NOW Leicester
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| Now Leicester | |
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| Licensed area | Leicestershire and Rutland |
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| Frequency | 11B (218.64 MHz) |
| Air date | December 6 2002 |
| Owner | Now Digital (East Midlands) |
| Website | www.now-digital.com |
| Coverage Map | from www.now-digital.com |
| Transmitters | Copt Oak (Loughborough) Houghton on the Hill (Leicester) |
NOW Leicester is a local commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, which serves Leicestershire and Rutland. It commenced broadcasts on December 6 2002 and is operated by NOW Digital on behalf of Now Digital East Midlands Ltd. The launch was delayed by the UK firemen's strike in autumn 2002, which restricted access to transmitter sites.
NOW Digital originally proposed to use transmitters at Copt Oak and Waltham with Skeffington to follow within two years of launch. However on awarding the application the Radio Authority identified that coverage in Leicester itself may not be as good as listeners would expect, and accordingly asked Now Digital to "re-examine its transmission plans in order to address this concern" [1], resulting in the adoption of Houghton on the Hill instead of Waltham. In their original application NOW Digital also identified two additional transmitter sites at Boundary water tower and Empingham, and their introduction would be reviewed during the licence period. Both transmitters carrying the NOW Leicester ensemble also carry the national commercial ensemble Digital One, but not BBC National DAB
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[edit] Stations carried
The following channels are receivable on any digital-equipped DAB radio in the Leicestershire area:
| Station Name | Bitrate | Audio Channels | Description | Analogue Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asian Plus | 64Kbps | Mono | Asian Youth Station | |
| BBC Leicester | 128Kbps | Joint Stereo | Full Service | 104.9FM |
| Chill | 128Kbps | Joint Stereo | Chill out music | |
| Gold - Leicester | 96Kbps | Mono | Oldies Music (Gold - Notts simulcast) | |
| Traffic Radio | 48Kbps | Mono LSF | Rolling Traffic News, Midlands version | |
| Galaxy | 128Kbps | Joint Stereo | Dance and R'n'B | |
| Heart | 128Kbps | Joint Stereo | 80s 90s and current adult contemporary music | 106.0FM |
| leicester sound | 128Kbps | Joint Stereo | 80s 90s and current popular music | 105.4FM |
| Sabras Sound | 64Kbps | Mono | Asian | 1260MW |
| XFM Midlands | 128Kbps | Joint Stereo | Alternative Indie/Rock music led station |
[edit] Former Services
Services previously carried on the multiplex include
- Capital Disney (Ceased June 30 2007, replaced by Traffic Radio)
- Saga 106.6 (Re-branded Smooth Radio March 27 2007)
- The Storm (Ceased January 24 2006, replaced by XFM UK)
- Century 106 (Re-branded Heart 106 September 2 2005)
[edit] Original Proposals
Now Digital and EMAP competed for the licence, the services proposed by both applicants were as follows:-
[edit] Now Digital
- 105.4 Leicester Sound
- Sabras Sound
- 106 Century FM (Now Heart 106)
- The second East Midlands regional station from launch - awarded to Saga 106.6FM (now Smooth Radio)
- The Arrow - Rock Music
- tba - Pop Hits
- Cube - Children's Music (Launched as Capital Disney)
- Asian Plus - Asian youth
[edit] EMAP
- 105.4 Leicester Sound
- Sabras Sound
- 106 Century FM (Now Heart 106)
- The second East Midlands regional station from launch - awarded to Saga 106.6FM (now Smooth Radio)
- 107 Oak FM - Local radio station for Loughborough
- TAP - Asian youth
- tba - Oldies
- XFM - Indie, Alternative Rock
- KISS - Dance
- tba - Jazz and Soul
Additionally EMAP proposed that the following services would be broadcast on a part time basis
- 103.2 Takeover Radio - Children's radio, Saturday's 07:00-14:00
- Leicester Sports Radio - Local sport, Weekend afternoons.
- Demon FM - Leicester student radio, Saturday's 18:00-24:00
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] References
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