Friday, November 13 sees the launch of the South Hams DAB digital radio multiplex.

The date coincides with the 20th anniversary of the community station Soundart Radio.

The multiplex has the potential of greatly extending listener choice around the Totnes and Dartington areas.

Initially it will carry Soundart Radio, Skylark Radio (an audio art project broadcast on FM across Dartmoor) and their new channel Stellaria Media.

Stellaria and Soundart Director Lucinda Guy said: “The Stellaria Media channel is for research so it'll be for a new kind of new knowledge in sciences and humanities and we'll be working with university partners as well.”

The multiplex is under Stellaria Media which is their production company and they are looking for other radio stations, both new and established, community or commercial to join the line up.

Lucinda explained: “The name stellaria Media is the Latin name for the chickweed plant and we love that it's it's just a weed like growing between the cracks in a way but the that word media which means ‘in between things’ obviously works beautifully for a media company.

This is an opportunity for more people in the community together to do licensed radio which is a really exciting thing because we just love transmitters and technology.”

Unlike internet radio DAB is regulated by Ofcom which means operators have to stick to the rules as far as content is concerned.

Because of the hilly topography, it wasn’t deemed viable to install relay transmitters to serve the whole South Hams.

Lucinda added: “It’s all about being accountable, being regulated, not having misinformation, not having harmful content and I think at the moment when people are getting quite fed up with what they're experiencing online and finding it quite traumatic often people are really looking for these alternatives and this is community radio, a really vibrant alternative and also where we come together to create media as a collective.”

If you would like to discuss the possibilities visit: https://stellariamedia.org/