Castle FM

| name = Castle FM


area = Carrickfergus
airdate = 1998
frequency = FM: Unknown usually 107.2 MHz
Online
format = News, Music
owner = Event Radio Services
website = [http://www.castlefm.co.uk Official Castle FM Website]

Castle FM is based in Carrickfergus, County Antrim and is the longest running short-term radio station in Northern Ireland. Local broadcaster Stuart Robinson was a founding member and now operator of the Carrickfergus radio station.

The radio station transmits usually annually from the heart of Carrickfergus and broadcasts a mixture of music, news and information for a potential audience of over 50,000 adults in the East Antrim area.

Castle FM broadcasts to Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland but has many listeners tuning in from Greenisland, Whiteabbey, Bangor and Glengormley. Castle FM operates on a special short-term licence (RSL) issued by the UK communications regulator 'Ofcom'.

Background

Carrickfergus got its first taste of local radio on Monday 1st June 1998 when the tones of Eddie West welcomed Carrickfergus to the sound of 'Radio Carrickfergus'.

Radio Carrickfergus was a two-week trial broadcast provided by 'Galax' and funded by Carrickfergus Borough Council to provide coverage of the towns Waterfront Festival'.

A small caravan on the 'Castle Green' at the foot of Carrick's 12th Centurey Norman Castle gave home to presenters ont he first day including Paul Buckle, Stuart Robinson, Ricky K, Natasha Sayee and Eddie West.

After an unprecedented debut success, the station returned in December 1998, June 1999 and December 1999. All these broadcasts were made fromt he Knightride Centre on Antrim Street. (Now museum and civic centre)

In March 2000, Carrickfergus Borough Council appointed Belfast radio station Belfast CityBeat to provide the service.

In 2000 the station relocated to a more suitable location in the towns DeCourcy Centre and rebranded to Vibe FM which launched at 9am on 9th June 2000.

In April 2002, Vibe FM ran a competition with the Carrick Times to pick a new name for the radio station which would soon be relaunching. Eventually 'Castle FM' was created as was Stuart Robinson's new concept 'The Young Star Search'.

The result was a huge boost for the station which went on to attract a record response from listeners and gain awards.

Castle FM launched at 9am on 31st May 2002 and run to 27th June 2002. The first song played was 'Walking On Sunshine' by Katrina And The Waves. Over the next 3 years the Castle FM format spread to Bangor in and the Young Star Search became a stand alone event, eventually across all of Northern Ireland.

In 2005, Stuart Robinson launched 'The New Castle FM' as a private venture. The station started at 9am on 12th August 2005 and enjoed success. In 2006 he also took over as operator of Bangor FM. In 2007 the 'Young Star Search' ran on Citybeat for the first time taking the contest which first run on Castle FM (5 years earlier) to its biggest ever audience. Also during 2007, Castle FM operators put together the Fuse FM network of stations located in Newtownards, Dromore, Rathriland, Ballycarry and Ballymoney.
* [http://castlefm.co.uk Visit the Castle FM website]
* [http://bangorfm.co.uk Visit the Bangor FM website]