Aircheck UK

Aircheck UK - Lothian, Fife, Kinross & Edinnburghshire

UPDATED: 18/12/2004

Want to go International? Click here!

Want to go back to the UK home page? Click here

Click here to return to the AIRCHECK home page

Add your own memories and comments on these stations! E-mail us to personalise this page!

SCOTLAND

AIRCHECK Lothian, Fife, Kinross & Edinburghshire

BBC LOCAL RADIO: BBC Radio Scotland provides a national service on FM frequencies 92-95FM & 810 MW. The Gaelic service BBC Radio nan Gaidheal broadcasts on 103.5 - 105FM.

COMMERCIAL: LOCAL (ILR)

RADIO FORTH / RADIO FORTH FM / FORTH FM / FORTH 1: First appearing as far back as 8:00am, 22nd January 1975, this is the ILR station primarily for Edinburgh and surrounding areas. Today, it is part of Scottish Radio Holdings, and broadcasts from studios at the aptly named Forth House, in Forth Street, Edinburgh with a service of chart and contemporary hits, news and information. It's transmission radius spans a 'C' shape from Dunbar to the extreme lower east, through to Grangemouth and Falkirk in the extreme inland west, and back up and around to Dunfermline, Cowdenbeath and Cupar to the north and extreme upper east back out towards the coast. It's target audience is the 15-35 age group. It now has three transmitters: 97.6 (Edinburgh), 97.4 (Edinburgh), and 102.2 FM (Penicuik). A little known fact is that Radio Forth was the first home of Mark Goodier back in 1980.

RADIO FORTH / MAX AM / FORTH AM / FORTH 2: After the mass splitting of services and the ending of simulcasting by radio stations, it was February 1990 when FM became Radio Forth FM and AM became Max AM. The service also had the responsibility of looking after the listeners of Radio Borders when it went off-air. The next name change as the 90s hit middle age and Forth AM took over. Today, Forth 2, it's name since 2001, on 1152AM, continues on it's AM frequency with a mix of music from four classic decades for the over 35s, taking on where it's FM sister station leaves off. It features the parent group's prominent sports show Superscoreboard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

KINGDOM FM: Certainly in Scottish word association terms, thinking of Scotland and the term 'Kingdom' should instantly make you think of 'The Kingdom Of Fife'. So it seems appropriate that a local radio station for the area be called Kingdom FM. Kingdom FM Radio Ltd was awarded it's licence on 2nd April 1998, and launched 5th October 1998 from studios at Haig House on the Haig Business Park in Markinch with a format of 'Greatest hits ever & today's best music, local news, information and community involvement'. It started off being owned by a group of local shareholders, however back in November 2001, Scottish Radio Holdings and the Kingdom management agreed for SRH to take 25% of the share capital of the station for £1m in cash, as agreed by the shareholders of the owners at the time The Wireless Group (TWG). This, along with an agreement for SRH to take TWG's total share of Solent regional station, allowed to TWG to repay it's banking debts.

As the UK arguably becomes more mountainous as you continue north, it would be reasonable to suggest that several transmitters are needed for this radio station - Dunfermline is serviced on 95.2, Kirkcaldy 96.6, Glenrothes 96.1, and two transmitters for Fife, 106.3 & 105.4FM. 2002 RAJAR audience figures showed a listenership of 92,400 people listening for around 11 hours a week, a 38% reach and 21% share. The station has it's own charity campaign, 'Kingdom Kids' which raises and distributes funds to groups who support under privileged children and those who support positive child development. www.kingdomfm.co.uk

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RIVER FM: In October 2002, the Radio Authority advertised a new local radio licence for West Lothian. This wasn't the first time for a new local station. In 1990, an AM station Radio West Lothian / RWL 1368AM went on, and came off-air. See below for more on this issue (but not a lot more!!) The 2002 advertisement was for a service to cover as much of the West Lothian area of Central Scotland as technicalities would allow. The closing date for applications was Tuesday 28th January 2003, with applicants required to pay a non-refundable application fee of £1,500.

