Last updated: 25th October 2026
This explains what personal information Radio Christmas collects when you use our website, our apps, the web player, our forms, and when you give or text us. We have tried to say it plainly. If anything is unclear, write to [email protected].
1. Who we are
Two organisations are involved, and it helps to know which does what.
- Radio Christmas CIC runs the station, this website and the apps (iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV, CarPlay, Android Auto and the web player). It decides how your information is used for all of that, which makes it the “controller” under the UK GDPR. Radio Christmas CIC is a community interest company registered in England (company number 14769441). Its registered office is 2 Centenary Way, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP6 6UL, and it is registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office (registration number ZB632364).
- Street Kids Direct is a registered charity in England and Wales (No. 1102894). The money Radio Christmas raises goes to it, so Street Kids Direct is the controller for donation information (section 3.5). For questions about your donation, contact it at [email protected].
For everything else in this policy, “we” means Radio Christmas CIC. For privacy questions to either organisation, use [email protected] and we will pass it on to the right one. You can also contact Street Kids Direct about your donation at [email protected], or write to it at 2 Centenary Way, Amersham, HP6 6UL.
2. The short version
- The app has no accounts, no ad networks and no tracking. The only adverts are the station’s on-air ones, heard in the live stream. We never sell your information.
- Usage statistics in the app are off until you turn them on. Crash reports are on, and you can switch them off in Settings > Privacy.
- If you send us a message, apply to volunteer, give, or text us, we use what you give us for that purpose only.
- You can ask to see, correct or delete your information at any time (section 11).
3. What we collect, and why
3.1 When you visit the website
- Technical information. Like every website, our servers and our security and delivery provider (Cloudflare) see your IP address, browser and device type, the page you asked for, the page you came from, and the time. We use this to deliver the site, keep it secure and stop abuse.
- Your rough location. Cloudflare tells the site your approximate country, time zone and city, worked out from your IP address. We use it to show schedule times in your own time zone and, on the donate page, to show the giving route that suits your country first. This is not stored against you. We don’t use any other location database.
- Cookies and similar technologies (section 9).
- Comments are switched off, so we don’t collect any through the site.
3.2 Message the studio and other contact forms
When you use “Message the studio” or another contact form on the website, we collect what you type: your name, email address, your town or place (if you give it), your message, and sometimes a phone number. We also record the time, your IP address and browser details, which help us spot spam. Links in messages are removed.
- A privacy box must be ticked before you send. There is no age limit on the message and contact forms, and they collect only what you choose to send.
- A Cloudflare Turnstile check runs when you send, to tell people from bots. It uses your IP address and browser signals.
- Your message goes to the studio team and, if you wrote to a particular show or presenter, to them. We pass it on by email, sent from the website through Microsoft 365. Presenter email addresses are fetched from our station system (Digital Admin) at the moment of sending and are not stored with your message.
- If a presenter replies through the site, we use your email address (and phone number if given) for that reply only.
We use this to read your message and reply. We keep messages and your details for the periods in section 8.
3.3 Apply to volunteer
If you apply to volunteer (on the website or in the app) we collect your name, email address, phone number (if you give one), a short note about you, and the roles you are interested in. The application is saved as a draft in Digital Admin, the station’s content and volunteer system, for the team to review. If the team wants to go ahead, they email you a link to finish your application. Radio Christmas CIC and Street Kids Direct (who run Digital Admin) decide together how applications are used, so they are joint controllers of them. The form to finish your application also asks for your date of birth and, for roles that need one, a DBS (criminal records) check. DBS check results are only seen by the people who decide on the role, and are used only for that. Bots are filtered with a hidden field and rate limits.
3.4 Contacting us by phone, WhatsApp, text or email
If you call, WhatsApp, text or email the studio, we see your number or address and what you send, and may reply. WhatsApp and your phone network have their own policies. These stay in the studio’s phone and inbox for up to 12 months, then are deleted.
3.5 Donations and text-to-give
- Online donations (UK). The Donate page links to our giving partner, Enthuse. You enter your details on Enthuse’s pages, not ours. Enthuse collects your name, contact details, card or bank details and Gift Aid declaration, and passes the donation and Gift Aid details to Street Kids Direct. Street Kids Direct is the controller for what it receives and uses it to process your gift, claim Gift Aid and send receipts and thank-yous. Enthuse handles the payment for Street Kids Direct and has its own privacy policy for its platform. Street Kids Direct may sometimes share a donor’s name with Radio Christmas CIC, for example so a presenter can thank you on air; we use it only for that.
