Radio Forth is a group of two

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 serving

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Lothians Lothian (; ; ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, while other signific ...

and

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. Radio Forth is owned and operated by Bauer, based at studios in

and forms part of Bauer's

Hits Radio Hits Radio is a network of 26 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. The network launched in 2018 with the rebranding of Bauer's Manchester station Key 103 and its merger with The Hi ...

network and

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. It currently includes 18 local and regional radio stations operating over 50 FM and DAB licences in England, Scotl ...

network of local stations.

History

Radio Forth was launched on 22 January 1975 by Richard Findlay, whose opening speech included the words: ''This, for the very first time, is Radio Forth''. The first presenter on air was breakfast show host Steve Hamilton. Other presenters included Steve Jack, Bill Torrance on the daytime shows (including drivetime) and also had special nighttime slots including a once-a-week show for the public to call into the show and discuss their issues and problems. The station is also well known for its Radio Forth charity auctions where it auctioned off donated items, services and what have you with all the funds raised going to a local charity or providing much-needed funds for causes throughout the broadcast area. In 1990, Forth created a second station on its AM frequency. Before this, Radio Forth was broadcast as a single station on both FM and AM frequencies although in 1984 Radio Forth had been the first

station in the UK to operate a split service when it created Festival City Radio to provide coverage of that year's

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

. The FM station was renamed ''Radio Forth RFM'' and aimed at a younger age group, while ''Max AM'' was designed for over 35s. The FM station was later renamed ''Forth FM'' and then in the mid-late 90s, ''Max AM'' was later renamed ''Forth AM'' to match its sister station. In 2000, both stations were relaunched as '' 97.3 Forth One'' and ''1548 FORTH2''. Many changes occurred at this time, including new presenters and a revamped station sound. Forth 2 was redesigned as an adult contemporary music station while Forth One continued to play chart and contemporary music for under-35s. Radio Forth was originally owned by a consortium of local companies (''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...

'',

Scottish & Newcastle Scottish & Newcastle plc was a brewing company headquartered in Edinburgh, Scotland, which expanded from its home base to become an international business with beer volumes growing almost tenfold. The company was listed on the London Stock Exc ...

Christian Salvesen Christian Salvesen was a Scottish whaling, transport and logistics company with a long and varied history, employing 13,000 staff and operating in seven countries in western Europe. In December 2007, it was acquired by France, French listed tr ...

among them) until acquired by Scottish Radio Holdings in 995?and on 3 June 2005 British media group EMAP took over SRH. In January 2008, the EMAP's radio business was brought out by the German-based Bauer group. Most of Radio Forth's locally produced programming airs on Forth 1, consisting of 13 hours on weekdays and 4 hours at weekends, with live football commentaries airing on

Forth 2 Greatest Hits Radio Edinburgh, Lothians & Fife (formerly Forth 2) is an Independent Local Radio station based in Edinburgh, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Edinburgh, The Lothia ...

. Both stations also carry local news, sport and traffic bulletins every day. Some networked programming is produced by Radio Forth for broadcast across Scotland and northern England, alongside output from sister stations such as

Radio Clyde Radio Clyde is a group of two Independent Local Radio stations serving Glasgow and West Central Scotland. Radio Clyde is owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Bauer, based at studios in Clydebank, West Dunbartonshire and forms part of Baue ...

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

References

External links

Official website
{{coord missing, Edinburgh Radio stations established in 1975 1975 establishments in Scotland Radio stations in Scotland Radio stations in Edinburgh

History

See also

References

External links