December 2006
Fresh Radio will partly move to FM in the new year. (21/12/06)
The Saga radio stations will be re-launched under a new name in the new year following their sale to GMG. At the same time, London Smooth 102.2 will switch to an easy listening format. Smooth 100.4 in the North West will remain a soul station. (21/12/06)
Community station Chelmsford Calling will launch on 104.4 on 23rd December. (21/12/06)
Community station Canterbury Student Radio will launch on 97.4 on 15th January. (21/12/06)
Community station TGR Sound in Bexley, SE London has launched on 103.7 in mono. (16/12/06)
Proud FM (UTV) has won the Preston 106.5 and Chorley 96.3 FM licence. (09/12/06)
Five FM in Newry launches on the 12th. (09/12/06)
Community station Chorley FM has launched on 102.8. (03/12/06)
Ipswich Community Radio will launch on 105.1 in January. (03/12/06)
November
STATION DIRECTORY LISTINGS UPDATED. (12/11/06)
City Talk has won the Liverpool 105.9 licence. (11/11/06)
Perth FM has won the Perth 106.6 licence. (11/11/06)
CTR in Maidstone will join the KM FM network shortly. (11/11/06)
Castledown Community Radio for the Tidworth area in Wiltshire has launched on 104.7. (11/11/06)
Community station, Afan FM in Neath and Port Talbot will launch on 107.9 in the new year. (11/11/06)
October
Sheppey Community Radio is testing on 95.6. (22/10/06)
Rochdale community station Crescent Community Radio is testing on 97.0. (22/10/06)
Community station Sunny Govan has been allocated 103.5. (22/10/06)
Market Harborough community station Harborough FM has been allocated 102.3 and will launch in January. (22/10/06)
Real Radio Scotland has added a transmitter for Dumbarton and Alexandria on 100.0. (22/10/06)
Jack FM has won the Oxfordshire licence. (15/10/06)
Rother FM launches on 15 October, Abbey FM on 16 October and Town FM on 19 October. (15/10/06)
Swansea Bay FM is now testing on 102.1. (15/10/06)
Derby community station, Radio Ikhlas, is about to open on 107.8. (08/10/06)
September
The frequency for Newstalk 106-108 launched today in Ireland on the following frequencies: Co Dublin: 106.0, Meath, Kildare and NW Wicklow: 107.6, East Wicklow: 107.0, Gorey: 107.8, South East: 107.2, West Waterford: 107.6, Mid Tipperary: 107.8, Cork City and SE Co Cork: 107.8, NE Co Cork: 107.0, Kerry and W Co Cork: 107.4, North Kerry: 107.2, W Co Limerick: 107.0, West Ireland: 107.6, Co Mayo: 107.2, North West Ireland: 107.4, Co Longford: 106.9, North East Ireland: 107.4 and East Donegal: 106.9. (29/09/06)
Star FM in Stroud closed today. (29/09/06)
Original 106 (Solent) launches on 1st October. (29/09/06)
Barrow station Abbey FM is testing on 107.3. (29/09/06)
Town FM in Ipswich is now testing on 102.0. (29/09/06)
MFM has re-launched as Marcher Sound, it's original name. (29/09/06)
The Bristol 106.5 FM licence has been awarded to Original 106. (21/09/06)
The Exeter FM licence has been awarded to Exeter FM (Sunrise group). (21/09/06)
Irish Community station Liffey Sound, broadcasting to Lucan, just outide Dublin has launched on 96.4. (21/09/06)
Passion has relaunched as Oxford's FM 107.9. (14/09/06)
West Sound has added a relay at Rothesay on 106.7 (this was wrongly attributed to Your Radio). (14/09/06)
Wetherby community station Tempo FM has launched on 107.4. (14/09/06)
Bradford Community Station BCB has moved to 106.6. (14/09/06)
Spin has won the South West Ireland licence. (14/09/06)
CUH in Cork is now moving to 102.0. Limerick's Regional Hospital Radio is moving to 94.2. (14/09/06)
August
The Severn is testing on 106.5 in Shrewsbury and 107.1 in Oswestry. (22/08/06)
Birmingham community station Unity FM is testing on 93.5. (22/08/06)
Bournemouth Dance station The Fire has increased power to 1 kW. (22/08/06)
BFBS Lisburn is now on 100.6 FM under a community licence. (22/08/06)
