Q Radio (formerly known as Citybeat and Belfast CityBeat) is a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

. It broadcasts to Greater Belfast on 96.7

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base u ...

FM and on

DAB Digital Radio Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB) is a digital radio standard for broadcasting digital audio radio services in many countries around the world, defined, supported, marketed and promoted by the WorldDAB organisation. The standard is dominan ...

across all of Northern Ireland. From 5 April 2007, Citybeat became available on 102.5FM for North

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 ...

Newtownabbey Newtownabbey ( ) is a large settlement north of Belfast city centre in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is separated from the rest of the city by Cavehill and Fortwilliam golf course, but it still forms part of the Belfast metropolitan area ...

and

Carrickfergus Carrickfergus ( , meaning " Fergus' rock") is a large town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It sits on the north shore of Belfast Lough, from Belfast. The town had a population of 28,141 at the 2021 census. It is County Antrim's oldest t ...

. On 2 November 2007, Citybeat launched a third FM transmitter also broadcasting on 102.5FM for Bangor. Citybeat reaches a weekly audience of 127,000 listeners in Belfast, around 22% of the adult population. It has won both Arqiva 'Station of the Year' and Sony Awards. The station was rebranded as Q Radio on-air at 6pm on Sunday 9 August 2015.

Young Star Search

From 2007 to 2010, the radio station was the home of the Young Star Search, Northern Ireland's biggest ever talent search for young people.

Awards and nominations

Citybeat has won more

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

than any other commercial radio station in Northern Ireland along with a number of other top awards. Recent awards include: *

Stephen Nolan Stephen Raymond Nolan (born 20 August 1973) is a Northern Irish radio and television presenter for BBC Northern Ireland and BBC Radio 5 Live. Nolan is the highest earning BBC broadcaster in Northern Ireland. In the 2023–2024 financial year h ...

Sony Gold 2002 *

Sony Gold x2 2003 *

Sony Gold x2 2004 + Sony Silver *NTL Station of the Year 2003 *

- Best presenter Irish Entertainment Awards 2003 *Joe Ferguson - Best presenter Irish Entertainment Awards 2004 * Mark & Dave - Best Irish Breakfast Show Irish Entertainment Awards 2006 *

Marc Mallett Marc Mallett (b. Belfast
d ...

IPR Award - News Broadcaster of the Year 2007 * Keith Law PANI Award - for JONJOE SAT NAV spoof The One That Got Away / Production Award 2007 * Leroy Allen - City Beat - Lancashire - Preston *Irish radio station of the year - Irish Entertainment Awards 2007 *Bronse New York Festival - News Programme 'Belfast Tonight' 2007 *

Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...

UK Commercial Radio Station of the Year 2007 * Stuart Robinson P&M Awards Nomination 2007 * Stuart Robinson Arqiva UK Commercial Radio Awards Nomination 2008 * Stuart Robinson & Work Experience Boy - Best presenter Irish Entertainment Awards 2008 * Stuart Robinson Belfast Awards Nomination 2008 * Keith Law VOX Award Highly commended- Use of Humour 2008–09 * Keith Law VOX Award Highly Commended- Best newcomer 2008–09 * Keith Law Radio-Awards.net Best in category 2009 * Keith Law Radio-Awards.net Grand Prix Northern Ireland 2009 * Stuart Robinson Arqiva UK Commercial Radio Awards Nomination 2009 *Belfast Tonight - Silver Award 'Best News Programme' New York Festival 2009 * Keith Law, Stuart Robinson and Work Experience Boy - Silver Award 'Best Comedy Feature' New York Festival 2009 * Stuart Robinson - Gold Award 'Best Station Promotion' New York Festival 2009

Affiliates

Under the ownership of

Owen Oyston Owen John Oyston (born 3 January 1934) is an English businessman best known as the former majority owner of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club. Oyston was convicted of rape and indecent assault of a 16-year-old girl in 1996. He served three ...

, CityBeat had a couple of short lived affiliate stations on AM, namely Goldbeat 828 (Formerly Townland Radio) 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 ...

, and Heartbeat 1521 (formerly

Radio 1521 Radio 1521 (later Heartbeat 1521) was a radio station based in County Armagh, Northern Ireland from 1996 to 1999. The station broadcast from Craigavon and covered much of mid-Ulster. The station launched in 1996 before being bought by Belfast s ...

) in

Craigavon Craigavon ( ) is a town in north County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was a planned settlement, begun in 1965, and named after the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland: James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was intended to be the heart of ...

. Citybeat handed back the licences to the Radio Authority just two years after buying the stations due to lack of commercial viability. Heartbeat was on the air from 1996 to 1999 and Goldbeat broadcast between 1995 and 1999. The licence for Craigavon has to date never been re-advertised however Cookstown was re-advertised on FM in 2002 and was granted back to Citybeat (by then under new ownership of CN group) in February 2003

Mid FM Q Radio is a network of seven Independent Local Radio stations in Northern Ireland airing an adult contemporary format. The network is the fifth most listened to radio station in Northern Ireland, with a combined figure of 335,000 listeners as ...

was launched as the local radio station for Mid-Ulster (from the same building and studio as Townland/Goldbeat broadcast). In 2006 Citybeat sold the station to Northern Media (owners of Ballymena 7fm); they rebranded the station to

Six FM 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics A six-sided polygon is a hexagon, one of the three regular polygons capable of tiling the plane. A hexagon a ...