Just one applicant entered the running. Almond Radio Ltd, broadcasting as River FM proposed a full time 24 hour, seven days a week service focusing on the people, (primarily those over 25) and communities of West Lothian, with extensive coverage of local news, people, sports and community issues and a blend of music reflecting the demographics of the county. They spent four years researching, consulting, promoting and carrying out short term restricted service licence broadcasts prior to applying the full time licence.

On 11th April 2003, the sole applicant was awarded the licence after submitting satisfactory documentation (totalling over 500 pages) which included hundreds of letters of support. In making their decision, the Radio Authority remarked on the station's history, and the fact that the majority of the members live within the station's broadcast area. One of the major shareholders in the station is radio group UKRD operators of North Lanarkshire station Clan FM.

Prior to launch, the station management made a commitment to providing locally originated programming from 7:00am to 7:00pm weekdays and from 8:00am to 2:00pm at weekends. Speech content is from 15-35% during weekday daytime hours, dropping to 10-15% from 7:00pm-6:00am. News bulletins, produced locally, but incorporating elements of the national Independent Radio News service, and IRN main bulletins at other times, feature alongside sports bulletins on the half-hour in weekdays. The station has formed strong links with local newspaper the West Lothian Courier, with which news stories are pooled, and with which community stories are cross-promoted. River FM plays music from the 1960s to current chart, with a particular emphasis on tracks from the 1990s. Locally originated Scottish music is also featured during general music programming, and there are four specialist shows at weekends, including dance, rock and country. The RA, in making their decision, felt that the programming proposals made by the station management would significantly broaden listener choice and would cater effectively for the tastes and interests of the audience.

River FM initially planned a launch in the Summer of 2003 to serve West Lothian, between Edinburgh and Glasgow. On Wednesday 3rd September 2003, pre-launch, a business breakfast was held in which the station manager, ex-Clyde 1, Scot FM and Northsound Radio's Gerry Burke, said that the station would focus on having good fun. Later, at 7:00am, the station launched with a welcome message from the Chairman of the board Paul Gerbal. Then, the first presenter, 'Wee Fat Bob' announced "Live from Almondvale, this is Wee Fat Bob and River FM". As with most radio station launches, there has to be a bit of relativity, and Billy Joel's 'River Of Dreams' was the first tune heard. The station broadcasts on 103.4 for the southern part of it's broadcast area, and in the SALLIE waveband range of 107.7FM for Linlithgow. The launch was marked by the release of 107 helium filled balloons and the hillside creation of the the number 3 by pupils of St. Ninian's Primary School, this being in relation to the station's launch date. Programmes come from studios based at Livingston FC's stadium.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RADIO TAY / TAY FM: It was the 17th October 1980 when what was then Radio Tay began broadcasting to Perth and Dundee. It originally launched under simulcasting, i.e. broadcasting the same service on both AM & FM. Upon launch, the station's presenters were criticised for being 'Dundonian' - less professional that national radio presenters who were actually better and different than that emanating from radios playing the Radio Tay service.

In 1983, the station was heard in London! But this wasn't a wierd atmospheric quirk. Scottish ILR stations took out a Restricted Service Licence in Central London for four weeks using 100.5FM. Radio Clyde, Forth, West Sound, Borders, North Sound, Central Radio, Moray Firth Radio and Radio Tay programming aired, targeted at London advertising execs who would not normally hear the Scottish stations, with the aim to get them to send some business northwards.

Whilst other UK commercial radio stations had split a long time ago, it wasn't until 9th January 1995 that Radio Tay split into separate FM & AM services, giving the Dundee area, around 160,000 a choice of listening. TAY FM continued on with the usual pop hit radio so recognisable and so traditional on the band. Now owned by Scottish Radio Holdings, it originally started out as a completely separate station - however, in the 1980s, Radio Tay merged with neighbouring Radio Forth, who in-turn also owned Radio Borders - an attractive acquisitional target - and having acquired Aberdeen's Northsound Radio SRH took over Forth, Tay & Borders in 1992.

December 2000 saw the announcement of the start of takeover talks.. The mother group received approaches from a number of bodies and entered talks with a view to receiving an offer. In November of 2000, SRH was the target of a stock market raid by the other big Scottish radio group SMG, owner of the two major television channels. Shares in SRH rose and speculation was rife and the group appointed an investment banker to make a study of the group's strategies. Groups linked with a takeover included SMG, EMAP & Capital Radio.

