Dune FM
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (October 2007) |
| Dune FM | |
 |
|
| Broadcast area | Southport, Ormskirk and Sefton |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 107.9 MHz |
| First air date | 12 October 1997 |
| Format | Contemporary |
| Audience share | 2.2% (March 2008, [1]) |
| Power | 100 watts |
| Owner | Niocom Ltd. |
| Website | www.dunefm.co.uk |
Dune FM broadcasts from Southport, covering the town and the surrounding borough of Sefton as well as a large part of neighbouring West Lancashire.
[edit] Origins
Dune FM originally broadcast two RSL temporary licences in 1993. At first the station covered Southport from makeshift studios at the rear of the town's Floral Hall complex, with the Transmitter on the roof of The Southport Theatre, then on the 2nd RSL from make-shift studio's above the Victoria Health & Leasure club, the transmitter that time was at Greenbank High School in the Hillside area of the town.
The station then broadcast two RSLs as "Magic Dune FM" from the Studio's of Hospital Radio Ormskirk General, with a target area of the town and neighbouring West Lancashire and North Sefton, and a transmitter close to the present site of Aughton near Ormskirk.
The Radio Authority eventually advertised a small-scale local licence (known as a Sallie) for the towns of Southport and Ormskirk and the Merseyside borough of Sefton, which Dune fm won following a strong contest with 2 other consortium.
[edit] Full-time licence
The station was originally owned by local shareholders, including Steve Dickson (now head of the local Chamber of Commerce), Local businessman, David Maker, Phil Hilton, a Producer at BBC Radio Merseyside, Local travel company owner John Cooper, and the original owner of Blackpool's Radio Wave, John Barnett
The studios have been on the seaside of the town for the entirety of their professional era, at an old substation building on Victoria Way, re-named 'The Power Station'.
The station was sold to Forward Media in 1999, a new company backed by venture capital finance and also an investment from David Maker. In 2004 the station was bought by The Local Radio Company Plc.
The owners of community station Cheshire FM, Niocom Ltd. bought Dune FM off TLRC in June 2008 following a string of low audience figures for the station.
Past presenters include: John Cooper, Phil Hilton, Erica Hughes, Jonathan Dean, Paul Anthony, Brent Williams, Sarah Myatt, John Tudor, Derek Marks, Jon Milligan, Phil Todd, John Seddon, Steve Farrell, Kev Linden, Richard Bond, Laura Penn, Carlo Fiorentino, Matt Wilkins, Ian Sharpe, Clive Pownsby, Jon Jessop, Chris Mills, David Raynor, George Sephton, Derek Webster, Mark Jones, Gary Preston, Phil Roberts, Neil Atkinson, Mark Blackman, Sally Moon, John Storey, Neil Newton, Wally Scott, Johnny Kennedy, and Ron Ellis.
|
|||||
