Cool FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the civil parish of Newtownards and the historic baronies ...

, Northern Ireland. The station is owned and operated by

Bauer Bauer is a German surname meaning "peasant" or "farmer". For notable people sharing the surname, see Bauer (surname). Bauer may also refer to: Education and literature * Bauer's Lexicon, a dictionary of Biblical Greek * Bauer College of Busin ...

and forms part of Bauer's Hits Radio Network. The station began broadcasting in 1990 when its parent station Downtown Radio ceased

simulcasting Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simul ...

and split its AM and FM frequencies into two separate services. Downtown Radio continued on AM and FM frequencies outside Belfastand Cool FM was created to broadcast on . Initially broadcasting to the Greater Belfast area only, Cool FM can now be received across Northern Ireland on

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dąb, ...

. As of September 2022, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 434,000, 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 call ...

.https://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php

Programming

Cool FM plays a broad mix of popular, youth-orientated Pop and Dance music. Some of the stations most popular shows are '' Pete Snodden in the Morning'' with Pete, Paulo and Rebeeca and the ''Cool Saturday Show'' with

Stuart Robinson Stuart Robinson (born 20 June 1979) is a Northern Ireland broadcaster with Cool FM, Downtown Radio and Downtown Country. He previously launched and became the longest running presenter to date on rival station Belfast CityBeat from 1996 before h ...

and Deputy Dave. Cool FM features some specialised music such as ''Cool of Rock'' on weekday mornings, classic hits in ''The Cool Years'' on Sunday afternoons and ''Cool Goes Quiet'', love songs on SundayThursday nights. Although station owner, Bauer Radio, packages Cool FM as part of the Hits Radio Network for selling advertising, Cool FM does not broadcast any Hits Radio networked programmes. All of Cool FM shows are locally-presented and produced from its Newtownards studios. Local news bulletins air on the hour between 6am and 10pm every day. On weekdays, there are extended bulletins at 1pm and 5pm and headlines on the half hour during breakfast and drivetime.

Presenters

*Paul Kennedy 1995 - today * Pete Snodden 2000 - today *

DJ Hix DJ Hix is a Northern Irish DJ, radio presenter, and music producer. As a music producer his artist name is Hix. He is known for presenting radio shows on Cool FM, a commercial radio station based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. He is also kn ...

2007 - today *

2010 - today *Paulo Ross 2014 - today *John Kearns 1990-1995 / 2014 - today *Owen Beers 2014 - today *Rebecca McKinney 2015 - today *Deputy Dave 2015 - today *Melissa Riddell 2016 - today *Curtis McCosh 2016 - today *Connor Coates 2017 - today *Katharine Walker 2019 - today *Evanna Maxted 2021 - today *Ciara Ewing 2021 - today *Ryan A 2010-2014 / 2022 - today

References

External links

* Bauer Radio Mass media in County Down Newtownards Radio stations established in 1990 Radio stations in Northern Ireland 1990 establishments in Northern Ireland {{NorthernIreland-media-stub