However, SRH has continued under it's own steam, and Tay FM now operates on two frequencies - 102.8 for Dundee and 96.4 for Perth, broadcasting from studios at 6 North Isla Street in Dundee with a service of chart hits, AOR music, dance, sport, news and information. www.radiotay.co.uk

RADIO TAY / TAY AM: It was the 17th October 1980 when what was then Radio Tay began broadcasting to Perth and Dundee. It originally launched under simulcasting, i.e. broadcasting the same service on both AM & FM. Upon launch, the station's presenters were criticised for being 'Dundonian' - less professional that national radio presenters who were actually better and different than that emanating from radios playing the Radio Tay service.

Whilst other UK commercial radio stations had split a long time ago, it wasn't until 9th January 1995 that Radio Tay split into separate FM & AM services, giving the Dundee area, totalling around 160,000 a choice of listening. TAY AM continued on with the usual classic hit and oldies format so recognisable and so traditional on the band. Now owned by Scottish Radio Holdings, it originally started out as a completely separate station - however, in the 1980s, Radio Tay merged with neighbouring Radio Forth, who in-turn also owned Radio Borders - an attractive acquisitional target - and having acquired Aberdeen's Northsound Radio SRH took over Forth, Tay & Borders in 1992.

However, SRH has continued under it's own steam, and Tay AM now operates on two frequencies - 1161 AM for Dundee and 1584 for Perth, broadcasting from studios at 6 North Isla Street in Dundee with a service of chart & classic hits, sport, news and information - it now reaches an estimated 200,000 people across Tayside, Perthshire and North East Fife. www.radiotay.co.uk

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RADIO WEST LOTHIAN / RWL 1368AM: Probably one of the shortest lived radio station, Radio West Lothian came on-air and went off-air in 1990. Efforts to research the rapid rise and demise of the station have come to nothing. We'd be glad to receive details to place here if you know anything! E-mail us for a site credit!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

COMMERCIAL: REGIONAL (IRR):

BEAT FM / BEAT 106 serves Central Scotland with 'fresh and innovative music' from studios at Four Winds Pavilion, at Glasgow's Pacific Quay using two frequencies 105.7 & 106.1FM. Broadcasting from the station commenced on 19th November 1999. The station is a recent acquisition for Capital Radio Group who have re-branded it with the corporate colours and typeface. Appealing to a youth audience, aged 15 to 24, the station broadcasts a wide range of music from trance to rock, with an evening focus on dance music. According to RAJAR Wave 3 results 2002, Beat 106 reaches 385,000 of it's total survey audience (15%) and has a listening share of 5.5%.

Initial research carried out prior to launch indicated that none of the existing services were catering for the target audience - Radio 1 was seen as being metropolitan, with a strong bias to Southern England. Local commercial stations were seen as narrow-minded and parochial, commanding loyalty largely through inertia. Both sets of stations attracted criticism for 'poppy, teenybob' music played. There was a demand for a more serious-minded rock and dance music policy - and Beat 106 aimed to fill this void. In the first three months after launch, the station achieved an adult reach of over three hundred thousand people (13% of the populus), and 42% of 15-24 year olds - making it the most successful regional radio launch ever in the UK. This success was put down to it's innovative marketing campaign. TTwo tongue-in-cheek TV ads were broadcast which dramatised the consequences of listening to a station that foregrounds music - you simply don't want anything to interrupt it. The TV campaign ran alongside bill board posters and on the sides and backs of buses.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SCOT FM / REAL RADIO SCOTLAND: Having won the regional radio licence for Central Scotland, Independent Radio Group began operating Scot FM on the 16th September 1994 from dual studios in Edinburgh and Glasgow, serving almost 3m potential listeners. It was the first regional radio licence to be awarded north of the border, transmitting on two frequencies: 100.3 & 101.1FM. In December 1999, The Wireless Group purchased the station for £10m when it acquired IRG.

