About us
Radio Ascot – set up by locals, for locals
Radio Ascot is the first local media/radio station dedicated to Ascot and its community. Together as neighbours, together in enterprise, together in community, together going forward for a better life.
Our aim is to provide a focus for everyone living and working in Ascot and the surrounding area. Local: news, events, chat rooms, blogs, music, sounds and views – served daily for all members of Ascot society. Get involved, help us to create Ascot’s online global village and have a say in our online community.
The Local Areas
Ascot, North Ascot, South Ascot, Cheapside, Sunninghill, Sunningdale, Cranbourne and Wentworth. Parts of: Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Bracknell Forest, Surrey Heath, Winkfield, Windlesham and Virginia Water – ‘Ascot Borders!’
From one of our partners
The Prelaunch Period
We here at Radio Ascot have decided to launch the new online community radio/media station, to enable and provide the latest information to be online 24/7, specifically for Ascot. On our landing page, you will find direct links to the latest updates on the pandemic, augmented by, and focused on the Ascot area.
The centre of our audience area will be Ascot High St and covering, South Ascot, North Ascot, Sunninghill, Sunningdale, Wentworth (parts of Virginia Water), parts of Windlesham, Cranbourne, Cheapside and parts of Winkfield. Obviously we will cover in less depth RBWM, Bracknell Forest and Surrey Heath (the abutting areas).
Our mission is to provide a mixture of content that interests and represents Ascot and its people. The first and most important step, hence the early (Pre-launch), is to provide the community with information, help and advice concerning the COVID19 outbreak.
To this end, we intend to set up a channel of communication with the Thames Valley Police, so that Radio Ascot can bring the latest announcements and updates to the local residents, businesses and organisations focussing on the local area.
We are aiming to run a continuous blog – Ascot Diary – which could give the local Police direct access to, if that becomes a popular idea.
And finally, we are also aiming to run a continuous network, ‘The Ascot Cafe’, via meetings on Zoom. It will be a hosted, live chat room and we would like to have a liaison attend, especially if there is important advice or local updates that the Police may wish to impart or discuss. This could also be a place for the community to share their thoughts on the recent lockdown and how we aim as a community to move forward from the difficulties of the pandemic.
Thanks for your kind attention, and on behalf of Radio Ascot, I bid you goodbye for now.
Mark Trimming – Marketing Director
Radio Ascot is Born
A decade ago, Mark Trimming, the co founder of Radio Ascot, was sitting in a temporary shop (within a shop) in North Ascot; having lost his premises in Virginia Water. He had just lost the home of the World’s first internet shop, known as The Internetshop, which he established in 1997.
The Internetshop had helped and supported the local community through the early days of the internet, even opening a training centre and small cafe. Mark and his partner Nicky Clarke had not made fortunes, but came to enjoy being at the heart of the growing global village. They were the hub for the village for all things IT and loved being part of the community.
One day, a local woman asked Mark if he had work for her Grandson, who had been having a difficult time, but was a decent chap who needed a break. A year and a half later the “decent” young man had brought the business to its knees. Unfortunately, he did some near permanent damage that cannot be easily forgiven.
Despite this misfortune, Mark was convinced that all communities would eventually have their own Media Centres/Hubs. He registered localmediacentres.co.uk and looked for backing. Ahead of his time and being down on his luck, this proved difficult.Mark managed to keep The Internetshop going for a while, but lacked available resources to rebuild its online presence.
During this period, Mark teamed up with a new business colleague, Sergey Shchetinin, who was already established with his own clients in the Ascot area. Mark mentioned his idea for local media centres, and while Sergey saw its merits, believed that the focus needed to be elsewhere.
So over the last few years, Mark and Sergey have been building up their businesses and keeping the Internetshop trading going, with a hope to rebuild its online potential. They never forgot about the media centre and, with all the upheaval created by Brexit and a delay in a project Mark was working on, the idea re-surfaced!
Over the last few years, Mark and Sergey had come to realise that it was better to start off small and to build up to the total media hub concept. With that knowledge they decided to form a local online radio station.
Radio Ascot was born
The plan was to build, test and prepare for launching in the latter half of 2020. Along came the pandemic! A perfect situation to demonstrate how Radio Ascot could help, support and bring together the local community.
Seeing it as their way, and duty, to do their bit, in the battle against COVID-10, Mark and Sergey had decided to launch Radio Ascot as soon as possible. Radio Ascot will continue running in ‘beta’ mode until the official launch later this year – pandemic allowing!