Q Radio is a network of seven

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 ...

stations in Northern Ireland airing an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

format. The network is the fifth most listened to radio station in Northern Ireland, with a combined figure of 335,000 listeners as of December 2024, 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 ...

Network

Q Radio covers seven licence areas: *

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

- 96.7 & 102.5 FM and DAB *North West - 102.9 FM *North Coast - 97.2 & 97.6 FM *Mid Antrim - 107.0 & 107.6 FM *Mid Ulster - 106.0, 106.3 & 107.2 FM *Newry & Mourne - 100.5 FM & 101.1 FM *Tyrone & Fermanagh - 101.2 & 102.1 FM The various stations in the network previously had local opt-outs from the network schedule, including the Q Cafe on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. There are currently no opt-outs on the schedule with all stations taking the network at all times, except for local news, traffic and advertising.

History

The first use of the Q brand in Northern Ireland came with the launch of Q97.2 from

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry (Ulster Scots dialects, Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry (), is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty-two Counties of Ireland, count ...

, on 26 January 2000. Additional stations were opened in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

(Q102.9) and

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

(Q101.2). Further stations that would later become part of Q Radio launched in the mid-2000s. Seven FM launched on 1 November 2005 from its base in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

., while Five FM won a licence to broadcast to Newry and Mourne on 100.5 MHz in 2006, signing on 12 December. That same year, River Media bought Mid 106 FM in

Cookstown Cookstown (, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth-largest town in the county and had a population of 12,546 in the 2021 census. It, along with Magherafelt and Dungannon, is one of the main towns in the Mid-Ulster ...

from

CN Group CN Group Limited was formerly an independent local media business based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England, operating in print and radio. It is now owned by Newsquest and their newspapers are printed in Glasgow. The company was formerly known as t ...

and rebranded it as Six FM. In 2011, Five FM, Six FM and Seven FM were rebranded as Q Radio stations. In 2015, Q Radio acquired Citybeat in

from CN Group, marking its entry into that market. The station was then rebranded as Q Radio Belfast. In 2017, "QHQ", the network's main studios, were opened in Belfast's Fountain Centre. A series of licence extensions in 2018 brought Q Radio additional coverage in Northern Ireland, including transmitters covering Larne, Newcastle, Draperstown, Enniskillen and Ballycastle.

Notable former presenters

Stephen Clements Stephen Clements (17 December 1972 – 6 January 2020) was a Northern Irish radio DJ and TV presenter. He was best known for hosting the Q Breakfast Show on Q Radio for seven years until June 2019, and The Stephen Clements Show on BBC Radio Ulst ...

* Declan Wilson * Cate Conway

References

External links

Q Radio
{{Radio in Ireland Mass media in Belfast Radio stations in Northern Ireland British radio networks Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 2011