- Giving from the USA. The US option links to WGM (wgm.org), which takes the gift on our behalf in dollars. WGM has its own privacy policy. WGM is World Gospel Mission, a US charity that receives the gift for Street Kids Direct and is responsible for its own records of US donors.
- Text-to-give. Text KIDS, KIDS5 or KIDS10 to 70099. Your mobile number and your text are passed by your network and our text provider to Street Kids Direct to record the donation. The donation is added to your phone bill at the network’s rate. Our text-giving provider is Cymba, which uses Fonix to handle the texts and billing.
- The totals we show (for example “raised so far”) are added up from the giving pages and don’t identify anyone.
Donations are not taken inside the apps. The apps open the donation page in your phone’s browser.
3.6 Notifications
See section 7.4 for the apps. On the website we send no push notifications. We don’t send email newsletters or marketing from the website.
4. Our lawful bases (UK GDPR)
| What we do | Our lawful basis |
|---|---|
| Run the website, keep it secure, stop spam and abuse, check forms with Turnstile | Legitimate interests (a working, safe site) |
| Read and reply to your messages | Your consent (the privacy box) and our legitimate interests in answering you |
| Handle volunteer applications | Steps you ask us to take before taking you on as a volunteer, and our legitimate interests. For DBS checks, also safeguarding children and young people, as the law allows for roles that need a check |
| Process donations, claim Gift Aid, keep records (Street Kids Direct) | Performing the donation, legal obligation (tax and charity records) and, for thank-yous and appeals, your consent or legitimate interests as set out in its policy |
| Optional cookies and website statistics | Your consent (cookie banner) |
| App usage statistics | Your consent (you turn them on) |
| App crash reports and performance data | Legitimate interests (finding and fixing faults), with an off switch |
| Push notifications | Your consent (you turn them on and choose topics) |
| Weather by location | Your consent (the phone’s location permission, and you choose “Use Current Location”) |
| Complaints, legal claims and our legal duties | Legal obligation and legitimate interests |
If we rely on consent, you can withdraw it at any time, and it will not affect what we did before.
5. Who we share your information with
We don’t sell your information and we don’t share it for advertising. We use service providers (“processors”) who act on our instructions:
- Google (Firebase): app crash reports, app performance data, notifications and (if you turn them on) usage statistics. Google Analytics (GA4), if you accept statistics cookies on the website.
- Apple and Google: delivering push notifications to iPhones and Android phones (Apple Push Notification service and Firebase Cloud Messaging); the App Store and Google Play; and the place-name lookup for the weather (section 7.5).
- Cloudflare: the website’s delivery and security, its location headers, and the Turnstile check on forms.
- Microsoft (Microsoft 365): sends the website’s emails from our [email protected] mailbox.
- Enthuse, WGM and our text-to-give provider: donations (section 3.5). Street Kids Direct is the controller for these.
- Open-Meteo and postcodes.io: the weather (section 7.5).
- Marfeel: website audience measurement, loaded only if you accept statistics cookies. It measures which pages are read and for how long, the type of device and browser, and an anonymous identifier kept in a cookie.
- YouTube (Google): videos on the site, which load only when you allow marketing cookies.
- Our hosting and streaming providers: they see your IP address when you load the site or play the stream. The website and Digital Admin run on our own hosting, on servers in the UK. Song and show pictures are loaded from Digital Admin.
- Complianz: runs the website’s cookie banner. It keeps your choice in a cookie on your device and a record of it on our site; nothing is sent to Complianz.
- Street Kids Direct: donation information and, where relevant, volunteer applications.
- Authorities, if the law requires it, and our professional advisers.
6. International transfers
Some of these providers (Google, Microsoft, Cloudflare, Apple, Marfeel, Open-Meteo) are based or process data outside the UK, including in the United States. When that happens we rely on the UK’s adequacy regulations (including the UK-US data bridge for certified US companies) or on standard contract clauses that give your information equivalent protection. Our own website and Digital Admin servers are in the UK. You can ask us for details.
7. The Radio Christmas app
This section covers the iPhone and iPad app, the Android app, Apple TV, CarPlay and Android Auto. The web player at radiochristmas.co.uk/players/ is covered in section 7.7.
There are no accounts, no ad networks and no tracking. The only adverts are the station’s on-air ones, heard in the live stream. The app doesn’t collect your name or email, your contacts or your photos. We don’t use an advertising ID.
