Once formally established as a charity, the PRA successfully applied for a contract to design and trial the delivery of prison radio training packages in six prisons over six months in 2007 and 2008. As a project it is representative of the contemporary enterprise priorities of prison education, both in terms of the contractualisation of partnership projects and through a focus on employability skills and personal development opportunities for prisoners. Equally, the project is an example of the ways in which the PRA made the economic, cultural and political context work for them, able to justify and formalise activity through demonstrating outputs for the Prison Service and funding agencies, while using the process to develop and define the direction of the organisation.

While in post as BBC Prison Radio Co-ordinator, Maguire presents his role as “essentially micromanaging” the setup of two prison radio stations as well as responding to the growing number of enquiries from prisons around the country. The pilot enabled founders to identify a clear need to support prison radio stations, while at the same time realising that the ability to manage numerous projects was unsustainable (Maguire 2012). The capacity to trial models of delivery and identify opportunities shaped the direction and development of the PRA, achieved through consultation with a growing number of partner prisons and external organisations. The inaugural PRA Chair, Tilley (2012), outlines the initial aims of the charity as providing advice and guidance to existing and developing prison radio projects across the prison estate: “there were other pockets of prison radio activity across the country, but there was no single organisation that was showing best practice and networking each of these projects”.

Immediately following the PRA's launch and Maguire’s appointment as Chief Executive, the charity was primarily concerned with continuing the momentum and supporting prison radio stations. During this stage, two major projects emerged, with the organisation building on the activity in the West Midlands, as well as exploring possibilities at HMP Brixton in London. Led by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), the West Midlands pilot was expanded through a regional project that resulted in the PRA's first formal partnership and government contract to test models of best practice in prison radio training.