Original 106 (Aberdeen)

Original 106FM (Aberdeen)
Broadcast area Aberdeen & Aberdeenshire
Slogan Just Great Songs
Frequency 106.8 MHz, 106.3 MHz, Online
First air date 28 October 2007
Format Adult oriented
Audience share 10.6% (May 2014, )
Owner Original 106 Aberdeen Ltd
Website www.originalfm.com

Original 106fm is an independent radio station broadcasting to Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. It was awarded its broadcast licence (the last new FM licence to be issued by Ofcom) in January 2007 and the station launched on 28 October 2007 at 1:06 pm. The first record played was "Revolution" by The Beatles. On 12 September 2009 the station was sold to a consortium led by Adam Findlay which included John Quinn and Murray Strachan. Adam Findlay's New Wave Media wholly owns Dundee radio station Wave 102, John Quinn is the majority shareholder and chairman of Central FM, a station which covers the Forth Valley in the central belt.

Original 106 broadcasts mainly to an adult ABC1 bias audience broadcasting from studios at Craigshaw Business Park in West Tullos, Aberdeen. Two FM transmitters are presently in operation, one main transmitter situated at Durris near Stonehaven, and a relay covering north Aberdeen. A third transmitter, a relay for Peterhead and Buchan was added to the network on the 8th of May 2014. A high quality UK-wide internet audio stream is available from the station website.

Music

Original 106 plays a mix of hit singles from a full range of adult orientated genres including rock, pop, soul from the 60s to today.

News, sport and traffic

Original 106 is the only radio station in north east Scotland broadcasting hourly round-the-clock news bulletins from Aberdeen, covering local, national and international news. Bulletins are three minutes in duration between 7am & 6pm and hourly bulletins of two minutes duration air between 7pm and 9pm, with two minute live, national bulletins from Sky News complimenting a recorded local news summary hourly between 10pm and 5am. Local evening bulletins/summaries are pre-recorded.

During the "Full Scottish Breakfast" and "The Home Run", there are also news headlines at half past the hour along with traffic and travel updates during these peak travel periods. Sports news is covered in each hourly bulletin, however there are comprehensive sports round-ups at 9am, 1pm and 5pm.

There are also Business News updates, along with Energy News updates twice daily throughout the week, reflecting Aberdeen's status as Europe's oil capital.

The newsroom operation is run by Head of News and Sport Davy Shanks.

Other output

Regular what's on and entertainment guides are broadcast daily, complete with information features focused in and around Aberdeen and North East Scotland. Interviews with local people, personalities from news and entertainment backgrounds, and film/theatre reviewers form a significant part of speech output.

Original 106 associates itself with local charities with the aim of publicising their work and assisting in fundraising efforts. Original's adopted charity in 2008 was Friends Of Anchor, for the year 2009 it is Children 1st.

On 29 August 2012, the station took part in a 24hr non-stop broadcast for the STV Appeal 2012. Chris Harvey of STV stayed on air for a full 24hrs, raising over £12,000 in the process.

Current Presenters

  • Harry Butler (Late Night Friday, Saturday & Sunday afternoons)
  • Rick Cowie (Weekday evenings and Saturday Mid Morning)
  • Michael Gordon (Sunday evenings)
  • Ritchie Grant (Sunday 10am till 2pm)
  • Martin Ingram (Weekday mid-mornings)

  • Stephen Jackson (Late Night Saturday)
  • David Lewis (The Full Scottish Breakfast)
  • Damien McLeod (Sunday breakfast)
  • John McRuvie (The Home Run and Saturday Breakfast)
  • Claire Stevenson (Friday and Saturday evenings)

Management

Original 106's managing director is Adam Findlay; the station's programme controller/senior presenter is Martin Ingram; and head of news is Davy Shanks.

Online

The Original 106 website features local news and weather updates, as well as an audio stream, an indicator of the current song playing and the last ten songs played. Audio and podcasts also feature.

References

    External links

    Coordinates: 57°7′35″N 2°5′36″W / 57.12639°N 2.09333°W