7.1 What the app sends
- To play the station and show you content, the app connects to our streaming servers and to Digital Admin (our station system). Like any connection, they see your IP address. The app asks for the station’s name, the schedule, the now-playing information and the last-played song list. Searching “Last played” sends your search words to Digital Admin. Song artwork loads from the artwork provider’s servers.
- Things that stay on your device: your settings, your weather place, your notifications inbox, reminders you set for shows, and recently loaded content kept so the app works offline. None of this is sent to us.
- Siri, CarPlay, Android Auto, widgets and the lock screen just control playback and show what’s on air. When you say “play Radio Christmas”, Apple or Google handles your voice. The app only receives the request to play.
7.2 Usage statistics are off until you turn them on
Settings > Privacy > Share Anonymous Usage Data is off until you switch it on. If you do, the app sends Google (Firebase Analytics) which screens you open, when you start and stop the live stream, a random, pseudonymous identifier for your install (it is not your name, but it does tell us when the same install comes back) and, from your IP address, a rough area (town or region). It doesn’t send your name, email or exact location, and we don’t link it to you or try to work out who you are. We use it to see which parts of the app are used so we can improve it. Usage statistics are kept for 2 months, then deleted. Turn it off at any time in the same place; nothing more is sent after that.
7.3 Crash reports
When the app has a problem, it sends Google (Firebase Crashlytics) a report of what went wrong: the error, your device model, system and app version, a random install identifier and how quickly the app started. It doesn’t include your name or anything that identifies you. This is on by default, so that we can fix faults. To turn it off, go to Settings > Privacy > Send Crash Reports. Crash reports are kept for 90 days.
7.4 Notifications and topics
Notifications are off until you turn them on. If you do, your phone gives Google’s Firebase Cloud Messaging a notification address (a “token”) and a Firebase installation ID. Apple (on iPhone) or Google (on Android) then delivers the notifications. We also send Firebase the topics you follow (for example, show reminders or news), and whether you are on iPhone or Android (so we can send you the right messages). Google’s Firebase software also receives basic details such as your phone model and system version when it registers your phone. To show past notifications in your inbox, the app asks Digital Admin for those sent to your topics. It sends the topic names and whether you are on iPhone or Android, not your token. Turn notifications off in the app or in your phone’s settings and we stop sending; the app stops using the token. Removing the app also ends it. We can’t send a notification to a named person, only to topics and to everyone.
7.5 Weather and your location
The weather on Live is optional. If you choose Use Current Location and your phone’s permission, the app sends your location rounded to about 1 km to Open-Meteo to get the forecast, and to Apple’s (iPhone) or Google’s (Android) place-name service to find your town. If you type a town or postcode instead, that text goes to Open-Meteo, or postcodes.io for UK postcodes. We don’t store your location. You can turn off the permission in your phone’s settings, or use a typed place. Your reminders for shows are kept and scheduled on your phone only; they are not sent to us.
7.6 Links out of the app
When you open a link (the website, a donation page, a social account, Apple Music), you leave the app and that site’s own policy applies. Donations always open in your phone’s browser.
7.7 The web player
The web player (radiochristmas.co.uk/players/radio-christmas) plays the live station and shows what’s on. It needs your IP address to stream, as above. It doesn’t use accounts or advertising. It stores your settings in your browser.
The web player is a separate page from the rest of our website. It doesn’t run Google Analytics, Marfeel or any other statistics or advertising tool, and it doesn’t show the cookie banner. If you use it on an Android phone, a “Get the app” bar may appear. If you’ve allowed Preferences cookies on our website, the player remembers for 30 days (in your browser’s storage) that you closed the bar; otherwise it only remembers for that visit.
7.8 Apple TV
The Apple TV app plays the stream and shows the schedule, with no accounts. It talks to the same servers as the phone app (section 7.1). The Apple TV app is built without Firebase, so it sends no usage statistics, no crash reports and no push notifications.
7.9 Deleting your app data
We don’t hold an account for you, so there isn’t one to delete.
- On your device: delete the app to remove everything it stored. You can clear its data in your phone’s settings, or turn off notifications, usage data and crash reports in the app.
- Usage statistics (only if you turned them on) and crash reports are not linked to your name or contact details.
- Turning them off in Settings > Privacy stops them.
- Deleting the app removes its random identifier from your device.
- What has already been collected is deleted automatically after the periods in section 8.
- Anything you have sent us, such as messages or volunteer applications, is held with your name and email. Write to [email protected] and we will delete it (section 11).
7.10 The app’s store labels
The “App Privacy” label on Apple’s App Store and the “Data safety” section on Google Play describe the same things as this section. If they ever differ from this policy, tell us.
