Central FM is an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2 ...

station serving

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

Stirling Stirling (; ; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Central Belt, central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town#Scotland, market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the roya ...

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; ; ), or the County of Clackmannan, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, Council areas of Scotland, council area, registration counties, registration county and Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland ...

and the

Forth Valley The River Forth is a major river in central Scotland, long, which drains into the North Sea on the east coast of the country. Its drainage basin covers much of Stirlingshire in Scotland's Central Belt. The Gaelic name for the upper reach of t ...

. It is owned and operated by businessman John Quinn and broadcasts from studios at the Springkerse Industrial Estate in

. As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 39,000, according to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR; ) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and Radiocentre. RAJAR's predecessor was c ...

History

In December 1988, the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

announced it had chosen the Stirling area as one of twenty areas of the UK where new incremental radio licences were to be awarded. A month later, the regulator advertised the Stirling licence, permitting any station format. ''Centresound'', a community-based station founded by a local community association, began broadcasting on Monday 4 June 1990 from studios at the John Player Building in the Stirling Business Park but within two months, fell into financial difficulties due to problems in attracting enough investment to maintain an independent operation. The board of directors resigned when the long-established

Radio Forth Radio Forth is a group of two Independent Local Radio stations serving Edinburgh, Lothians and Fife. Radio Forth is owned and operated by Bauer, based at studios in Edinburgh and forms part of Bauer's Hits Radio network and Greatest Hits Radio ne ...

went into partnership with Centresound after investing in the station. An overhaul saw the station relaunch as Central FM, sharing programming, news content and administration with Forth under an agreement. The move was criticised as being in commercial interests, rather than for the community's benefit, but station manager Brian Hawkins argued the station was broadcasting more local output than before and no complaints had been received. The Radio Authority went on to award a new ten-year licence to Central FM in December 1993. The station continued to record a loss, and in 1996, Radio Investments Ltd gained control after increasing its stake to 60%, ending the partnership with Radio Forth and leading to the station relocating to studios in Falkirk. Later, the controlling share passed onto

The Local Radio Company The Local Radio Company was a British media company, based in Redruth, Cornwall, that owned eleven Independent Local Radio stations in the UK. After takeover talks with UTV Media, UKRD Group and Hallwood Financial, UKRD acquired the majority ...

, with 20% held by

EMAP Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was ac ...

and the rest by independent investors. Chairman, John Quinn took control of Central FM in 2008. In October 2012, the station returned to Stirling with the opening of new studios at the Springkerse Industrial Estate. In August 2013, Central FM began broadcasting on DAB across Central Scotland. On 1 December 2016, three online-only stations were launched under the Central FM brand; Central FM Chart (playing non-stop hits), Central FM Country (24-hour current and classic country hits) and Central FM Gold (non-stop '60s, '70s and '80s hits). All are accessible from the station website and downloadable app. These online stations have now ceased transmission.

Awards

Central FM won the Scotland category in the Radio Academy Nations and Regions Awards twice in 2008 and 2011. It also won the Sony Gold Award for best UK station (in a TSA under 300,000 listeners) in 2012 and placed in the top three of stations (TSA under 500,000 listeners) at the 2013 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards and won the Silver Award for Station of The Year at The Arqiva Radio Awards 2015.

Programming

The majority of Central FM's programming is produced and broadcast from its

studios. Presenter-led programming airs from 6 am to 7 pm from Monday - Friday, 7am to 6pm on Saturdays and 7am to 10pm on Sundays. The station's presenters include Alan Edwards (Weekday Breakfast), Sharon Oakley (Weekday Breakfast), Tony McQue (Weekday Daytime), Kevin John (Weekday Drivetime), Daimen Richards (Weekend Breakfast), Brian Woolfson (Weekend Daytime), Stuart Smith (Saturday Afternoons), John Mulgrew (Sunday Afternoons) & Gavin & Hannah (Sunday Evenings).

News

Local news bulletins air hourly from 6 am – 7 pm on weekdays, 7 am – 1 pm on Saturdays and 8 am – 1 pm on Sundays with headlines on the half-hour during breakfast and drivetime shows. National bulletins from

Sky News Radio Sky News Radio is the radio arm of Sky News, owned by Sky UK. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations aro ...

in London air during all other hours.

Travel

Local travel news air hourly from 6 am – 7 pm on weekdays & 8 am – 12 pm on Saturdays. These bulletins are provided from

INRIX INRIX, Inc. is a privately held company headquartered in Kirkland, Washington, US. It provides location-based data and software-as-a-service analytics—such as real-time and historical traffic conditions, road safety, and parking availability� ...

based at the National Control Centre in South Queensferry, Edinburgh in Scotland.centralfm.co.uk/news/travel

References

External links

Official website
{{Radio in Scotland The Local Radio Company Central Radio stations established in 1990 1990 establishments in Scotland Companies based in Stirling (council area) Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom