Independent Baltic Triangle-based radio station Melodic Distraction needs you! Currently broadcasting six evenings a week, they’re crowdfunding to take the project to the next level and start broadcasting 24-7.
Starting in January 2017 with just a handful of shows, the station has blossomed into a 75-show schedule that includes hosts such as Africa Oyé, Gottwood and Liverpool Disco Festival.
The station broadcasts audio and video content via Facebook Live, welcoming over 750,000 listeners in the past 18 months. The station also broadcasts an audio stream via the Melodic Distraction website when shows are live on air. In total, these archived shows have been listened to for a total of 4,300,000 minutes since January 2017!
The £10,000 the team are aiming to raise will allow the station to move towards a 24-hours a day broadcast schedule.
To do this, the station requires some integral digital and physical upgrades. Firstly, they’re looking to build a new website – one that serves as a gateway to the North West’s incredible music scene.
The website will be integrated with a revamped radio player and chatroom, so you can tune in throughout the day to your favourite shows, straight from the homepage. The new site will also feature a profile page for each of radio show host – their own space online that documents their time at the station and each show that they broadcast. This will allow you to listen back to archived shows and find out more about each presenter. The site will also house a blog, a place where a team of writers talk about music in Liverpool and beyond.
So what about when you’re on the move? Currently, Melodic Distraction Radio is available through Facebook Live and their website. The plan is to take this a step further, making the sounds of the station truly mobile by developing an app for iPhone and Android that will enable listeners to tune in on the go, whenever, wherever.
To facilitate a bigger, better broadcasting schedule, the Melodic Distraction studio requires a number of physical upgrades. By updating crucial audio and video capture equipment, Melodic Distraction will be able to facilitate more off-site streaming, more live sets and more creative talk-based shows. They’ll add extra microphones and an additional ‘listening’ set-up in the back of the studio. By focusing more readily on talk shows, they can welcome more hosts than ever to share their communities’ stories. The greater their ability to host more shows, in more creative spaces – the further afield they can shed light onto the North West’s music scene.
You can support the Melodic Distraction Kickstarter campaign here.