One of the most openly controversial moments of the station's history was the sacking of station presenter Mark Judge in December 2000 - this is reported to have been due to the failure to press the 7-second delay button during the airing of an abusive telephone caller - resulting in the obscenities being transmitted as they happened during a 1-6am weekday overnight show. If the sacking of a presenter were applicable in all similar circumstances nationally, then many more jocks would have been sacked than actually have been. In the same year, it is thought Scot FM lost £900,000 on turnover of £3.7m during the Millennium year.

By August of the following year, the Radio Authority announced it would be renewing the licence held by Scot FM Ltd, running for a further eight years from 16th September 2001, to 15th September 2009. The renewal was made due to the station's commitment to supplying a feed on the Central Scotland regional digital platform. Broadcasting Act '96 terms state a local licence holder can apply for automatic renewal if it is providing or is going to provide a digital programme service locally.

The Wireless Group were going through some considerable financial difficulties during 2001, but as things worsened, TWG Chairman Kelvin MacKenzie sold the station in a move of genius, to the Guardian Media Group for £25.5m (with approval from the Radio Authority) in June 2001 - a net profit of £15m. The sale was unexpected in radio circles, with most insiders expecting TWG to sell smaller stations, which totalled 18 at the time, but nevertheless Scot FM's sale followed a fierce ownership battle between GMG, Chrysalis and the locally dominant Scottish Radio Holdings during an auction which was arranged for maximum results by TWG. It is believed that selling just one large station cleared TWG's debts in one go and allowed it to work on it's development of talkSPORT and it's in-roads into digital radio. Meanwhile both losers are understood to have offered more for the station but are believed not to be able to have presented a quick deal. It is believed that Chrysalis needed more time to gather funding whilst SRH may have caused competition concerns in a market they already dominated. GMG were able to complete a deal quickly using existing capital, and in line with it's intentions to purchase stations and further roll out the Real Radio brand which was already established in Wales & Yorkshire. GMG closed Scot FM on 21st December 2001 and re-launched it as Real Radio Scotland on 8th January 2002.

HOSPITAL RADIO:

RSL:

EDINBURGH: RED FM: Operating on a Radio Authority RSL, this station first came to air at 6am on Friday 5th December 2003, promising to be a station "for Edinburgh and about Edinburgh". It was launched by UK and Scottish TV celebrity Carol Smillie alongside station founder, manager and presenter Donny Hughes. Targeting the over 30s, with music, competitions, news and information aired 24 hours a day, the station management are applying for a full time licence (see below). Red FM's plans are significantly advanced. The station is backed by Fife based Kingdom FM. The station says that whilst there are other radio stations in the area covering Edinburgh, none specifically cover the City itself. They aim to be able to offer advertisers a more audience specific service as well as a more focused, personal service for the people who live and work in or around the City.

Programmes for the RSL station emanated from new modern studios based within the Craighouse Campus of Napier University. Donny Hughes was previously both a presenter and station manager at Radio Forth and more recently Head of Music for Scottish regional station Scot FM (now Real Radio). Also on the team, is Bill Young, his experience stemming from Scot FM, Real Radio and talkSPORT - he presented weekday mornings and lunchtimes on Red FM's inaugural broadcast, whilst Forth, Clyde, QFM and Lanarkshire's Clan FM's Mike Arthur was allocated to afternoons. At the weekends, Bill Young offered his enthusiasm for sports, whilst local club DJ Lenny Love appeared, boasting his claim to fame as having been a regular babysitter for Kylie & Dannii Minogue's mum & dad! www.redfm1069.co.uk

DIGITAL:

THE FUTURE: A total of 12 applications were received by broadcast regulator OFCOM for a new radio licence to cover Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth. On 24th June, OFCOM began it's previously announced plans to advertise new radio licence. This licence was the first to be offered by the newly formed body. This is a particularly wide-reaching licence, reaching just under 1m adults - around 940,000 to be precise. The exact coverage will depend on the broadcast site chosen by the group awarded the licence. The frequency to be used for this service will very much depend on the results of international clearance for the 107.0 frequency officially allocated by OFCOM. It's expected that the site to be used for the transmitter will be at Craigkelly, 120m above ground level and with 10kW total output omni-directionally.

Edinburgh is currently served by four stations - Forth 1 (97.3, 97.6 and 102.2FM), Forth 2 (1548AM), Beat 106 (106.1 & 105.7FM) and Real Radio Scotland (101.1 & 100.3FM). Applications for this considerably sized licence, had to be received at OFCOM's offices by 5:00pm on Thursday 23rd September 2004 along with a non-refundable deposit of £5,000.

