ALAN Fossey is the hardest working man in community radio. Alan has just signed off the Blaenavon community radio project (WHAM - world heritage AM) after one month on air with 25 volunteer presenters and around 200 contributors.

"I'm absolutely exhausted," he admitted. "Everyone thought the end-product sounded very professional but it has been an incredibly hard six weeks.

"I've been walking up and down a one-in-five hill everyday and I've lost so much weight my trousers are falling off."

But this veteran of pirate radio in the North Sea, regional radio around the UK and Riviera Radio from Monte Carlo, has opted not to put his feet up. When I phoned him last Saturday, he was in Gwent Square, Cwmbran, canvassing support for his next community project, CROW FM.

"It's only six months away - the RSL (restricted service license) will run from November 27 to December 24 so we've got to start working on it now."

This time the station will broadcast on FM. "Cwmbran is a bowl shape which is well-suited to the FM signal." The transmitter at Blaenavon proved one of the biggest dramas in the whole experiment.

"We just couldn't get the signal at the site we had earmarked. "There was a building in the way covered in scaffolding and it was absorbing the signal and leaving us with about 10 per cent strength which was useless.

"We were faced with the dilemma of moving either the studio or moving the transmitter so eventually we brought the transmitter into the studio." But once the technology started working, the radio station went into vertical take-off.

"One of our presenters has been offered a job in commercial radio and I think another three could end up there.

"The strides those people made in such a short time was amazing. You can study all the theory you like but at the end of the day it's the hands-on experience which counts."

The first and last music to be played on air was a song recorded about Blaenavon with the help of Jay Ryan and the Musical Youth Project sponsored by Torfaen council.

"I was a bit worried because I didn't know what to expect and thought we might end up with something like singing nuns. "But to my great relief it's actually really brilliant. "I'm hoping that it can be released as a single."

The station was sponsored by the organisation Working Links and the sponsor had a one-hour show each day giving advice on practical issues such as filling in job application forms and writing CVs.

"That worked really well," said Mr Fossey, "as did the range of music we were able to offer which included lots of bands, male voice choirs, folk singers and classical.

"It's a much broader offering than virtually any commercial channel." Feedback in the town was mixed.

"Everytime I left the house people were coming up to me saying how professional it sounded and from the points they were making they had to be listening.

"But we had very few e-mails and calls while we were on air. "It could be that it takes time for people to get comfortable about interacting with a local radio service."

Some complained of not being able to receive the signal. Mr Fossey said: "We've had transmission reports of our signal being picked up in Bologna in Italy and on the Isle of Wight.

"I reckon some people just can't tune a radio in." Mr Fossey has run a project like this once before in London. He said: "The Blaenavon project was more successful, probably because we had a smaller, more enthusiastic team. In London the team was about 140 strong and it was a nightmare to manage."

"My only regret is that just when you've got over all your glitches it's time to switch the service off.

"I think the licensing system is ridiculous, but Offcom (the government regulator) is not worried as it gets a grand every time one of these is set up."

If CROW FM goes well, it could lead to a permanent community radio licence covering the entire Torfaen area.

"All the WHAM volunteers are saying that they will come down to help out with CROW, so I think we've got every chance of making it a success."