Mearns FM is a community run radio station based in

Kincardineshire Kincardineshire or the County of Kincardine, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the stewartry"), is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area on the ...

, also known as the Mearns. There are transmitters in

Laurencekirk Laurencekirk (, , ), locally known as Lournie or simply 'The Kirk', is a small town in the historic county of Kincardineshire, Scotland, just off the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen main road. It is administered as part of Aberdeenshire. It is the l ...

Inverbervie Inverbervie (), also known simply as Bervie, is a small town on the north-east coast of Scotland, south of Stonehaven, in the Kincardineshire, Mearns. Etymology The name comes from Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic and means "mouth of Bervie Water". Hi ...

Stonehaven Stonehaven ( ) is a town on the northeast coast of Scotland, south of Aberdeen. It had a population of 11,177 at th2022 Census Stonehaven was formerly the county town of Kincardineshire, succeeding the now abandoned town of Kincardine, Aberd ...

and

Portlethen Portlethen (; ) is a town located approximately 7 miles south of Aberdeen, Scotland, along the A92 road, A92. The population according to the 2022 census was 8,969 making it the seventh most populous settlement within Aberdeenshire. To the ea ...

leading to a coverage area stretching from

St Cyrus St Cyrus or Saint Cyrus (), formerly Ecclesgreig (from ) is a village in the far south of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. General information Traditional salmon fishing with nets is still conducted from St Cyrus beach. Two ice houses that used to pro ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. The studio is located in Stonehaven.

History

In 1993, Community Radio in the Mearns area began following a visit to North East Community Radio by members of the Stonehaven Community Centre Management Committee. Stonehaven Community Radio was subsequently formed, and it transmitted for the first time during July 1994 from the old primary school toilet block in Stonehaven Community Centre. At that time, community stations could only operate for 28 days at a time. The group disbanded in 1998. In 2004, five year community radio licences were introduced, which led to the formation of a new group of enthusiasts. A draft constitution was adopted at the first AGM which was held in the late Summer of 2005. The project was delayed because a round of broadcasting applications had just closed and Ofcom, the regulating authority, did not invite new applications until the late autumn of 2006. It was necessary for the organisation to become a Company Limited by Guarantee and a registered charity. The committee originally planned the station to be named Stonehaven Community Radio but it was decided to become Mearns wide and be called Mearns FM. Because of the large geographical area of the Mearns, the station applied for three transmitters which Ofcom subsequently agreed to and a licence was issued in early July 2007. The station began broadcasting on 6 June 2009 during the annual Feein' Market in Stonehaven. At 11 am, the station was officially opened by the local MP, Sir Robert Smith. Since then OFCOM have renewed our license to broadcast twice and we are able to keep broadcasting until at least 2024. In 2016, the station was the only Community Radio Station in Scotland to receive accreditation from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

for

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

coverage. In April 2020 Mearns FM was successful in a bid to increase power at all 3 transmitters and install a new transmitter at

church hall. This will improve coverage across South Aberdeenshire, half the funding needed to replace 4 transmitters was granted from Aberdeenshire Council and we are very grateful for that help. We will also open a new studio in Portlethen church hall part-financed by the National Lottery awards for all program. Mearns FM also launched 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 North-East Scotland in July 2020.

Studio

The station was broadcast from Stonehaven Town Hall from its inception in 2007 until late 2019, when it had to move due to electrical upgrades taking place in the town hall. After broadcasting from temporary studios, the station moved permanently to a new studio on Ann Street on 13 September 2020.

Programming

Programs did include the self-proclaimed "world's only Doric show". Every Sunday at 9 am, the previous Sunday's worship service of Bervie Church is broadcast.

References

External links

Mearns FM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mearns Fm Community radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 2009 Radio stations in Scotland Stonehaven

History

Studio

Programming

See also

References

External links