Glasgow community radio puts local voices at the heart of the
Commonwealth Games

Awaz FM, a community radio station in Glasgow, has finished a project called Voices of the
Commonwealth. It trained local people to report on the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games in their own words and their own languages.
The project was paid for by the Glasgow 2026 Festival Fund. Awaz FM trained five paid community journalists and eight volunteers. They learned how to interview people, film, take photographs, edit and present live radio.

The team was mainly women. The youngest member was 15 and the oldest was over 60. They came from Glasgow’s South Asian, African and Caribbean communities.
From 23 July to 2 August, the team broadcast live every day from a gazebo in Kelvingrove Park. They also reported from the SEC campus, Tollcross, Scotstoun and Glasgow International Arena.
In total they worked on 47 reporting and editing sessions and recorded more than 150 interviews. They covered athletes from at least 27 Commonwealth countries, all ten main sports and para-sport. They interviewed people in five languages: English, Urdu, Punjabi, Hindi and Swahili. The athletes they spoke to included Neeraj Chopra, Arshad Nadeem, the weightlifting champion Emily Campbell, and the first woman from Lesotho ever to win a medal.
The team did not only cover sport. They reported on the opening ceremony, traditional Indian dancers, a bagpiper, a Highland and Nigerian dance exchange, a kite flying celebration on John Street, and Streetbus, a group that uses basketball and music to bring young people together. The youngest journalist also presented a live show for children from the park.
Two of the journalists were given full media passes for the Games. This allowed them to work in the same interview areas as national and international reporters, and to speak to athletes straight after their events.

The coverage reached far more people than the station normally does. Facebook views went up by 449% to 310,581 in 28 days. Almost nine out of ten of those views came from people who did not already follow Awaz FM, and the station paid nothing for advertising. One interview on its own, in Urdu with Arshad Nadeem, was watched 134,727 times.
The team said the project gave them new skills and confidence. One member said: “My highlight was meeting people from all over the world and hearing their stories. It showed me the power of sport to bring people together.”
Listeners also sent messages to the station. One said: “Representing the Commonwealth was a great honour and a responsibility, and each of you carried that responsibility with dedication and pride.”
Awaz FM has kept a large collection of audio, video and photographs from the Games, which it will use for future programmes, training and community history work. The station hopes to use the same approach at other big events in the city, including the UEFA European Football Championships in 2028.
Javed Sattar, Director of Awaz FM, said: “The Games happened on our doorstep, and we wanted our
communities to help tell the story rather than just watch it. Our team reported in the languages people speak at home, and audiences responded.”
ENDS