After four and a half years in the Baytree Centre, Phoenix FM will be moving premises into the Brentwood Centre in the New Year.

We’ve struck a deal with Brentwood Leisure Trust to move in and broadcast from the old changing room block. We will be resiting our aerial at the centre too, hopefully higher above ground than it is now too so that our FM coverage should be improved in the local area.

The new studios will be about 2-3 times bigger than the ones we currently occupy, at a lower rent too, which is great news for us as the savings will be reinvested in new equipment and paying the station’s many other bills.

Brentwood Borough Council were instrumental in making this happen, after agreeing to refurbish the rooms to bring them up to standard, and we would like to thank all councillors who have been pressing to assist us over recent years, and in particular Cllrs Hossack and McKinlay who did a lot to push this through. The message is – don’t stop pressing, we always need help ..!

The Brentwood Centre will be our fifth “permanent home” after broadcasting from 14 Ongar Road (the old information centre), the Hermitage and Hutton Poplars Lodge during our RSL days from 1996 to 2006.

Over the next few months we’ll be looking at getting the rooms up to scratch. How ready do you reckon we are so far, on a scale of 1 to 10?