Glasgow radio station in the running for top award

Go Radio, which prides itself on “being made in Glasgow for the people of Glasgow & the West”, is one of six finalists for Glasgow’s Favourite Business at this year’s Glasgow Business Awards

Rochelle Clemente, Director, and Michelle Hextall, Sales Director, say the team is “absolutely delighted” by the nomination.

(Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times) Rochelle said: “To be shortlisted alongside so many long-established businesses is amazing for us in our fifth year; it’s incredible.”

Michelle continued: “We’ve got a very passionate team, this business is all we’ve all eaten, slept and breathed for the last five years.

“We’re very fortunate as our team make this business, and we’re just absolutely blown away to be recognised and shortlisted.”

Stevie Lennon (Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times) Go – which stands for ‘Glasgow’s Own – was launched in April 2020 in the middle of the first Covid-19 lockdown.

While it wasn’t easy launching a business during that time, Michelle says “since then station’s just gone from strength to strength”.

She told the Glasgow Times: “We’ve plugged a gap in the market that’s been missing from a local radio perspective.

“There was a huge opportunity in the marketplace for a quality local radio station.

“The investment that’s been put into this business has been huge, we employ over 40 people and we continue to grow.

“At any given time, we wanted listeners to be able to tune in and be familiar with big personality presenter names.

“As a brand, we’re all about Glasgow and the West; the city is very much at the heart of what we do."

Podcast studio with Pavarotti's sound desk (Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times) Go Radio features a host of big-name talent, including football legends Barry Ferguson and Charlie Mulgrew, River City actor Stephen Purdon on Breakfast and Go Afternoons with Gina McKie among many others, across shows covering great music, entertainment, football, business and politics.

Speaking of their shows, Rochelle commented: “Introducing programming like the Go Radio Business Show with [Sir Tom] Hunter & [Lord Willie] Haughey and the Politics Show with Bernard Ponsonby is different to what’s out there in other commercial stations and the feedback from both those shows has been tremendous so far.”

As well as entertaining the city, Go Radio has also given back to Glasgow through community projects, such as their partnership with Glasgow’s Spirit of Christmas – a charity which runs an annual gift campaign to ensure children in poverty receive gifts on Christmas day.

Rochelle said: “We’re proud to support Glasgow's Spirit of Christmas campaign in partnership with The Malcolm Group each year. It’s so important to us to help kids that are affected by poverty and gain from this appeal."

(Image: GordonTerris/Herald&Times) The Go Radio studio is a creative hub and is also home to facilities including podcast studios containing a sound desk used by Pavarotti. Another part of Go Radio’s business is Gorbals Sound Music Studio which has hosted some of Scotland’s biggest recording artists.

The company has worked with charities such as Teenage Cancer Trust to help them produce award-nominated podcasts.

Michelle said: “It’s a fantastic creative hub that we’ve got here that continues to grow.

“We work with Teenage Cancer Trust for Radio Therapy Podcast.

“We record and produce their podcast and we’re delighted that it's been shortlisted at the British Podcasting Awards with two nominations.

“We also record and produce many podcasts for clients including Beatson, Scottish Power, Glasgow City Council to name just a few and we will continue to grow this arm of the business."