Phoenix Radio 96.7 FM is a local radio station based in

Halifax Halifax commonly refers to: *Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada * Halifax, West Yorkshire, England *Halifax (bank), a British bank Halifax may also refer to: Places Australia *Halifax, Queensland, a coastal town in the Shire of Hinchinbrook *Halifax ...

, in

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It broadcasts on the FM frequency, 24 hours a day to the

Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale Calderdale is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, whose population in 2020 was 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the up ...

, and the surrounding areas and around the world online.http://www.radiohosting.co.uk:8000/phoenix.m3u It is owned and run by Phoenix Radio Ltd, which has also previously held six

Restricted Service Licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL), is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofc ...

s (RSLs) in the past. It was awarded its full-time licence by

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 ...

, thus becoming, on 10 December 2007, Calderdale's first and only local radio station.

History

Since its conception in 1998, Phoenix Radio 96.7 FM has had six broadcasts over the years on restricted service licences. Over that period of time of RSLs it had been broadcasting on two differing frequencies 106.2 FM and 107.2 FM. In 2005, Phoenix Radio Limited was awarded a full-time license to broadcast on the 96.7 FM frequency, as a local radio station with a format that is community-based. Phoenix Radio is a member of the Community Radio Association whose code of practice is to take positive action to ensure that the needs of the listening audience is met through selective programme scheduling and by listening and acting on what the audience tells the station what they want from the local medium . The station was launched on Monday 10 December 200

and officially opened by the Mayor of Calderdale. The first programme being Breakfast at 7am.

Technical and broadcast

The studios are based in the Dean Clough complex in Halifax, Calderdale. The transmitter that Phoenix Radio 96.7 FM uses is sited at the local TV relay on Beacon Hill,

Bank Top, West Yorkshire A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

. The station broadcasts to Calderdale and the FM signal can be reached in the surrounding areas of Halifax, south Bradford, north

Kirklees Kirklees is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Kirklees Council with the status of a metropolitan borough. The largest town and administrative centre of Kirklees is Huddersfield, and the district also includes ...

and south-western

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

Programming

Programming on the station includes a wide variety of music genres from the 1950s to current chart and new music from local, national and international artists, studio-based chat involving the local community, interviews with local people, local organisations to politicians and well-known personalities, as well as highlighting issues which affect the local community such as housing, education, sport, disabilities and local recruitment availability. ≠ Throughout the night Sunday/Monday to Friday/Saturday, hits from across the decades are played. However, on Saturday nights through to Sunday morning, specialist dance music programmes are broadcast under Phoenix FM's dance music brand 'Saturday Essential' Saturday Essential Presenters are Claire Hunter, Graeme Park, Rob Bray. 2 'Saturday Essential' replaced the Specialist Dance show which was broadcast between 8pm until 10pm Saturday nights by Local Halifax DJ Marc Smith. In which local DJs were given the chance to play a DJ set on his show. This became tremendously popular, and soon led to local retailers offering products to give out free on air during their show. All Marc Smith's shows were broadcast live, which led to some listeners trying to get Marc to give them fake shout outs (mentions on air) for novelty purposes, which gave the show more character and a touch of humour.

References

* * * *{{cite web, title=Handouts are heaven sent..., url=http://www.brighouseecho.co.uk/news/local/handouts-are-heaven-sent-1-6538483, publisher=Brighouse Echo, accessdate=11 November 2015, date=4 April 2014 Radio stations in Yorkshire Radio stations established in 2007 Calderdale Companies based in Halifax, West Yorkshire