8. How long we keep your information
| Information | How long |
|---|---|
| Messages from the contact forms | 12 months, then deleted automatically. |
| Your email address and phone number on a message | 30 days (so presenters’ replies work), then removed from the message. |
| Volunteer applications | If we don’t take you on, a year after we decide. If you volunteer with us, for as long as you do and a year after. |
| Donation and Gift Aid records | Held by Street Kids Direct as long as the law requires (for Gift Aid, at least six years). See its policy. |
| Website server logs and Cloudflare logs | Kept for a short time for security and fault-finding, then deleted automatically. |
| App usage statistics | 2 months, then deleted. |
| App crash reports | 90 days, then deleted. |
| Notification token and topics | Until you turn notifications off or remove the app; Firebase drops tokens that are no longer used. A token that hasn’t been used for 270 days expires. |
| Cookies | As listed, with expiry times, in our Cookie Policy (https://radiochristmas.co.uk/cookies). |
| Calls, WhatsApp messages, texts and emails to the studio | Up to 12 months, then deleted. |
9. Cookies and similar technologies
9.1 The website
A cookie banner (run by Complianz) asks you to Accept or Deny cookies when you first visit, and lets you choose by category. You can change your mind at any time using “Manage consent” on the site. Nothing in the optional categories loads before you agree.
- Functional (always on): what the site needs to work, such as remembering your cookie choice.
- Preferences (if you allow): your time zone (cookie
skdr_tz, one year, so we show times in your zone) and whether you closed the “Get the app” bar (kept in your browser’s storage for 30 days; without your consent it lasts only for that visit). - Statistics (if you allow): Google Analytics (GA4) and Marfeel, which measure how people use the site.
- Marketing (if you allow): YouTube videos. Without your permission a video shows a placeholder with a link instead of loading.
The full list, with expiry times, is in our Cookie Policy. You can also block cookies in your browser; the site still works, but some preferences won’t be remembered. Statistics cookies (Google Analytics and Marfeel) are only set after you accept them in the banner.
Embedded content from other sites, such as videos, behaves as if you had visited that site, and they may use their own cookies.
9.2 The apps
The apps don’t use cookies. They store your settings and cached content on your device (the equivalent of local storage), and, with your permission, a notification token. The web player stores settings in your browser’s storage. Nothing on the apps tracks you across other apps or websites.
10. Children
Radio Christmas is a family-friendly station, and children listen. The apps and the web player don’t ask for your name or age, and there is nothing in them that identifies you.
There is no age limit on the public forms (messages, requests and contact). They collect only what someone chooses to send. We don’t ask for a date of birth, and we ask you not to send anything you wouldn’t want us to keep (see section 8 for how long messages are kept).
Young volunteers
Young people under 18 can apply to volunteer, so for volunteer applications we do collect information about young people: the name, email address, phone number (if given), note and roles in section 3.3. We use it only to consider the application and to get in touch, we share it only with the team handling volunteers, and we take extra care with it. There is no minimum age, but if you are under 16 we need your parent’s or guardian’s consent before going ahead, and we may contact them. A young person’s application is kept for the same time as anyone else’s (section 8).
If you think a child has sent us details they shouldn’t have, or you are a parent or guardian and want to see or delete a young person’s application, write to [email protected] and we will deal with it promptly.
11. Your rights
Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:
- see the personal information we hold about you;
- correct anything that is wrong;
- delete your information;
- restrict how we use it, or object to us using it, including for statistics;
- move the information you gave us to someone else, where that applies;
- withdraw your consent at any time (turn off usage statistics, crash reports or notifications in the app, change the cookie banner, or tell us).
To use any of these, email [email protected] and tell us what you want, and the name and email you used (and the show or date of a message if you can). We may ask you to prove who you are before we hand anything over. We’ll reply within one month. It’s free, unless the request is clearly unreasonable or repeated.
For donations, write to Street Kids Direct (see its privacy policy). We’ll pass on anything sent to us.
12. Complaints
If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your information, please tell us first at [email protected] and we’ll try to put it right. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO): ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint, telephone 0303 123 1113.
13. Changes to this policy
We’ll update this page when what we do changes, and change the date at the top. If the change matters (for example, a new kind of data in the app), we’ll tell you in the app or on the site. Earlier versions are available on request.
14. Contact
Radio Christmas CIC, 2 Centenary Way, Amersham, Buckinghamshire, HP6 6UL. Email: [email protected].