A MAN is realising his ambition of being on the radio by broadcasting on the first station in Tintagel, set-up ahead of the village’s carnival this weekend.

Rafael Krasnodebski is running the short-term radio station after successfully applying to Ofcom for a ‘Restricted Services Licence’, with the support of the Tintagel Carnival Committee.

Tintagel Radio hit the airwaves on July 30, and is available to listen to in the area on 87.7FM and by anybody at tintagelradio.com, until August 6. The station is on air from 8am to 7pm everyday, and until 10pm on Carnival Day (Saturday).

Mr Krasnodebski told the Post he was born in Birmingham in 1962, and that his Polish name comes from his father, who fought with the British army as a paratrooper in World War Two and settled in England after the war.

Mr Krasnodebski studied History at Leeds and then Communications at Leicester University — his ambition to become a radio journalist.

He said: “I worked in radio for a short while, but the quirks of life led me to a career as a project manager on industrial projects all over the world. I never lost my love of all things ‘radio’ and carried on as keen qualified amateur radio nerd.”

He took early retirement in 2014, and bought Ye Olde Malthouse Inn in Tintagel.

He has been married to his wife, Barbara for 24 years and they have two children.

Mr Krasnodebski said they would like to be able to run the radio station every year, but said preparations for this year’s broadcasts had been ‘a little less ambitious’ after his wife was sadly diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer.

He added: “This year’s preparations have been blighted somewhat by the shock of my wife being diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, but with her support we decided to go ahead simply because the preparations were so far advanced. Nevertheless, we won’t be as ambitious as we planned to be this year. This year’s broadcast is dedicated to her.

“We’re running interviews and music with a variety of local characters and generally providing some local levity over the carnival period. Hopefully we’ll be able to run the station every year and will improve with age!”

The station is being run by a group of five volunteers, and Mr Krasnodebski said all involved are ‘having fun’: “People are enjoying it. We are just being silly — nobody’s taking it too seriously.”

The station is broadcasting within a radius of about five miles of Tintagel on 87.7FM, or listen at tintagelradio.com