| Broadcast area | Rutland & Stamford |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 97.4 MHz, 107.2 MHz |
| First air date | 13 December 1998 |
| Format | Contemporary |
| Owner | Lincs FM Group |
| Sister stations | Oak FM |
| Webcast | 64 kbit/s |
Rutland Radio is a Independent Local Radio station broadcasting since December 1998 from Knights Yard, Gaol Street (off Melton Road) in Oakham to Rutland on 107.2FM (Manton) and Stamford on 97.4FM (East Casterton, which also carries NOW Peterborough).
Contents |
The station is owned by the Lincs FM Group in Lincoln.
It received the licence from the Radio Authority to broadcast to Rutland on 4 June 1998 (the day licences were awarded to the two nearby stations that have now become Oak FM). The group of licences had been advertised en-masse, and two stations were proposed for the area. It turned out to be initially three.
Although eight stations had applied for the licence by 3 February 1998, only Rutland Radio had submitted proposals for Rutland - the other seven were for Leicestershire. Rutland had only come back into existence a year before the station commenced.
The station has tried in the past to find a slot on a local DAB multiplex, but they would need to be on two as Rutland is covered by the Leicestershire license and Stamford by the Peterborough license.
Lincolnshire's Sally Elkington has the half-hour farming programme from 7am on Sunday, at the same time and presenter as Lincs FM. Rutland's weather forecasts are provided by MOD meteorologists at RAF Cottesmore. From its start, similar to Trax FM, it has had a weekly cookery programme, unusual for commercial radio stations. This is broadcast by Sally Elkington one afternoon a week. There are two weekly podcasts - the Best Bits and one for the farming programme.
The stations local community involvement is both for Oakham, Uppingham and Stamford. Much of the advertising is piggy-backed on Lincs FM content; Springfields shopping outlet in Spalding makes a frequent appearance in adverts and sponsorship. Rutland has the highest average house-prices in the East Midlands, so it has advertiser-friendly demographics. Within its small broadcast area are three well-known public schools: Oakham School, Uppingham School and Stamford School (with Stamford High School), although the station is officially aimed at people aged 25–54 year olds.
In early 2010 the station dropped the "Hits & Memories" format it had taken from launch in favour of a new "The Music You Love" format as part of the Lincs FM Group. The format focuses more on new adult contemporary, easy-listening and oldies music rather than current chart pop and classic hits.
It is the only station to actually be local to the area, with closest rivals Heart 102.7 in Peterborough (formerly Hereward FM) taking most programes from London, and the rest with Heart 103 in Cambridge.
In December 2009 it won the Sony Radio Academy Nations & Regions Award for the East Midlands. It also won this in 2008, and this award is for stations with a TSA (total survey area) of under 300,000. Coincidentally, Rob Persani is Chairman of the East Midlands branch of the Radio Academy. The station was also nominated at the 2009 Arqiva Commercial Radio awards for station of the year (TSA >300,00), which was a shortlist of only 3 stations in the whole UK.