The two Vibe stations will be rebranded Kiss 101 and Kiss 105-108 from 6th September. (11/08/06)
Edinburgh Garrison FM is about to open on 98.5. (11/08/06)
Belfast community station, Radio Failte, is about to open on 107.1. (11/08/06)
Community station Forest FM for East Dorset has opened on 92.3. (04/08/06)
July
Frequencies for Newstalk radio in Cork and Limerick will be 107.8 and 107.0, respectively. Hospital station CUH, will move to 99.8 (28/07/06)
Community station Gloucester FM has opened on 96.6. (28/07/06)
The Andover FM licence has been awarded to Andover 106.4 (Tindle) and the Hull FM licence on 99,9 to KCFM. (09/07/06)
June
Swindon's Brunel FM will broadcast on 107.7. (28/06/06)
Community station Pure Radio in Stockport is testing on 107.8. (25/06/06)
Community station Down FM in Downpatrick is testing on 105.0. (25/06/06)
Community station Revival FM in North Lanarkshire will use 100.8. (25/06/06)
Central Northern Ireland station Mid FM, on 106.0 and 107.2, is now Six FM. (25/06/06)
The Newry 100.5 FM licence has been awarded to Five FM. (10/06/06)
Atlantic FM in COrnwall is now testing on 105.1 and 107.0. (10/06/06)
May
Dublin station Newstalk 106 has been awarded a national licence. It will serve the Irish Republic on 106-107 FM from later this year, retaining its current transmitter on 106.0 for the Dublin area. (30/05/06)
A number of Irish national radio transmitters have changed frequency: Athlone to 89.3/91.5, Castlebar to 89.3/91.5/93.7/98.9/101.1, Achill to 89.9/92.1/94.3/99.5/101.7 and Cairn Hill (Radio 1) to 89.8. Transmitters for the other networks at Cairn Hill will use 92.0/94.2/99.4/101.6. (21/05/06)
8 new community stations have been licensed: 7 Waves (Wirral), Talkin' Toxtehth TTFM (Liverpool), Halton FM (Runcorn), Cheshire FM (Northwich, Middlewich and Wilmslow), Diversity FM (Lancaster), Chelmsford Calling, Saint FM (Burnham on Crouch and Maldon, Essex) and BRFM Bridge Radio (Isley of Sheppey, Kent). This completes the current round of community licensing. (21/05/06)
The Rotherham 96.1 FM licence has been awarded to Rother FM (Lincs Group). (21/05/06)
A change in the frequency allocated to new Torbay station Palm FM from 106.8 to 105.5 has been reported. (01/05/06)
6 new community stations have been licensed: Cross Rhythms Teeside (Stockton, Christian), Trust FM (Chesterfield), Pendle Community Radio (Nelson, Lancs), Beats FM (Cardiff, Ethnic), 209 Radio (Cambridge) and Aldershot Garrison FM. (01/05/06)
Star FM in Slough has relaunched as Time 106.6. (01/05/06)
Centre FM in Staffordshire has been relaunched as Touch FM. (01/05/06)
Community stations Colchester Garrison FM and BFBS Lisburn are launching on 107.0 and 100.6, respectively. (01/05/06)
April
The North East region FM license has been awarded to Saga and the Southen licence to Southend Radio. (20/04/06)
Portsmouth community station Express FM is about to start on 93.7. (20/04/06)
March
9 new community stations have been licensed: Hope FM (Bournemouth, Christian), Branch FM (Dewsbury, Christian), Ipswich Community Radio, Siren FM (Lincoln student), Diverse FM (Luton, Ethnic), Castledown Radio (Tidworth area, Wiltshire), Salisbury Plain Garrison FM (Bulford camp area), Radio Verulam (St Albans) and Calon FM (Wrexham). (19/03/06)
Nottingham community station, Radio Dawn (licensed as one of the Faza stations) is about to start broadcasting on 107.6. (19/03/06)
The Plymouth licence has been awarded to Diamond FM (owned by Macquarie). (11/03/06)
BBC Hereford and Worcester's new Redditch relay on 104.4 is now on air. (11/03/06)
February
XFM Manchester is now testing and will launch on 15th March. (28/02/06)
Touch Fm Banbury launched on 26th February. (28/02/06)
News Talk 106 is the sole applicant for the new national news and talk FM licence in Ireland. Today FM was unchallenged for its licence renewal application (18/02/06)
