Charlton Live comes to CAFC Player
A radio show dedicated to the Addicks will be relaunched on Sunday night when Charlton Live returns to the airwaves courtesy of the club's CAFC Player service.
A radio show dedicated to the Addicks will be relaunched on Sunday night when Charlton Live returns to the airwaves courtesy of the club's CAFC Player service.A group of supporters, with the backing of the club, has been working for more than a year on the project following the demise in March 2009 of Time 106.8FM, which previously broadcast the show.
And now Charlton Live is ready to return on Sunday, August 1st.
"This is great news, for Charlton Live and for fans,” said Dave Lockwood, one of the members of the Charlton Live team and also the club's matchday announcer.
"It's a show with a lot of history, dating back to the late 1980s, and there was huge disappointment when Time FM suddenly closed.
"It left the team feeling that we had unfinished business and, since then, we've been working hard to come up with a way to continue the show. Finally, thanks to assistance from the club and its radio partner, BBC LONDON 94.9FM, we've been able to find a solution."
The first Charlton Live show of 2010/11 will be a one-hour season preview programme from 6-7pm on Sunday, with the team broadcasting directly from The Valley.
A weekly two-hour show will begin seven days later on Sunday, August 8th, the day after Charlton's opening league match of the campaign against AFC Bournemouth. Its planned transmission time is from 7-9pm.
Said Lockwood: "Many fans and previous listeners will know what to expect, but for those who don't, we plan to broadcast commentary highlights, the manager's press conference and interviews, analyse the games and discuss news about the club, talk to Charlton guests and pundits and also get plenty of interaction with fans.
"Unfortunately, we won't be able to take calls and run our usual phone-in from the start, but we hope to overcome that hurdle soon.
"However, supporters will still be able to contact us and have their say by email or via the @CharltonLive Twitter service and Facebook page, and we're keen to get as much involvement from fans as possible."
Supporters will be able to listen to the show via the club's video website, CAFC Player, subscriptions for which are £3.99 per month or from £34.99 per year.
"With the lack of a suitable broadcaster, the only option open to us was to bring the show back as a webcast," explained Dave.
"We've been speaking to the club about this at length, but obviously we can only take advantage of the facilities they have available, which is the premium CAFC Player service.
"We realise that not everyone will be able to hear the show, but the whole team feels that it's the best option open to us, and that not only will we provide extra coverage of the club to fans in this country and abroad, we will also hopefully add value to supporters' subscriptions, which will in turn bring in revenue to the club.
"We're also conscious that not everyone can listen to the show when it is broadcast on Sunday nights, so a recorded version will also be available on CAFC Player later in the week. We also intend to explore the possibility of producing a much shorter, edited podcast from the show, which could be made available free via iTunes and give fans a taste of the programme."
Lockwood added: "We would have relaunched Charlton Live sooner, but we are heavily dependent on the necessary equipment. We are therefore hugely grateful to BBC LONDON, which has loaned the club the particularly important piece of kit we needed to get back on air."
In addition to helping to source equipment and providing the location and broadcast facilities for Charlton Live, the club will also assist with providing the show with interviews and guests.
However, Charlton Live itself will be independent of the club - even though it will be broadcast by CAFC Player.
The current Charlton Live team comprises Lockwood, Jon Lucas, Terry Smith, Dan Davis, Phil Webster, Bob Lawrence, Peter Finch, Frank De Pelette and Graham Burt.
And they are appealing for further assistance - and sponsorship - to help secure the long-term future of the show.
"Given the club's current situation, there is definitely a role for supporters to play in helping to revitalise the club, and this is an area where we believe we can provide more Charlton coverage for fans, while also potentially helping to bring in more income for the club," said Lockwood.
"Of course, we're only a group of enthusiastic volunteers - albeit volunteers with radio broadcasting experience. We aren't receiving any funding from the club, so we're giving up our own time to make sure that the show goes on, and although we've got a great team of people, we could always do with more. We'd welcome any help or suggestions.
"We're also looking for sponsors, and advertising and naming rights are available for relatively small amounts.
"I should stress that we're not looking to make any money for ourselves, but we have plans to expand what we offer and equipment costs money.
"We could also broadcast a Saturday morning preview show and, ultimately, we could have a matchday radio station based at The Valley broadcasting at home games. But for the moment we are concentrating on the traditional Sunday evening show - we want to walk before we try to run."
The origins of the Charlton Live show date back to autumn 1988 when Charlton Chat, then hosted by future Addicks commercial director Steve Sutherland, was first broadcast on the old Radio Thamesmead cable service.
Charlton Chat was the first-ever club-dedicated radio show, and it went to FM in April 1990 when the radio station became RTM. Three years later, the programme became Charlton Live, and the show became famous in the late 1990s thanks to Mark Mansfield's legendary commentaries, notably on the First Division play-off final against Sunderland.
The show was curtailed when the club signed a radio deal with Capital Radio, but Charlton Live returned on Time 106.8FM in August 2008, when recorded versions of the show were later made available on the club's official website. However, Time FM closed down suddenly in March 2009.
Concluded Lockwood: "It's been very difficult to keep quiet about our plans, but we didn't want to get supporters' hopes up before we knew it was possible.
"Over the past few weeks, we've trialled the equipment and have been getting things ready. I know the whole team is really excited and we can't wait to get going."
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