Interestingly, London-based Capital Radio initially entered the bidding line-up having reported a slight 3% increase in revenues up to March 2004. It bought Beat 106 for £34m four years ago, and announced it's intentions by station that it saw Edinburgh as an "incredibly attractive market" fitting in with the group's strategy of targeting metropolitan areas. At the closing date, there was no Capital Radio bid or any known backing to a bidder.

OFCOM took three months to make their decision of who to award a licence to, that could be worth around £15m to the lucky winner. Interestingly, neither Capital or GWR have ever won a licence under former regulator The Radio Authority - whilst glitz and glamour were the key to applying for RA licences, it's believed OFCOM were looking for less glitz and glamour and more substance to applications received for this area.

In December 2004, Dunedin FM beat off what has been described as the stiff opposition of 11 other applicants to become the first ever commercial all-speech radio station in Edinburgh. Owned in full by The Wireless Group (TWG), the new service will provide 24-hour speech radio with a prominence of local news, national and international news and information. It will serve the City of Edinburgh and the area of the Firth Of Forth consisting of an adult population of 940,000. Again, the exact total audience will be determined by the transmitter location and technical statistics. Although a frequency of 107.0 has been selected by OFCOM, the final go-ahead is subject to an international agreement on it's use.

Dunedin FM Ltd "DUNEDIN FM" (The Wireless Group (TWG)): TWG, operators of stations such as talkSPORT, Signal 1 and 2, propose a 24-hour speech station with prominence of local news, national and international news and information for the people of Edinburgh and the surrounding area. TWG have been carrying out extensive research throughout 2004 to fine tune the format which they feel is most likely to succeed. The prime objective is to give the station a local feel, commitment and sound. Their research has shown that people want to be confident that their local station will air their concerns, issues and ambitions for the area. A strong local base comes from TWG's Development Director, Calum Macauley, Bid Chairman David Mathewson, and Scottish advertising expert Andy Crummey, who all live locally.

Chairman and Chief Exec of TWG Kelvin McKenzie has expressed his delight at OFCOM's award: "I'm enormously grateful to OFCOM for having the vision to grant a speech licence for Edinburgh. This will be the first local speech licence to be granted since LBC was launched 31 years ago - and it's first first one ever outside London. The people of Edinburgh have very strong and intelligent views and now they will have a very strong station that will put them to air in a world where people feel increasingly disenfranchised. Speech stations give you a voice." The award gives TWG two of only three speech radio licences in the UK. The group aims to use it's experience and expertise to levels of considerable success. Group Director of Development, Edinburgh man Calum Macalay is already chomping at the bit to get on air: "We cannot wait to give Edinburgh it's first taste of commercial speech radio. The prime objective is to give the station a local feel, commitment and sound. It's quite clear that people want to be confident that their local radio station will air their concerns, issues and ambitions for the area.

The unsuccessful applications received were from::

The Arrow (Edinburgh) Limited 'ARROW 107" (Chrysalis Radio): Chrysalis, owner and operator of the Heart brand for example, proposed to provide the area's first adult rock station featuring classic songs from the legends of rock, combined with great tracks from more contemporary acts, as well as showcasing Edinburgh's live music scene and being the place to discover the great rock bands of the future.

Edinburgh City Beat Limited "EDINBURGH CITY BEAT 107FM" (CN Radio): CN, operators of Centre FM, Oak 107 and Belfast CityBeat amongst others, offered an Adult Contemporary Rock station with news, information and features of particular relevance to Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh CityBeat would have been very much the voice of the area. Deputy Lord Provost of Edinburgh, Steve Cardownie, was Chairman for their bid. Mr. Cardownie has served on the local council for well over a decade and takes an active part in the local arts scene - he's become known locally as the 'Festival Tsar' such is the commitment to the scene - he holds key posts on a plethora of local events and venues including the Edinburgh Tattoo and many local Theatres. He was elected as an Executive for Culture and Leisure in May 2004 and became Deputy Lord Provost in May 2003. CN Radio Group have spent a considerable amount of time in planning it's application and have announced the results of detailed research which show that it's proposals extend choice for both listeners and advertisers. CN felt that they have sufficient knowledge, resource, management capability and structure to make a new station a real success.