11 Community Radio Licenses have been awarded in the London area: Phoenix FM (Brentwood), Link FM (Harold Hill), NuSound Radio (Forest Gate), Voice of Africa (Stratford), Radio Ummah (Manor Park), TGR Sound (Bexleyheath, mono), Asian Star (Slough), Hayes FM, Westside Community R (Southall), Irish FM (Hammersmith), Life FM (Stonebridge, mono). (18/02/06)
10 Community Radio Licenses have been awarded elsewhere in the UK: Edinburgh Garrison FM, Leith FM (Edinburgh), Black Diamond FM (Dalkeith and Midlothian), Radio Teesdale (Barnard Castle), Wetherby Community Radio, Sheffield Live, Burngreave Community Radio (Sheffield), KOOL AM (Harlow), Bristol Community FM, Canterbury Student Radio. (18/02/06)
The new BBC Three Counties Radio transmitters in Hertfordshire (90.4 for the South East and 92.1 for the South West) are now officially in service. (13/02/06)
Shrewsbury FM has been awarded the FM licence for Shrewsbury and Oswestry. (13/02/06)
Irish Christian Broadcasters have closed their unlicensed transmitter on 549 AM. (13/02/06)
Now FM in Swindon will launch as Brunel FM. (04/02/06)
Crown FM will launch as Radio Norwich (Alan Partridge not confirmed). (04/02/06)
XFM Manchester will launch on 15th March. (04/02/06)
Talk 107 is now testing in Edinburgh. (04/02/06)
Radio Aire in Leeds has opened a higher power replacement transmitter at Tingley at 2.5 kW. (04/02/06)
January
Forest FM has been awarded a community licence for East Dorset. (21/01/06)
Beat 106 relaunched as Xfm Scotland on 4 Jan. (06/01/06)
2Day FM has won the Warwick 107.3 FM ,licence. It is likely to broadcast as Touch FM. (06/01/06)
Community station Skyline, is now broadcasting on 102.5 in South Hampshire. (06/01/06)
The Radio Borders Berwick transmitter has now moved to 102.3. (06/01/06)
Kix 96 and The Bear (Warwickshire) will relaunch as Touch FM on 16 Jan. The Bear (Banbury) will also launch as Touch. (06/01/06)
December
Town FM (Tindle group) has been awarded the Ipswich 102.0 licence. (18/12/05)
New community licences have been awarded to Radio Reverb (Brighton), Colchester Garrison FM, Spirit of Plymouth FM (religious) and West Hull Community Radio. All of the pilot community radio licences have now been renewed. (18/12/05)
Southampton community station Unity 101 is now on air on 101.1. (18/12/05)
BBC Three Counties Radio West Hertfordshire transmitter is now testing on 92.1. (18/12/05)
November
Beat 106 is to become Xfm, probably from January, when Xfm Manchester is due to start. (26/11/05)
Capital Gold is to merge with Capital Life to become a national digital station. The AM transmitters will remain open until at least 2007. (26/11/05)
The Edge will be re-launched as L107 in December. (26/11/05)
MFM, Buzz FM, Coast FM, Champion FM, Orchard FM, Gemini FM, Plymouth Sound, Lantern FM and South Hams Radio are for sale. (26/11/05)
North Norfolk Radio have opened a new 0.01 kW transmitter at Fakenham on 96.2.(20/11/05)
New community licences have been awarded to Lionheart Radio (Alnwick), CBIT (Newcastle), LVR FM (Kirkby Lonsdale area), Seaside Radio (Withernsea area, E Yorks), Youth Community Radio (Worcester), Gloucester FM and Toradio (Torfaen, S Wales, AM). (12/11/05)
The Swansea 102.1 FM licence has been awarded to Swansea Bay FM (Oldies, Soft). (12/11/05)
The Northallerton FM licence has been awarded to BTN FM (TLRC). (12/11/05)
October
Durham FM is testing on 102.8 (Burnhope) and 106.8 (Brusselton) and is due to launch on 3rd December. (29/10/05)
Seven FM (originally Seven Towers FM) will launch on 107.0 on 1st November. (29/10/05)
Melton Mowbray community station will now broadcast on 103.0, not 97.3 as indicated .(29/10/05)
THE UPDATES BELOW HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED IN THE MAIN LISTS...