. From 2000 to 2004, Citybeat also broadcast RSL stations

Castle FM Castle FM is a currently inactive () short-term radio station based in Carrickfergus, County Antrim The radio station transmitted twice annually between 1998-2005 and after a six-year break returned in July 2011. Castle FM broadcasts a mixture ...

and

Bangor FM Bangor FM was a local radio station based in Bangor, County Down and broadcasting to the greater Bangor area. The station broadcast a varied mixture of music, news, interviews and community information to a catchment area of over 60,000 adults in ...

in Bangor to support local festivals. In August 2000 Citybeat also provided

Fast FM Fast or FAST may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Fast" (Juice Wrld song), 2019 * "Fast" (Luke Bryan song), 2016 * "Fast" (Sueco song), 2019 * "Fast" (GloToven song), 2019 * ''Fast'', an album by Custom, 2002 * ''Fast'', a 2010 short fil ...

Irvinestown Irvinestown is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. At the 2021 census it had a population of 2,325 people. The most notable buildings are Necarne Castle, formerly known as Castle Irvine, and Castle Archdale. Irvinestown is situated ...

as a trial broadcast for the pending commercial licence for

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 ...

and

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

. The licence was later awarded to Q Network Radios Q101.2.

BCR (1990–1996)

Prior to its relaunch in 1996, Citybeat was known as BCR or Belfast Community Radio, a community focused station which failed to attract listener interest. BCR launched at 7.30am on 6 April 1990 and managed to stay on the air for six years. BCR presenters prior to the 1996 relaunch included Rick Nugent, Maurice Jay, Mal Reynolds, Kenny Tosh Stuart Robinson, Phil Doyle, Paul Orr and

. At the time of its demise, BCR was pulling in little over 30,000 listeners. Stuart Robinson was the last presenter on BCR when it switched to Citybeat at midnight on 30 September 1996. Citybeat officially launched at 8am on 30 September with the new breakfast show presented by Dave Stephens and Caroline Bartley. The station broadcast from the basement of Russell Court Complex on Belfast's Lisburn Road. In 1997 (as Citybeat) the station moved to Stranmillis before moving in 2006 to Ormeau Road. Rick Nugent was the first presenter on BCR who launched the station with "Maira O'Connell" and "Feet of a Dancer". Nugent left when Citybeat started in 1996 but returned as Nolan's replacement in 2003 before leaving again in 2005.

General station information

*Q Radio's FM transmitters are based on the

Black Mountain transmitting station The Black Mountain transmitting station is a broadcasting and telecommunications facility, situated on Black Mountain to the west of the city of Belfast, on land above Ordnance Datum (mean sea level) in Northern Ireland (). It includes a gu ...

for 96.7FM, Carnmoney Hill for 102.5FM in Newtownabbey and Bryansburn Road, Bangor Town Centre for 102.5FM in North Down. Programmes are broadcast from modern studios located on the

Ormeau Road Ormeau Road is a road in south Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland. Ormeau Park is adjacent to it. It forms part of the A24. History The road, as currently laid out, dates from the first decades of the 19th century when a bridge was buil ...

close to Belfast city centre. *From October 2001, Q Radio has been available on the Northern Ireland Digital Multiplex - giving the station province wide coverage. The 6 digital transmitter sites are Black Mountain (Greater Belfast), Colinward (North Belfast/South East Antrim), Limavady (North Coast), Sheriffs Mountain (Londonderry / North West), Strabane (The West) and Brougher Mountain (Fermanagh and Tyrone). *Q Radio's newer transmitters both broadcast on 102.5FM and deliver the station to areas previously sheltered by the Cavehill, such as North Belfast, Newtownabbey, Glengormley and Carrickfergus. Another transmitter also on 102.5FM provides coverage for Bangor and North County Down. *Q Radio's main 96.7 MHz FM transmitter on Black Mountain has a power output of 600W with mixed polarisation.

Competition

Q Radio regularly attracts the largest market share of all commercial radio in the Belfast area. Its current audience is 144,000 listeners weekly in Belfast, however the station also attracts additional audience on FM outside Belfast, on DAB digital radio across Northern Ireland and online listening which is not included in this figure. (RAJAR fig. qrt03/09). The local BBC station is

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. Acc ...

. In addition all national

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

and UK/ ROI national commercial stations can be received in Belfast. Some pirate stations (mainly operating along the Armagh border) along with a selection of regular RSL stations and 4 full-time community stations can also be heard in the Q Radio area. A selection of national digital stations are also available on the Northern Ireland DAB multiplex and Queen's University Student Radio in Belfast is broadcast on MW/ AM.

Notable past presenters

* Stuart Robinson: 1996–2010 *

Marc Mallett Marc Mallett (b. Belfast
d ...

: 1997–2007 * Maurice Jay: 1996–1997; 2001–2005 *

: 1996–2003 * Rick Nugent: 1996, 2003–2005 * Ronan Kelly: 2003 *

Christine Bleakley Christine Louise Lampard (''née'' Bleakley, born 2 February 1979) is a Northern Irish television presenter. She has presented various television programmes with Adrian Chiles, such as '' The One Show'' (2007–2010) and '' Daybreak'' (2010–20 ...

: 1996–1998 *

Mal Reynolds Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds is a fictional character and the protagonist of the ''Firefly'' franchise. Mal is played by actor Nathan Fillion in the 2002 TV series ''Firefly'' and the 2005 film '' Serenity''. In the series, Mal is a former Browncoa ...

: 1990–1996

References

External links

* {{coord missing, Northern Ireland Radio stations in Northern Ireland Mass media in Belfast Radio stations established in 1990