There is always a lot of talk around the Meadowlark Festival, but this year there’s going to be even more conversation, thanks to the Peach City Community Radio Society.
Peach City Radio will be back on the air for Meadowlark, broadcasting from downtown Penticton on 94.5 FM, starting on May 18 and continuing through to May 21. But their members will also be out and about at the festival searching for stories to tell.
“Some of our volunteers have already done quite a few interviews with presenters. We’ll be out and about with our people and trying to get stuff that happens on Friday on the air later in the weekend,” said Dave Del Rizzo, the current president of the society.
“As we get closer, we will be scheduling live interviews with people from Meadowlark, tour guides, presenters and such. Hopefully, they’ll be able to pop by our studios and sit down with whoever is the host or producer on the day and do an interview with them.”
Del Rizzo hopes they will be also be able to incorporate coverage of the Penticton Secondary 100th anniversary celebrations, which also happen over the May long weekend.
“We are broadcasting from the Penticton Co-Work building, which is right across the street from the high school,” said Del Rizzo.
“We will be fairly accessible to people there. We are hoping that a lot of people that are involved with that will pop over and sit down to chat for a bit.”
It’s not the first time the fledgling community radio station has been on the air. Peach City Radio was on-air for a month last June from a studio set up at the Penticton Museum as part of an exhibit on local broadcasting history, with one of their broadcasts, Immigrant Stories, earning them and the South Okanagan Immigrant and Community Services Society the Riasat Ali Khan Diversity Award.
Del Rizzo said it is an exciting time for the society as the hard work society members have been putting in for the past two years is beginning to pay off.
“People are starting to notice us and realize we’re not just a flash in the pan. We’re here to stay, we’re going to stick around and see this thing through. We’re looking forward to working with community groups and getting involved with the community, really giving Penticton a true, community based radio station,” said Del Rizzo. “We’ve made a lot of progress in this past year.”
The society also has a website at peachcityradio.org, where you can join their email list, or follow them on Twitter and Facebook.
“We are using social media to the full extent to get the word out about all of our events. Usually, our events are free and we encourage as many people to come out as possible,” said Del Rizzo, adding that supporters can also help by buying a $10 membership to the society.