A new BBC Three Counties Radio Transmitter for South East Hertfordshire, including Welwyn and Hatfield, will open on 90.4. (18/10/05)
Quay West Radio will open a third realy on 100.8 at Brushford, serving the Exe Valley in Somerset. (18/10/05)
Radio Borders Berwick transmitter will move from 97.5 to 102.3 to make way for the new North East regional station. (18/10/05)
RTE Radio's Athlone relay is likely to move to 89.3, 91.5, 93.7 and 98.9. The new Radio 1 transmitter at Cairn Hill may move to 89.8, with the other networks starting on 92.0, 94.2 and 99.4. (18/10/05)
Bright FM has opened a new relay for Lewes on 106.8 at 0.1 kW. (16/10/05)
New community licenses have been awarded to Radio Asian Fever (North Leeds), Oldham Community Radio, Tameside Community Radio, Pure Radio (Stockport), Salford Community Radio, Castle Vale Community Radio (NE Birmingham), Aston FM (N Central Birmingham), Unity FM (East Birmingham), The Public (West Bromwich), The Bridge (Stourbridge), WCR FM (Wolverhampton), Feile FM (West Belfast), Raidio Failte (Belfast, Irish Language), BFBS Lisburn, IUR FM (Newry), Down FM (Downpatrick) and Shine FM (Banbridge, Christian). To date, 48 community licences have been awarded or renewed, 28 applications have been rejected and 116 applications are pending. (08/10/05)
The Barrow FM licence has been awarded to Abbey FM (TLRC/CN/Independent). (08/10/05)
The BBC has added a new network FM transmitter at Penicuik in Scotland, broadcasting on 98.2, 88.6, 90.8, 95.5 (R4), 93.0 (R Scot) and 104.4 (RNG) at 200 W. (01/10/05)
Hertbeat has added a new transmitter on 106.9 serving Hitchin and Letchworth. (01/10/05)
September
BBC Radio Norfolk has opened a new transmitter serving North Norfolk from Wells to Cromer on 95.6 from the West Runton site. (24/09/05)
U105 will broadcast on 105.8, not 105.1, launching on 14th November. (24/09/05)
The Bee will launch on 1st October and KM-FM Ashford on 3rd October.(24/09/05)
The Solent 106.0 and 106.6 FM licence has been awarded to Original 106 (Independent). (10/09/05)
The Torbay 106.8 FM licence has been awarded to Palm FM (Sunrise). (10/09/05)
The Swindon FM licence has been awarded to Now FM (TLRC). (10/09/05)
New community licenses have been awarded to Phoenix Radio (Halifax), Chorley FM (Youth and Gay), Crescent Radio (Rochdale, Asian), Future Radio (Norwich), Shmu FM (Aberdeen), The Superstation (Orkney) and Radio Scilly. (10/09/05)
A number of new FM licenses for the Republic of Ireland, to be awarded over the next 2 years have been announced, details here. As a result of the new plans, AM stations Galway 2 AM and North Munster Radio will almost certainly not go ahead. (10/09/05)
August
The Real Radio transmitters at Aberdare, Abergavenny and Ebbw Vale are now on air. Note that Abergavenny is on 105.2, not 105.6. (22/08/05)
July
Kidderminster licence winner, Ace FM, will broadcast as The Wyre from September on 107.2. (20/07/05)
BBC local radio transmitters will open for Redditch on 104.4 (BBC Hereford and Worcester) and West Hertfordshire on 92.1. (12/07/05)
Your Radio will extend to Largs, Rothesay and Clyde Mouth on 106.7. (12/07/05)
Argyll FM's South Knapdale transmitter may move to 101.0.(12/07/05)
Cork's 96 FM will be extended to Bantry on 96.4 while the Youghal transmitter will move to 96.8. Cork's County will extend to Bantry on 102.7, Kinsale on 103.0 and Youghal, also on 103.0. (12/07/05)
