Cath Wright’s 36-hour show pulls in sponsorships for local radio station

“We’re done!”

That’s how the amazing Cath Wright signed off just now from her 36-hour marathon non-stop show on Speysound Radio.

And she must have been. Hubby and producer Pete Wright told her she had done an amazing job at keeping the show going in the great cause of bringing in sponsorship monies to fund the future of the popular community station.

“It felt horrendous at this time yesterday!” confessed Cath as she prepared to play the final number in the studio on Grantown High Street kindly offered for the marathon by the Grantown Remakery.

“But I’ve obviously hidden it well…”

She never flagged, Pete pointed out, and the show had been a great success.

“That’s a lot of radio!”

The station itself has been a lot of radio now for some time too: the Aviemore-based team started life in 1993 as Ski FM, following which the team shared air time with MFR in Inverness.

In 2009 the station was granted its own Community Radio Licence and began broadcasting on 107.1 FM as well as live on the internet.

Listeners can tune in to Speysound on 107.1FM or www.speysound.com.

“We have listeners 24 hours a day from around the UK and the world, as well as locally in the strath and the wider Scottish Highlands,” said Cath.

“As for our latest marathon, so far our current total raised is £785 and if people would like to donate they can do so via the Crowdfunder link either on our website or Facebook Page as this will stay open for a few days.”

No stranger to the long haul, Cath already has a 24-hour show in 2019 and a 30-hour shout in 2020.

“I really wanted to push myself this time - but by midday on the first day it seemed like there was a lot of hours ahead of me. Yet as midnight got closer I knew I had broken the back of it.

“This said, those early hours today were really tough. Thanks to presenter Donald, our relatives in Australia and my friend and colleague on Vancouver Island, I was kept awake through the early hours.

“Pete and I are really conscious that Speysound needs funds so we can stay on air, these come in via advertising, outside broadcasts, membership fees and donations etc. With Pete doing the London Marathon earlier in the year and with myself doing my own version of a marathon we have been able to raise well over £1000 for Speysound this year.

“A massive thank you to all our friends and family and fellow presenters who popped by, requested songs, brought or made food and donated money to the show. Being based on the High Street was a real bonus and then team at the Remakery have been brilliant in supporting us, especially considering Speysound is so close to Pete Carson’s own heart.

“It was really nice to be able to see the High Street wake up, starting with the sunrise and birdsong, then cyclists, workers walking to work and dog walkers off to get morning papers. The streets just got busier and busier and we were in a great location for attracting location and questions from folks.

“Pete was fab as always helping me to keep going whilst also looking after our dogs and ensuring he managed to get to bed (not a dig at all!) Kate and Marcus are always working behind the scenes at Speysound and Kate has everything organised and scheduled perfectly, whilst Marcus came to my aid on Sunday morning with a spare laptop when we had a few technical issues!

“Special thanks to the Grant Arms Hotel for offering a complimentary room to George from the Remakery on Friday night so he was on hand to support us.

“It was also a great event to create awareness about Speyside and if anyone is keen to be more involved or start their own show, please get in touch.”

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