A community radio station set up in lockdown by two South London DJs is going from strength to strength, writes Louisa Woolf…
BMC, or Big Music Community radio station was created in lockdown by South London DJs Larry Powell and Joe Coulson to provide space for friends in the industry to express themselves and play music.
They are dedicated to providing a free platform for aspiring artists and building a music community.
The friends of over 13 years, who met at a festival in Serbia, set up the station at a time when “DJs all of a sudden didn’t have much to do.”
They kicked off their first broadcast with a 24-hour live stream from home to raise money for their local food bank, and from there BMC radio was born.
“Before lockdown, I don’t think any of us really knew how to do a live stream. And then suddenly, it was all we knew how to do.”
Larry, who has been DJing for more than twenty years added: “I think that’s one of the positives of lockdown was it did give you the space to ask what would I do if I wasn’t just grafting on my normal job kind of not normal job?
“What else can we do that’s nice for other people?”
What started as a WhatsApp group between Joe, Larry and a few of their friends has grown into a successful station, and a thriving music community, with listeners tuning in from Australia, New York and San Francisco.
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“It just took on a life of its own, and now it’s a really nice community of people, sharing music, sharing gigs that they’re doing, helping with technical problems, discussing the latest releases.”
BMC has grown from strength to strength in its five years of existence, and now they have found a permanent home tucked in the back garden of the Pacific Tavern pub, just off Redriff Road in Surrey Quays. From here, they broadcast almost every day of the week.
Building the community and supporting newcomers to the industry is central to BMC, they have an open-door policy for DJs, across all ages, backgrounds, genres and experience levels, to use the space for free, with complete freedom of expression.
The manager at the Pacific Tavern came across the station and liked it, so he offered them a disused shipping container in the pub garden. He converted it into a studio, making use of a diner-style door and some old booth seating, discarded outside the shut-down Frankie and Benny’s in Surrey Quays.
Larry and Joe invested in professional kit, including mics and dedicated mixing decks, to elevate the space and upgrade the sound from the “rogue pirate radio kind of setup” that they started with.
Unlike other radio stations in London, who often pass down some of the cost of their rent onto the DJs who use their space, BMC are able to offer theirs for free, which is important in maintaining the community feel.
Upcoming DJs are able to come down to the studio, to express themselves, hone their skills, capture content for their social media and gain valuable broadcasting experience.
South London DJ, Leila Beesley, AKA Chinese Daughter played her first ever radio show on BMC. Since then, she’s played on BBC Radio 6 and has her own show Rinse FM.
Similarly, Dan Jones, an aspiring radio presenter, broadcasted from BMC to practise his hosting skills, and has gone on to present the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show.
“Just giving people that first space is really cool. It’s fostering that. It’s nice to give them a little space to get comfortable doing what they’re doing, and then, seeing their trajectory is amazing” Larry said.
“If you come and do a show with us, we’re not gonna be able to make you famous. You could do that yourself. We’re here to support you in your early stages, in your developmental phase, and give you a playground.”
As well as streaming their sets live, aspiring DJs are able to take home audio and visual recordings of their sets to build up their portfolios.
As well as nurturing emerging talent, BMC provides a space for free expression for more established artists in South London.
For Joe, connecting with other artists, and learning about different styles of music is one of the best parts of the project.
Mr and Mrs Wedderburn, a couple who were “instrumental in the early South London jazz scene” play regularly on BMC, and they have brought in the likes of Yussef Dayes, Joe Armon-Jones, one of the founders of Ezra Collective, and the dubbing artist, Mad Professor.
“Meeting people like that and kind of being introduced to their world of music, is really inspiring,” he said.
Since they’ve found their home at the Pacific Tavern, BMC’s reach has been growing consistently, and they are looking forward to a busy summer of broadcasting and events in the pub garden.
The duo have plans for the future to continue their support for local people in the music community to break into the industry.
The hope to get enough funding to set up a mentorship program at the channel.
“We could pay someone to come in and be a station manager for, say, three months where they look after the day to day stuff, and in that time, they have some autonomy to program their own things, and make it their own a bit.”
The radio station will be broadcasting from the shipping container all summer, you can listen here, or follow their Instagram for updates and a schedule of events.
BMC are hosting a fundraiser event on May 3rd in a unique venue, in the Crypt of St. Peter’s Church in Walworth with a custom-built, bespoke sound system. Find out more and buy tickets on RA.
