Phoenix FM is a

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popul ...

station serving the areas of Brentwood and

Billericay Billericay ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Basildon, Essex, England. It lies within the London Basin and constitutes a commuter town east of Central London. The town has three secondary schools and a variety of open spaces. It i ...

, England on 98.0FM and online, covering an area of over 140,000 people.

History

The station was formed in 1996 and has been broadcasting full-time on FM since 23 March 2007, having completed twelve 28-day restricted service licence broadcasts on FM between 1996 and 2006. On 16 February 2006,

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

announced that Phoenix FM, after ten years of campaigning, had been awarded a full-time Community Radio licence. Having previously set up studios in Ongar Road, The Hermitage and Hutton Poplars Lodge, Phoenix FM moved its base of operations to the Baytree Centre in early 2007 and started broadcasting full-time on 98.0 FM at 7p.m. on Friday 23 March 2007. The station moved to its current base at the Brentwood Centre in February 2012. The station's broadcasts have provided a valuable platform for local bands looking to gain airtime.

Inme InMe are an English rock band originally formed in Brentwood, Essex in 1996. InMe have released seven studio albums, two EPs, one "bootleg" album, one best-of compilation, one live album, one live EP and an acoustic album. A DVD of the band' ...

, who were then known under the name of Drowned, were one band whose first radio play and interviews were on the station. The station's Creative Sessions have given studio recording time to unknown and young local bands as well as featuring established recording artists such as Republica,

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Heap (born 9 December 1977) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Her work has been considered pioneering in pop and electropop music. Heap classically trained in piano, cello and clarinet starting at a ...

Turin Brakes Turin Brakes are an English band, comprising original duo of Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, and long-term collaborators Rob Allum and Eddie Myer. They had a UK top 5 hit in 2003 with their song "Painkiller (Summer Rain)". Since starting ou ...

Salad A salad is a dish consisting of mixed, mostly natural ingredients with at least one raw ingredient. They are typically served at room temperature or chilled, though some can be served warm. Condiments and salad dressings, which exist in a v ...

Midway Still Midway Still are a pop punk band formed in the early 1990s in Kent, England. The band recorded a Peel session in 1991 prior to the release of their debut album, ''Dial Square'' (1992), on the Roughneck Recordings label, which was a subsidiary of ...

, Chris T-T and MJ Hibbett. Phoenix FM was also the first community radio station in the UK to provide a streaming internet service, in 2001.

Notable current and former presenters

Snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in Ind ...

player

Ronnie O'Sullivan Ronald Antonio O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player who is the current world champion and world number one. Widely recognised as one of the most talented and accomplished players in the sport's history, ...

, who has been presenting the Midweek Matchzone show with Chris Hood since May 2015. *

player

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he reached eight World S ...

, who has been presenting the Interesting Alternative show since 1996, and since 2011 jointly with Kavus Torabi *

'Allo 'Allo! ''Allo 'Allo!'' is a British sitcom television series, created by David Croft and Jeremy Lloyd, starring Gorden Kaye, Carmen Silvera, Guy Siner and Richard Gibson. Originally broadcast on BBC1, the series focuses on the life of a Fren ...

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), l ...

Vicki Michelle * Former Brentwood and Ongar MP Sir Eric Pickles * Former leader of Brentwood

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle ...

Council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

The Right Honourable ''The Right Honourable'' (abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific Style (form of address), style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth ...

Brandon Lewis Brandon Kenneth Lewis (born 20 June 1971) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor from September to October 2022. He previously served as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2018 to 2019 ...

, now Northern Ireland Secretary and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MP for

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of ...

. * Sonny Jay Muharrem from

The Loveable Rogues The Loveable Rogues were a British band from London, consisting of members Sonny Jay, Eddie Brett and Te Qhairo Eugene, who rose to fame after reaching the final of the sixth series of '' Britain's Got Talent'' in 2012. Career 2010–12: ''Brit ...

who presented on Phoenix FM for two years before moving to

Capital FM Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capitals, List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the dura ...

Carter USM Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine (also known as Carter USM or simply Carter) were an English indie rock band formed in 1987 by singer Jim "Jim Bob" Morrison and guitarist Les " Fruitbat" Carter. They made their name with a distinctive style ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselve ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

Les " Fruitbat" Carter *

Boxer Rebellion The Boxer Rebellion, also known as the Boxer Uprising, the Boxer Insurrection, or the Yihetuan Movement, was an anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China between 1899 and 1901, towards the end of the Qing dynasty, b ...

drummer Piers Hewitt * My Life Story singer Jake Shillingford * Singer/songwriter Chris T-T *

Kula Shaker Kula Shaker are an English psychedelic rock band. Led by frontman Crispian Mills, the band came to prominence during the Post-Britpop era of the late 1990s. The band enjoyed commercial success in the UK between 1996 and 1999, notching up a num ...

drummer Paul Winter-Hart * The Others singer Dominic Masters * Music and football agent Eric Hall * Former Essex cricketer Ian Pont * The first X Factor winner Steve Brookstein

References

External links

Official sitePhoenix FM on FacebookPhoenix FM on Twitter
{{Billericay Community radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations in Essex Radio stations established in 1996 Billericay 1996 establishments in England