A COMMUNITY radio station is in a battle for its existence after its income was devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.

Sunny Govan Radio has been broadcasting for 20 years but, since closing its studio in March last year, has run up a deficit of around £30,000 as its revenues nearly disappeared.

The Govan Road-based station is asking Glaswegians to support its survival through an online crowdfunder.

Steven Gilfoyle, who helped to co-found Sunny Govan and is now the station manager, said: “I’m really proud of the project and the work that we do.

“We are a community organisation and we use the radio to attract people because it gets people to come in and get involved, get the skills and the confidence.

“But the radio’s sort of a by-product of what we do for the community. That’s why we’re going to fight for it.”

The registered charity said its advertising revenue and sponsorship had fallen by around 70% since the beginning of the first lockdown and the inability to host fundraising gigs and events had compounded its financial woes.

Since 2001, the station has provided listeners with a mix of discussion, news and music, hosted entirely by volunteers and has a string of monthly outgoings putting demands on its budget, including staff costs, licence fees, rent and utility bills.

But the station hopes that the community it serves will come to the rescue and help raise the funds needed to keep it on the airwaves.

“We would make around £3000 to £4000 a time hosting gigs, which we would do around three or four times a year,” said Steven.

“The ABC would give us £1000 a year before that closed down and we have a partnership with the CCA too which we get money from.

“All of that is gone, so it’s had a major impact on our sustainability and our ability to keep on going.

“We always helped the community, through supporting local foodbanks or charities on the radio, so it was really hard for us to ask for support.”

He added: “We find ourselves trying to survive in an area that contains many of the sectors that have been hardest hit, which has destroyed the income streams we used to rely on.

“We are optimistic that we can see ourselves through this terrible time with the generous help from supporters of the station and the community we serve and work alongside.”

Sunny Govan will also be hosting race nights, quiz nights and selling t-shirts to keep broadcasting but it faces an uphill struggle.

So far, £1690 of the total £30,000 has been raised by 50 generous donors.

You can donate here.