London venue Sister Midnight launch own radio station

Sister Midnight – Lewisham’s first community-owned music venue – has launched its own radio station.

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Arriving last week (August 3), the new station is named Sister Midnight FM, and places a direct focus on all things happening in South East London to help build on the community in the area.

Its launch comes ahead of the opening of the venue, which will be the first community-owned music venue in the area, and follows an extensive campaign which launched in 2021.

In the autumn of that year, a campaign was launched to save the London pub The Ravensbourne Arms and convert it into a community-owned live music venue for all ages.

It was just one of many attempts to put gig spaces in the hands of music fans rather than private landlords and gathered support from the likes of Fontaines D.C., Porridge Radio, Goat Girl, Jools Holland and many more. The latter even became a shareholder in the pub, in a bid to help raise awareness for the campaign.

The campaign went on to gather £260,000 through community investment and donations and garnering 800+ investors and, in January last year, issued a fresh appeal after learning that a private buyer had put in an offer of £700,000.

At the start of 2023, however, campaigners confirmed a new location for Lewisham’s first community-owned live music venue, following the owners of the Ravensbourne Arms being unwilling to sell.

Currently under construction, the collective secured plans at the derelict former working men’s club, The Brookdale Club in the Catford Centre, and the new radio station comes ahead of its completion.

As well as music segments from DJ Gilla, Laani, Rohan Rakhit, Last Nubian, Shovel Dance Collective and more, Sister Midnight FM also hosts a variety of local community shows.

These include one from The Deptford Ravens – the inclusive women’s football team, which discusses local football happenings – and one by the Lewisham Anti-Raids Group – set to conduct discussions on resisting immigration raids in the borough and advice on community action.

Discussing the new station and its devotion to building a sense of community and highlighting local talent, the collective’s Lenny Watson said: “Sister Midnight FM opens up a whole new world of possibilities for engaging and growing the Sister Midnight community – both in the present while we’re still working on opening our new music venue, and in the future once we’re up and running. We’re so excited to see how the station grows and to have a way for local people to get creatively involved with our work!”

Find out more about the station and tune in here.

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