Seahaven FM encounters DJ problems

Seahaven FM, the community based radio station for Newhaven, Peacehaven and Seaford, has recently been beset by some problems, after Norman Baker MP failed to turn up for his weekly broadcast and a row erupted after one DJ was taken off air.

Baker, MP for Lewes and transport minister, blamed engineering works outside the town's station for his missing his Sunday slot, saying: "When I arrived at Lewes Station, I found to my dismay, that engineering works meant that there were no trains to Seaford, although the day before the station had only been warning of engineering works between Bexhill and Ashford.

"I then went out to take the rail replacement bus only to find it had broken down and the rail replacement bus would have to be replaced by a bus replacement service."

On Friday, Tony Vanburger, real name Colin Jackson, said he was 'gutted' after finding a letter informing him he had been suspended from the station in a printer when he arrived for his slot.

Vanburger, from Seaford, had been a volunteer with the community radio station for four years, firstly on Drive Time and for the past two years as the Breakfast Show host.

In a statement, Nick Mallinson, Seahaven FM managing director,said: "I would like to apologise unreservedly to Tony for the way that he found the letter detailing his suspension; this was very regrettable and it was never my intention to have him find out that way.  It was planned that I should give him the letter personally after discussing it with him after his Friday (28th October 2011) show. I had printed the letter out at home the night before while connected remotely to the Seahaven FM network while also working on the weekend playlist. The letter was printed at home and, unfortunately, on the Seahaven FM office printer by mistake. However, this does not alter the facts or the reason he was suspended.

"For some months Tony has been omitting to play some ad breaks, and NOT as he has described, on Facebook, playing them late. Playing them late is undesirable but not something a presenter would be suspended for.

"There have been a number of meetings with Tony since we have been broadcasting on FM, detailing a number of issues including the adverts.  He has previously admitted that not playing them was an oversight as he frequently ran out of time and wasn't able to fit them in.  We said this was totally unacceptable and any repeat of this would be treated very seriously and would probably result in him being dropped as a presenter.

"We monitored his shows and all seemed to be ok, until early October when it became obvious it was happening again. Checks were made on seven separate days, on six of them Tony had left ads un-played on the system. Further checking was done on the logger (audio recordings of the programmes) the ad breaks were rarely played near their allotted time and it was clear he was only playing some of them."

Baker, meanwhile, has vowed to return to his broadcast this weekend. And for Lewes there is always the seasonal alternative, with broadcasts from local guests – Rocket FM.