Cork's 96FM

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96FM is a Cork-based radio station owned by UTV Radio.

[edit] History

What is now Cork's 96FM initially broadcast under the name 'Radio South' when it opened at midday on Thursday August 10, 1989. It was a name however which would last for less than a year. Radio South was the third of the newly licensed commercial stations to come on air in the country (Dublin's Capital Radio and Mayo's Mid West Radio being first and second respectively).

The first voice heard on air was the station’s first Head of Programming Frank Murphy who introduced the new station in both Irish and English. This was followed by Neil Prendeville's first show with the first song played being "A New Flame" by Simply Red – a chart hit at the time. The then Lord Mayor of Cork - Councillor Chrissie Aherne, who had been flown by helicopter to the station's studio (located just to the north of the city at Whites Cross), then officially opened the station for business.

The first day's broadcasting featured several outside broadcasts from across the coverage area. Local dignitaries, were invited by the station to an event that night in Cork's Imperial Hotel which was attended by several hundred people. The attendance included the then chairman of the IRTC (now the BCI) former Supreme Court Judge Seamus Henchy.

Most of the original voices on the new station were familiar ones to many Cork listeners; Tadgh Dolan was formerly of RTE's local radio service, and Neil Prendeville, Joe O’Reilly, Gerry McLoughlin and others had formerly been heard on now defunct local pirate stations, such as ERI. The initial Radio South provided a wide ranging format, and a number of special interest programmes, including an hour-long country music show at 6 O’Clock every weeknight presented by local country music authority Roger Ryan. Joe O'Reilly presented the 'Oldies and Irish' show on Sundays, a vestige from Radio ERI, the major pirate station in the area which closed at the end of 1988. Radio South broadcast 24 hours a day from the outset, unlike many other of the new local stations who closed overnight in their early days.

Unlike independent local stations elsewhere in the country, Radio South faced competition from an RTE local radio opt-out service for the Cork area which was well regarded for its coverage of current affairs and sports, especially by older listeners. (However the audience for the RTE service dwindled with time and was eventually closed in 1999). Print media constituted major competition to local radio in Cork, with the then Cork Examiner and Evening Echo daily newspapers based in the city. There was also competition for advertising from a (now defunct) local TV service available on the cable TV service in the city.

Mediocre listenership figures for Radio South, lead to a relaunch in July 1990 and a name change to 'Hits and Memories 96FM'. The station was now under a 'Classic Hits' format imported from Australia, similar to that of the by then successful 'Classic Hits 98FM' in Dublin. By this stage the original special interest programmes of Radio South were gone (except the ‘Oldies and Irish’ show on Sundays which, thanks to public support, survived the upheaval).

The new format lead to a gradual increase in listenership. In 1991, a 'merge-over' took place with 96FM and the Mallow-based County Sound 103FM coming under a common ownership. Some years later, the station moved premises from the rural Whites Cross (the former Radio ERI studios) to a city centre location at Patrick's Place, in a building which was formerly a school. The station named its new premises 'Broadcasting House'. The late 1990s lead to the complete discarding of the 'Hits and Memories' moniker, and some programming changes, with nighttime programmes to appeal to younger listeners (not heard in Cork since the Radio South days) being introduced.

The late 1990s and early 2000s saw the introduction of new transmitters to provide practically full coverage of the county (the original licence was for Cork city and part of the county, but this was later extended to allow the whole county to be covered.) The original Radio South was founded by four former journalists of the Cork Examiner newspaper, with backing from a number of Cork business people. The ownership structure of the station changed over the years, culminating in the UTV buyout of both 96FM and 103FM in 2001.