As we closed our doors, our youth-led radio station, Radio Platfform reopened theirs - broadcasting and creating podcasts from their living rooms, bedrooms, lofts and caravans. Here's how the team have been coping...

Molly, Station Co-ordinator and Presenter

It's been a particularly challenging time for me as one of my main roles is to ensure the day-to-day smooth running of the radio station which has now been closed for three weeks.

Since then the team and I have been working extremely hard and thinking creatively to find ways to function from home.

I've been creating shows from my living room using a portable radio desk and using social media to involve the wider community.

We've been having staff meetings via video call which is strange! And I've been keeping our members in the loop via our social media pages and emails and making sure everybody has everything they need.

Recently I created a tutorial at home on how to make a podcast using a mobile phone which I'm hoping will urge everyone to get creative!

I'm really proud of how the whole team have adapted though and can't wait to get back into the studio as my family are far too noisy.

Luke, Broadcast Assistant

These past few weeks have seen my role change enormously as I'm usually studio-based, so my daily responsibilities include putting the schedule together and making sure the system is in full operation.

However, since closing our doors I've found it to be more exciting and much easier than I thought.

We're still building content and creating a schedule, even if it means placing it on a different network, but during these difficult times radio is being seen as a lifeline to many.

It also give me the opportunity to present content myself for both Radio Platfform and other radio projects, from the comfort of my own home.

I've also been busy editing and scheduling programmes, supporting others to keep presenting shows and managed to find some time to create a tutorial on how to edit programmes using Adobe - coming soon!

Dan, Project Assistant and Presenter

It's not been easy for any of us and my own lockdown hell was compounded by the fact that my brother and I were supposed to be moving house...

I've now been forced to give up my own private, little sanctuary and refuge from the busy bustling world, alive with fear and panic for the cramped confines of a caravan in my mum’s back garden!

I still have my books though, the Game of Thrones box set, the Complete Sherlock Holmes and the Oxford Shakespeare Collection currently adorn my shelves to keep me entertained, and my writing pads too, upon which I scrawl notes for the shows I'm planning for Radio Platfform.

I also have the portable podcast kit from the station set up in the caravan so I can record in peace there and still keep my mind occupied.

Tudor, Presenter

The title of my show, Love in the Time of Extinctions seems pretty apt given the current circumstances, and four walls, we all find ourselves in.

To help us escape I've drawn on the weird and wonderful. I know it's certainly a weird time for many, but it should also be a time to take solace, and recuperate in our hectic world.

As always the thread running through my selection is the same ethereal web that connect us all. It's one that begs the question, does this song make other people feel the same way as it made me feel?

An exercise in empathy perhaps, allowing us to imagine how others respond to that is around them. Or, more cheerfully, imagining how others dance around their kitchen!

Ewa and Ren, Presenters

Making the switch to recording from home was a surprisingly seamless transition. We already had enough microphones for each cast member; Jack was in fact already recording from home.

Most of what goes into making an episode of Here There Be has always happened away from the studio, such as editing and the creation of our original soundtrack (which was entirely recorded in Ren’s bedroom).

One great thing about not being in the studio is we can take as long as we need to record each episode. We can take a break where needed or if in doubt, pause to check something without having to worry about running over time or making the person next in the studio, wait.

When the lockdown first went into effect, we set about creating a proper recording space and converted our loft into a studio of sorts. The slanted walls and enclosed space mean we get little to no reverb in our recordings. So, it’s ideal!

Here There Be is an actual-play, Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition podcast that follows two spellcasters as they try to survive in a kingdom where magic will get you burnt at the stake.

Our next episode (ep. 7) will feature our very first guest. Robin Harper will join us for two episodes as the travelling minstrel, Tybalt.