NE1fm

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NE1fm

Broadcast area	UK - Newcastle and Gateshead
Frequency	102.5 (FM)
First air date	June 8, 2007
Format	Community radio
Owner	CBIT
Webcast	Online at ne1fm.com
Website	www.ne1fm.com

NE1fm is an FM community radio station based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England. It broadcasts on 102.5 FM^[1] and online at ne1fm.com. The station is operated by CBIT (Community Broadcasting Initiative Tyneside), and gained its five-year community broadcast licence in 2006.

The station launched on the 8th of June, 2007 with coverage of the Green Festival at Leazes Park^[2], and started its regular weekly programming three days later. The 2007 Mela Festival was also covered later in the year^[3]. NE1fm then covered the early stages of the AV Festival in March 2008^[4], before their broadcasts at the event ceased.

NE1fm were, in November 2007, presented with a plaque by B&Q as part of their annual You Can Do It awards. The station received £5,000 of funding from B&Q in order to build a second studio and improve the station building.

NE1fm has occasionally suffered some problems with attempts to steal the station's transmitter, with the station being taken off-air twice after failed attempts, first in December 2007 and then on March 9th, 2008. The second attempt, which resulted in the station being off-air for several hours, was covered as the lead story on local news programme North East Tonight later in the day.^[5]

Content on the station includes a variety of genres, with more specialist programming at the weekends, with dance, alternative and soul being some of the genres covered^[6]. Most of the station's content is live, although some shows are pre-recorded, and there are often performances from a variety of local, unsigned bands, mostly in the indie genre. Interviews and features involving members of the Newcastle Falcons and Gateshead Thunder have also featured, typically as part of the Saturday afternoon sports show, and Maximo Park were also guests on the station in June 2007.

At times when there is no presenter, an automated system is used playing mostly popular music from the 1970's onwards. Community-based programming is also played out as part of the automation, which includes community work from the NE1fm archives (which includes the work of many of the stations which preceded NE1fm in the area). The station's playout systems are Soundbox and OtsAV, with the former most frequently used. The station's schedule is revised once every six weeks, to take into account any new applications, and is on a rotation basis, although there are "open slots" from 4-7 PM on weekdays that can be booked on a one-off basis.

Besides from the station's actual radio content, a number of events have also been organised by the station, many as fundraisers in order to help finance the station. Amongst these events have been music events and tea parties, with most of the former being simultaneously broadcast on the station. Venues which have been used by the station include the Swallow Hotel and the Centurion bar, located inside Newcastle's Central Station.

For the station's first birthday on June 8th, 2008, an event at the Centurion bar in Newcastle is planned. The weekend the birthday coincides with will also feature some coverage of the 2008 Green Festival.