Northsound Radio was the name for the original Northsound Radio station, broadcast from Aberdeen, Scotland to the north-east of Scotland. In 1995, the station split to become two commercial local radio stations.
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History
Up until summer 1981, the only local radio available to the listeners in the North East of Scotland was from the BBC at Beechgrove, which broadcast specialist music programmes for just a couple of hours a week along with some regional news coverage. Groups of local businessmen applied for a radio franchise to broadcast to Aberdeen, Peterhead and the surrounding areas, that was advertised by the then-regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority.
North of Scotland Radio Ltd won the franchise, and after a change of name, Northsound Radio commenced broadcasting at 6am on 27 July 1981 from its original studios in an old schoolhouse on Kings Gate, near Anderson Drive in the city. Originally, the station was broadcast from 6am - 8pm each day.
In 1995, the station split its services to become Northsound 1 and Northsound 2. Northsound 1 broadcasts on 96.9FM and plays popular music from the 1980s to today whilst Northsound 2 broadcasts on 1035MW, and follows a 'classic gold' style, with music from the 1950s to today alongside some sports and specialist programming. Both stations now also broadcast on DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting – i.e. Digital Radio).
Free concerts
From 1997 until 2007, Northsound held free music concerts in Aberdeen almost bi-annually. Northsound delivered its first major outdoor event when the Tall Ships arrived in Aberdeen, which called Free at the Quay. Following its success, Free 2000 was staged at the Queen’s Links at Aberdeen Beach followed by Free at the Dee at Duthie Park. Due to the massive numbers attending these events, Northsound decided to move the event to Hazlehead Park and the event was renamed to simply Free 2007.
More than 30,000 people attended Free 2007 which saw the likes of Beverley Knight, McFly, Shayne Ward, Booty Luv, MacDonald Brothers, Ali Love, Unklejam and more perform for free.
Northsound are also sponsors and organisers of the Aberdeen's free Hogmanay street party, which in previous years has had stars such as Sandi Thom, Travis and Amy MacDonald play to large crowds.