Minster FM

Minster FM
Broadcast area York and North Yorkshire
Frequency FM: 104.7 MHz
DAB: 10C
First air date 4 July 1992
Format Contemporary hit radio
Audience share 8.9% (September 2013, RAJAR)
Transmitter coordinates 54°02′49″N 0°47′13″W / 54.047°N 0.787°W / 54.047; -0.787Coordinates: 54°02′49″N 0°47′13″W / 54.047°N 0.787°W / 54.047; -0.787
Owner The Local Radio Company
(UKRD Group)
Website www.minsterfm.com

Minster FM is an independent commercial local (ILR) radio station based in Dunnington, York, Yorkshire, England and covering the city of York and surrounding areas such as Selby, Tadcaster, Thirsk, Goole, Howden and even parts of Leeds.

Minster FM was launched at 6 am on Saturday 4 July 1992 by presenter Daragh Corcoran and the first song played was 'Saturday in the Park' by Chicago.[1] The station was launched exactly nine years to the date after BBC Radio York started broadcasting and at the time, had a live, locally presented schedule 24 hours a day. This continued until the launch of Yorkshire Coast Radio in November 1993 when programmes between 10pm and 6am were broadcast on both stations. Unusually for the time, local news in the early years was not made in-house but was contracted out to Yorkshire Television. News is now produced by the station's own news team, or (for network or late night broadcasts, excluding the drivetime show) Independent Radio News (IRN) or Sky News, both based in London, who provide an hourly two- to three-minute news broadcast to 46 UK commercial radio stations.

The station broadcasts on 104.7 FM from the Acklam Wold transmitter, near Leavening, on the Yorkshire Wolds. For a time, Minster FM also broadcast to the Thirsk and Northallerton area using a signal on 102.3 FM from Calvert's Carpets in Thirsk. Station owners The Local Radio Company later secured a specific licence for the area and launched Minster Northallerton on that frequency. TLRC was later taken over by UKRD and in 2009 the new owners merged this station with its stations based in Darlington and Durham to form Star Radio.

As of 17 December 2014, Minster FM started broadcasting on DAB digital radio, under the name 'More Minster'. It is broadcast on the North Yorkshire DAB multiplex from various locations within Yorkshire, including Bilsdale, Acklam Wold, Hildebrand Barracks and Oliver's Mount.[2] More Minster carries Minster FM programmes in the morning and through the day but during the evening the DAB schedule differs from the FM version, broadcasting its own dedicated programming.

Minster FM (8.9%) has a higher audience share than BBC Radio York (6.2%), as of September 2013.

Awards

In 2009 Minster FM was one of three stations to be nominated[3] for The Arqiva under 1 million awards but the award was presented to Lincs FM 102.2 in Lincolnshire.[4]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.aircheckdownloads.com/minster_TestTX_Launch_0792.mp3
  2. ↑ Local DAB launches in North Yorkshire
  3. ↑ http://www.radioworks.co.uk/news/newsStory.php?story=223
  4. ↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/jun/08/arqiva-radio-award-winners

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, February 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.