Western League podcast celebrates the Somer Valley

Picture provided by John Newport, taken at last season's Coalfield Classico
 between Radstock Town and Welton Rovers

Somer Valley FM, the community radio station serving Midsomer Norton, Radstock, Paulton and the surrounding areas, has been praised for its support of grassroots sport, in this week's Toolstation Western League podcast.

The podcast is produced by former Somer Valley FM presenter, Ian Nockolds, featuring news and results across all 42 Western League Clubs, covering Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. Now in its second season, the podcast attracts over seven and a half thousand listeners a week.

Episode 11 of the podcast covered the results from the Groundhop Weekend, which featured seven fixtures organised to allow fans to "hop" from one ground to another. Saturdays extravaganza started in the heart of Midsomer Norton, at Welton Rovers, before fans travelled on to Radstock Town and then Odd Down.

"This weeks Groundhop gave me the idea to focus on the Somer Valley," Ian said, "So I've interviewed Clive Scott, the Welton Rovers manager and Shane Smith, the Radstock boss. Both sides won, both are going well in the First Division and both enjoyed bumper Groundhop crowds.

Organising this week's podcast in this way also gave me the opportunity to thank Somer Valley FM for their support and make the case for more community radio involvement in grassroots sport. Somer Valley was great for me and they've been very supportive of the podcast, giving us access to their excellent facilities, playing my interviews and promoting the podcast."

For the past 10 years Somer Valley FM has championed grassroots sport, including Western League sides Welton Rovers and Radstock Town. On Tuesday evening the Sport Show broadcasts news and interviews between 6pm and 7pm, presented by Evan Dando and Allan Trinder. The station also boasts the Saturday Live results service, bringing listeners live scores and match reports from all the days local games, presented by Richard Burgess between 4pm and 6pm.

Ian added, "because of my experience at Somer Valley I've been able to engage with other stations like; Bradley Stoke Radio, Warminster Community Radio, BCfm and Glastonbury FM, to promote the interviews I do with managers across the Western League. Community radio, like Western League football, wants to grow its audience and by working together, I believe one will help the other."

The Toolstation Western League podcast can be found at http://www.toolstationleague.com/ and is downloadable on iTunes.