The folks at Leith FM are pretty hard to get hold of, for two weeks my emails, phone calls and texts went unanswered. At first I didn’t take it personally, I was aware that this is a voluntary organisation and my request for an interview would not be a priority. But after a while the silence became deafening, I couldn’t help feeling that it maybe had something to do with a rather embarrassing incident back in August, when an email was forwarded from the address of the chair of Leith FM to everyone on the organisation’s mailing list.

Entitled ‘I’d rather have Charles Manson, Jack the Ripper and Hitler as friends before you’, the email was initially sent by a disgruntled former member of the organisation, and was a personal attack on acting-chair of Leith FM, J.P. McGroarty. It also made several serious accusations about abuses of power by the Board and gross mismanagement of the station in general. A few days later a second email arrived from the Leith FM Board, apologising for the previous message and suggesting that legal action would be pursued once the culprit had been identified.

David is the author of 9 articles including 'You’ve Got The Power' from December's Leither

Zoom In

My intention is not to revisit this unsavoury episode – but I do want to know if Leith FM has moved on. Their reluctance to engage with me suggests that this may not be the case. Eventually I get lucky when someone answers the phone in the Leith FM office and provides me with the mobile number of station manager Mohamed Bouchkal. I get through first time and when I explain what I am after he immediately agrees to meet for a chat. It seems the mistake I made was trying to speak to somebody at Board level. Certainly, the guys on the ground are happy to tell anyone who will listen that Leith FM is a good thing for the community. All the other stuff is inconsequential as far as they are concerned. They have nothing to hide and have no reason to be suspicious of outside interest.

Rogue messages
When I arrive at Leith FM’s base I find a tidy, but clearly well used, office. Apart from a radio in the corner the building is silent. The only sign of acrimony or antagonism is a long-winded and rather snotty poster on a wall, warning of dire consequences for anyone who gets on the wrong side of the Board. Bouchkal is quick to dispel any lingering suspicions I might have about Leith FM being plagued with petty infighting.

“There are always misunderstandings and personality clashes. Every organisation has problems like that. It is part of life. The important thing is to manage these situations and be understanding. I‘ve been dealing with that kind of stuff quite a lot since becoming manager three months ago, it is not a worry for me because I am confident I can speak to people and resolve these issues before they become a major problem. We have made it clear that if you have issues with someone then we want to discuss it rather than have falling outs.”

Asked about the Board, he says: “They have their job to do, I leave them alone and concentrate on my job.” Born in Morocco, Bouchkal arrived in Edinburgh about ten years ago and has been involved with the station from its earliest days, when it operated for two weeks every year covering Leith Festival. “At first I was doing backroom stuff, answering the phone and so on. Then, over time, I sat with presenters during their shows and took it from there. Along with others at the station I’ve managed to get an HNC in radio broadcasting from Telford College.”
Leith FM persuaded Ofcom to grant them a 5-year license almost 3 years ago and they have been on air 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, ever since. “We have live broadcasts from 7am to midnight, and recorded ones from midnight to 7am, it is a lot of work, especially as we are run exclusively by volunteers.

We have professional DJs but they don’t get paid for their input here, and we also have people who don’t know anything about broadcasting but want to learn. We train them in how to use the studio, how to use editing software, how to deal with the office work, and how to prepare shows.”

Mohamed pauses, “We have about 150 volunteers and we try to get people from different sections of the community involved. We have Polish, Spanish, French and North African programmes, as well as programmes that deal with local community stuff. We’re working to improve the quality of broadcasting through training and better organisation, so hopefully at the end of this 5-year license we can prove to Ofcom that we are able to continue.” Bouchkal stresses that Leith FM is open to anyone who wants to get involved. Don’t be put off if they are slow to reply – they are probably genuinely busy.

Tune in to: 98.8fm
Visit: leithfm.co.uk