Housed in the basement of the Learner Resource Centre at the University of Glamorgan in Treforest, GTFM is part of unit for budding future tv, radio and film production staff and presenters to gain experience before hitting the wider world and the big time on shows such as ..... as Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4 and researcher for QVC! There is an impressive array of equipment.
GTFM is a non-profit making (but it needs advertising folks) community radio station serving the Valleys and Cardiff areas but is also widely available on the internet. It is one of 15 community radio stations throughout the UK but the only one in Wales.
With Real Radio disappearing up its own backside as far as its sports department is concerned (no more football coverage, a marked increase in rugby reporting and Cardiff City fans deserting the station and sports phone in shows in droves), a new platform was needed for supporters.
Thanks to Cardiff City supporters and the station itself, GTFM provides a 3 times weekly phone-in dedicated to Cardiff City coverage and callers.
The show is jointly presented by Steve Johnson (a Cardiff City addict) and ex-Premier League ref, Keith Cooper. I admit saying "yes" on a whim when Steve called me to appear on the show and spent Monday at work in a mild panic over it.
However when you get there and settle in, ultimately it was just 3 guys and various callers chewing the fat over Cardiff City and football, the same way as we do in a pub except without the beer and language. I didn't miss the language, the beer I could really have done with.
Steve soon made me feel comfortable (thanks very much, appreciated!) and Keith is a charmer too, even going out of his way the day after the show to call me.
The studio itself is a small room (aka broom cupboard). We were sat in front of a desk (Keith and myself sharing a mic, Steve on another) with a bank of controls in front us, a monitor telling us how many calls were stacked up, who the next caller was and what their comments/question would be. A 4th guy in the studio (Tony, from Canton - top man, in a Cardiff rugby shirt - I take the top man comment back!) passed through the calls which, I think, are on 6 second delay, not that it was needed. There was also another person in an adjoining glass fronted room who was taking the calls and passing details to the monitor.
The hour really flew by, the longer it went, the more I got into it. Plenty of calls about ticket allocations and the problems on matchdays (how many times have we said it on the internet? how many people don't come to matches because they're confused or can't be bothered with the hassle on matchdays?), much of the rest was general chat about last weekend's game against Peterborough.
Oh, and some of it, were "mates" sending in stories about past sexual conquests which Keith enjoyed asking me about. I got away lightly though, it could have been far, far worse!!
The callers are all given good airtime, far better than Real Radio or other sports phone-ins where the hosts take over or you're binned for the next callers after 30 seconds. On Monday's show, we didn't manage to get through all the calls, 6 were stacked by the time it ended.
The show seems to be gaining in popularity as word of it spreads but it is only as good as its callers and/or those who e-mail.
Tonight's guest is Cardiff City's midfielder Layton Maxwell and I can reveal that Rhys Weston will be a guest on one of next week's show. The players all give up their free time to help the show and be accessible to us, fantastic.
Report by Nigelblues.
The Cardiff City phone in on GTFM (106.9FM) and around the world at http://www.glam.ac.uk/gtfm/index.php
The contact details for the show are, phone 01443 654654 or e-mail gtfm@glam.ac.uk Shows are on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6pm for 1 hour.