that they had heard of Black Cat Radio, and a massive 67% said they listen regularly – even naming their favourite programmes and presenters. These numbers equate to an amazing 27,000 regular listeners across our area prompting a decision to broadcast on DAB across Bedford. This provides better reception in Bedford itself and provides continuity of coverage, particularly for motorists traveling through the area on the A1/A421/A428 via the Black Cat interchange.
You can contact us in a number of ways:
If you’d like a music dedication or shout-out during one of the shows, download our smartphone app and click ‘Contact > Message studio’ and it will be sent directly to the presenter who is on-air. Alternatively you can email studio@blackcatradio.org
Drop us a note on Facebook or Twitter.
Pass some urgent travel information to us by text on 01480 26 1025 (remember, not whilst driving).
If you are interested in joining our team of volunteers or just want to get in touch about a general topic, email us at office@blackcatradio.org
If you are interested in the opportunity that advertising with us will bring your business, then email us at sales@blackcatradio.org
We really look forward to hearing from you.
See our promotions, competition, and prize draw terms and conditions.
We are funded by advertisers, sponsors and volunteers. If we make a surplus, it gets pumped back into the station to develop our community service. If you’d like to donate a small sum to help us, we’ll be very grateful.