Edinburgh Local Radio Ltd "107 FM THE ROCK" (GWR): A rock music station with tracks from the last 40 years, along with intelligent and relevant news, entertaining and lifestyle speech targeted at an audience of 35 - 54 year olds in the Edinburgh area. In June 2004, GWR Group began a campaign to promote it's plans to apply for a new Edinburgh radio licence by asking City residents what type of station it wants to hear (...sounds familiar...Ed). This was done via a survey and a public meeting - with results concluding that Edinburgh folk want a classic and contemporary rock stations. The radio group already runs rock brands under the name of Planet Rock and The Storm which can be heard on selected digital radio networks. As a result, GWR submitted an application for 107 FM The Rock. The group was confident that it had a winning format.

107 FM The Rock would have been broadcasting from and for Edinburgh, including locally originated sounds from resident groups, bands and artists. Other musical output was set to include everything from Bowie to Led Zep, and Oasis to Red Hot Chilli Peppers with a target age group of 35-55 year olds. Group Exec Ralph Bernard said that the local market was vibrant and diverse and "...knows what it wants. Any new station faces challenges, but we're confident that we have listened to what our future listeners want and can bring a fantastic new station to Edinburgh."

Local connections were laid down in preparation for the bid with a team in contact with head office based directors. The locally based committee included representatives from the local Chamber of Commerce, a local music retailer, concert promoter and a comedy scene promoter who would have been working with Roger Lewis, GWR's MD and PC for Classic FM, Dirk Anthony MD of GWR's on-air content division 'Creation' and sales house (Opus) MD Duncan George.

Edinburgh Radio Ltd "CASTLE FM": (Group unknown): A stylish mix of gold music, relevant news and information and lively speech and debate, aimed primarily at those aged 45-64, with a distinctive Edinburgh focus. Castle FM, was packed with well known names - but GMG's John Myers gave them no chance - saying that he predicted that a small firm wouldn't win, referring to a controversial sale of Beat 106 four years ago to larger owners. However, it's the activities of this group that have led to the licence being advertised. Over 2 years were spent lobbying former broadcast regulator - The Radio Authority. The efforts did not go un-rewarded as media giant EMAP backed the bid, holding a 19.9% stake in the outfit. The station manager was Donny Hughes, formerly with Scot FM and Radio Forth. If it had been successful, it would have sought £1m worth of set-up costs from directors and shareholders.

4Life FM Ltd "4LiFE FM" (Celador Radio Broadcasting Ltd / Channel 4): From the makers of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire' - Celador, (who have teamed up with UBC, operators of Classic Gold) and the ambitious Channel 4 Television, came a proposal for a service towards adults aged 40+ based upon a broad mix of music, spoken word entertainment, news and local information. It would have carried a higher-than-average speech to music ratio in order to comprehensively reflect the issues that were deemed important to the target audience. If you were wondering whether Chris Tarrant would ever set foot in radio land again after he stepped down after 17 years at London's Capital FM, worry no more. The new Celador group is led by experienced radio personnel - UBC's Simon Cole and Tim Blackmore, Jim Moir - BBC Radio 2's former controller, and of course, Chris Tarrant, all with non-executive directorships. Paul Smith is the Chairman of the new company - he fronts a team which already has experience in applying for radio licences, and which also includes Lin Glover, Head of Radio Development at CRB, who brings 20 years worth of experience to the group. The Edinburgh licence was the group's first moves to obtain a licence, eyeing Belfast and Manchester subsequently as advertised. Each application is fronted by a board of directors from each community, with the target audience for each licence being aged over 35.

