Fix Radio is a national digital radio station in the United Kingdom with associated websites,

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

channels. It has previously been the silver award winner of the 2023 UK Audio and Radio Industry Awards for best station sound. It broadcasts on

DAB Digital Radio Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is a digital radio standard for broadcasting digital audio radio services in many countries around the world, defined, supported, marketed and promoted by the WorldDAB organisation. The standard is dominan ...

across the UK as well as online and mobile.

Background

Fix Radio was founded by its current (as of 2023) CEO, Louis Timpany, to provide music, news and entertainment aimed at UK tradespeople. It went on-air at 7am on 26 April 2017 with the tagline "We're Nailing It!" and special guest

Charlie Mullins Sidney Charles Mullins (born 28 October 1952) is a British businessman. He is the founder of Pimlico Plumbers, London's largest independent plumbing company, which he sold in 2021. Early life Mullins is the son of a factory worker father and ...

. The first song played was

Starship A starship, starcraft, or interstellar spacecraft is a theoretical spacecraft designed for interstellar travel, traveling between planetary systems. The term is mostly found in science fiction. Reference to a "star-ship" appears as early as 1 ...

's "

We Built This City "We Built This City" is the debut single by American rock band Starship, from their 1985 debut album '' Knee Deep in the Hoopla''. It was written by English musicians Martin Page and Bernie Taupin, who were both living in Los Angeles at the time ...

". It specialises in trade focused content with dedicated painting and decorating, heating and plumbing, carpentry, plastering, and electrical shows. Although it broadcasts 24 hours a day, only the hours of 7am to 4pm are produced " as live". It was initially launched on DAB digital radio in London operating out of the Spectrum Radio building in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

. 2018 saw its first major expansion and the creation of Fix Media after a takeover of the Facebook group "Tradesman Banter," accompanied by a move to new studios in Angel, Islington. Broadcasts expanded to cover Manchester on 14 January 2019 at 7am on the SSDAB minimux. Fix Radio claims the most detailed weather forecasts specifically aimed at tradespeople working outdoors, and no repeat of music within a 48-hour period.

Broadcasting nationwide

In March 2022 it was announced that the station would start broadcasting nationwide by joining

Sound Digital Sound Digital is a semi-national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva, Bauer Media Group and News Broadcasting. The multiplex covers 73% of the population from a total of 45 transmitters. History Follow ...

's national DAB digital radio multiplex after securing a national broadcasting licence and £950,000 of crowdfunding. It launched nationally on 3 May 2022 and moved to new headquarters at the Vox studios in

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

. On 19 May 2023, Fix Radio confirmed it had signed a deal with TradePoint to sponsor the station's breakfast show, ''The Bald Builders Breakfast Show''. In November 2023, Louis Timpany, the founder and CEO of Fix Radio, won Creative Entrepreneur of the Year at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards in London. On 7 December 2023, Fix Radio launched a poll to ask listeners if they wanted the station to play Christmas hits after its breakfast presenters had an on air discussion about whether it was too early for Christmas songs. The poll ran until 15 December, with the playlist from 18 December determined by its outcome.

Notable presenters

* Andy Hodgson (''The Friday Sports Kick Off!'') * Clive Holland, former BBC TV and radio presenter * The Bald Builders, Social media stars, radio presenters, hosts of ''The Bald Builders Breakfast''.

Notable former presenters

* Ugly Phil * Russ Williams * Jono Coleman

Awards

References

External links

* {{coord missing, United Kingdom Digital-only radio stations 2017 establishments in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 2017 Radio stations in the United Kingdom