June
EMAP has bought Scottish Radio Holdings. (25/06/05)
The new BBC Radio Devon transmitter for Plymouth on 95.7 is now on air at 1 kW. (19/06/05)
New community licenses have been awarded to Unity 24 (Southampton), Skyline Community Radio (Hedge End, Botley and West End, Hampshire), Express FM (Portsmouth, Student), Angel Radio (Isle of Wight, Nostalgia), VIP On Air (Glasgow, Talk for visually impaired), Sunny Govan Radio (Govan , Glasgow), Revival Radio (Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirhintilloch, Christian), NBC Live (Nottingham), Radio Ikhlas (Normanton, Derby, Asian), Harborough FM (Market Harborough) and The Eye (Melton Mowbray). In addition Radio Faza in Nottingham has been licensed to split into two separate stations. (19/06/05)
The Manchester 97.7 FM licence has been awarded to XFM (GCap). (11/06/05)
The Norwich 99.9 FM licence has been awarded to Crown FM (Tindle/Independent). (11/06/05)
The Ballymena FM licence has been awarded to Seven Towers FM (Independent). (11/06/05)
Edinburgh Garrison Radio has launched on 1350 AM. (11/06/05)
May
Irish commuity station West Limerick 102 is about to start broadcasting on 102.2 to the West of County Limerick. (15/05/05)
The Bear (CN Group)has been awarded the Banbury 107.6 licence. The Manchester licence will be awarded next month. (10/05/05)
Century 106 in the East Midlands is being sold to Chrysalis and will be rebranded as Heart (10/05/05)
Radio London will open on 1395 AM from the Netherlands on Saturday 14th. AM reception is likely to be limited to the East Coast, but the station also broadcasts on satellite. (10/05/05)
The Wireless Group has accepted a takeover bid from UTV. (10/05/05)
Afan FM has been awarded a new community licence for Neath and Port Talbot. (03/05/05)
April
RTE has a new main FM transmitter at Cairn Hill, serving County Longford and the North Midlands of Ireland. Currently, only Radio 1 is carried on 89.7 at 16 kW. The other RTE networks will be added in the Autumn; likely frequencies are 91.9, 94.1/2 and 99.3/4. (08/03/05, Updated 30/04/05)
Jazz FM will become Smooth FM 102.2 from 7th June. (16/04/05)
Durham FM (owned by TLRC) has been awarded the Durham licence. It will broadcast adult contemporary music and oldies. (09/04/05)
KCR in Merseyside will re-launch as The Rocket on 18th April. (09/04/05)
March
U105 FM has been awarded the Belfast 105.1 licence. It will broadcast oldies, soft AC and Talk. (08/03/05)
Atlantic FM has been awarded the Cornwall 105.1/107.0 licence. It will broadcast AC, oldies and Talk. (08/03/05)
February
Ace FM has been awarded the Kidderminster licence. It will broadcast adult contemporary music and oldies. (20/02/05 )
The BBC 3 Counties radio transmitter for Aylesbury on 94.7 opens on the 14th and will carry the Milton Keynes opt-out. The High Wycombe transmitter (98.0) will also carry the opt-out. (12/02/05)
January
Lark FM (Kent Messenger Group) has been awarded the Ashford 107.6 licence. It will broadcast as KM-FM Ashford. ( 22/01/05)
Dunedin FM (Wireless Group, Talk - may broadcast as All Talk) and The Bee (TLRC, Adult/Oldies) have been awarded the Edinburgh and Blackburn FM licenses respectively. Both will broadcast on 107.0.( 02/01/05)
Classic FM has just opened a new transmitter for Reading on 101.8.(03/11/04, updated 02/01/05)