Real Radio Limited "SMOOTH FM" (Guardian Media Group): Smooth FM first appeared on the radio spectrum in the East Midlands when GMG held a short-term licence in Ilkeston, Derbyshire - this was in preparation for the East MMidlands 2nd regional radio licence, later won by SAGA Radio. More recently, Jazz FM in the North-West, a GMG station, was re-branded as Smooth FM as management looked to expand the brand. The application for the Edinburgh licence was another step on the same line. A music, news and information service was proposed here, targeted at mature adults living in the Edinburgh area. GMG have recently won licences in Yorkshire & Wales and, as a result, was confident it could win the new Edinburgh licence too, irrespective of what were, at the time, unknown guidelines. John Myers said they would become a favourite because "...unlike companies such as SMG & Capital, we've won licences before and have a track record of delivering what we promise to do.".

Red FM Limited "RED 107 (SMG / Kingdom Radio Group / Edinburgh FM Adult Alternative Radio): Eclectic music mainly for adults aged 35+, with distinctive, intelligent speech reflecting Edinburgh's diverse city life. SMG gave up moves to merge with SRH in January 2004 and sold it's 28% share in SRH to EMAP, but said it was keen to take control following a recent pick up in advertising and having turned around AM & London FM station Virgin Radio. The campaign for the licence was led by chief drum-beater Donny Hughes. Red FM has already operated under short-term trial licences on three occasions and would have aimed to launch in 2005 if they'd been successful. Donny said: "This is a dream scenario. After five years of lobbying, and having run three trial broadcasts, I am delighted that it's within touching distance. The fact that Red FM is being backed by both SMG and Kingdom, makes me enormously proud, and it's a real vote of confidence in our plans"

Callum Spreng, Corporate Affairs Director of SMG said: "We're determined to grow our radio business and know that this is a great licence to be involved in, so we're delighted to be working with Donny Hughes and Kingdom FM on this bid. Donny is totally committed to the Edinburgh franchise and Kingdom has a strong track record of operating local stations in Scotland. SMG,of course, brings extensive experience of the Scottish media market and the radio sector."

Ian Sewell, Chief Executive of Kingdom FM added: "Growing from one station to three in a few short years has demonstrated our considerable ambition. The Edinburgh licence would further complement this development, and the combination of our local operating skills and SMG's extensive broadcasting knowledge makes this a unique bid that understands the needs and interests of the people of East Central Scotland." Website: www.red1069.co.uk

Saga Radio (Scotland) Limited "SAGA 107FM" (SAGA Radio): A brand moving from strength to strength. After winning both the West (105.7) and East (106.6/101.4) Midlands Regional Licences, they previously added to their portfolio by winning the nearby Glasgow licence which came to air early in mid-2004. The expansion plans continued here, albeit unsuccessfully, with a proposal for melodic, familiar, popular music from the 50s and 60s to the present day, with news, information and lifestyle orientated speech, primarily targeting listeners in the Edinburgh area aged 50 or over. SAGA Radio is led by former Midlands Radio and Radio 106 chief Ron Coles.

Scottish Radio Holdings plc "FORTH 3" (SRH): Already operators of the local Forth 1 & 2 stations (FM & AM respectively), Forth 3 would have been a news and talk radio station for listeners in East Central Scotland, providing a 24-hour, 7 days a week service, reporting and talking about what is happening in Edinburgh, Fife and the Lothians, as well as bringing it's own local perspective on Scotland, The UK, Europe and the World.

Time FM (Edinburgh) Limited "TIME FM": (Sunrise Radio) The 'Time' brand has recently expanded in London under it's new owners and there are now stations on three frequencies in the Capital. The Edinburgh service would have been a full-service, music-led station for listeners in Edinburgh, Fife & the Lothians, aged 45-64, particularly people in their 50s, featuring a wide variety of classic and contemporary music together with regular, high quality local news, comprehensive traffic and travel and a rich range of information and speech feature designed to be distinctive and relevant to the target audience/

Virgin Classic Rock (Edinburgh) Ltd "EDINBURGH'S 107FM VIRGIN CLASSIC ROCK": SMG own the Virgin Radio brand having brought the London station from Chris Evans who in turn bought it from Sir Richard Branson. "Classic Rock" already appears on the digital network across London but the owners are keen to expand the brand, a sister-station to the main Virgin AM national and FM London network. Described as Edinburgh's classic rock radio station, it would have offered an energetic and musically distinctive service reflecting the character, personality and individuality of Scotland's capital city.

Want to go International? Click here!

Want to go back to the UK home page? Click here

Click here to return to the AIRCHECK home page