25th May 2000, the day that began a new era in community radio, WHY??? That's the first day Wythenshawe FM started broadcasting. In case you haven't heard the tale let me remind you how it all started.

In 1999/2000 Radio Regen, our parent charity started running a course where all the students had the chance to get themselves a BTEC qualification in Radio Production, their final task on the course was to put together a community radio station that would run for three days and it did, on the 25th May Wythenshawe FM was born without complications (well almost).

So then Radio Regen had a bright idea, "LETS DO IT AGAIN", and on the 25th February 2001 it happened again, this time it lasted 7 days with a new set of trainees running the station. Once again all went well with the minimum number of, lets call them hiccups, possible.

Then on the 6th October 2001 Radio Regen had yet another bright idea "LETS DO IT AGAIN" (will they never learn?) This time it lasted 14 days which gave us the experience and the skills to run a full time, long term, all singing, all dancing year long community station or as the government liked to call it "Access Radio".

So in April 2002, Wythenshawe FM returned but this time it was for a whole year. Managed by three staff, they worked like superheroes, by day Darren Jenkinson, Jason Kenyon and John Phillips were mild mannered radio support staff, by night they were gibbering emotional wrecks, however they survived and with the help of a fantastic volunteer base they got the station ready to go. Then it came to LAUNCH DAY.

Wythenshawe FM hit Wythenshawe Town Centre with force, rocking the very foundations of the multi story car park. With live bands, line dancing, karaoke, not to mention the world renowned Doughnut Challenge, how many doughnuts can you eat in a minute, we didn't record any records but we did manage to eat about a thousand doughnuts in total. We also had our then Breakfast Show presenters coming out as their alter ego's DJ Otzi, giving "Hey baby" a whole new meaning.

Then the work started, 125 hours of broadcasting a week, supporting over 80 volunteers and making the best community radio station the world has ever experienced.

Wythenshawe FM has seen many changes, the schedule has evolved, the presenters have improved and WFM has gone from strength to strength. We are still broadcasting (obviously) and intend to do so for a long long time, we now have a five year licence so WFM is here to stay.

We now have a much stronger staff team, made up of Christine Brennan (Project Manager), Jason Kenyon (Programme Manager), Haydn Insley (Volunteer Support Worker / Head of Music and IT ) and Kate Bevan (Administrator). As well as a strong staff team we are also in the process of setting up a steering group so that in the near future Wythenshawe FM will be owned by the Wythenshawe people, but for now all you have to worry about is listening to the best music on your very own community radio station.