Frequency 107.1 MHz | Power 50 Watts. | |
Broadcast area Alderney (Channel Islands) and its territorial waters. Slogan "In tune with Alderney!" First air date 12 February 2015 (2015-02-12) Format Mixed (Local information/hot adult contemporary) | ||
QUAY-FM is a VHF-FM broadcasting station on the island of Alderney. It holds the first (and to date, only) Community Radio licence in the Channel Islands, granted in 2014 to the Alderney Broadcasting Company (a newly incorporated non-profit organisation, limited by guarantee).
The scheme under which community radio stations were established in the United Kingdom (Great Britain and N. Ireland) by Ofcom originally did not apply to the Channel Islands, each of which has separate legal systems. Further legislation was in order needed to enable the establishment of community radio stations in the Islands.
After representations from the QUAY-FM RSL volunteers and the Government of Alderney, this was enabled by the extension, by Order-in-Council of the relevant parts of the UK's Communications Act, 2003 to the Bailiwick of Guernsey.
Applications were invited by Ofcom in December 2013 and closed in March the following year. This application round resulted in a licence being granted to the Alderney Broadcasting Company Limited, a non-profit company incorporated in Alderney, limited by guarantee (company number 1899) which was the only applicant within the Bailiwick (no applications having been received from either Guernsey or Sark).
History
The station was founded in the summer of 2000 by a number of volunteers, several of whom had backgrounds in BBC Radio, independent local radio (ILR) in the UK, and university radio.
The station was originally authorised to transmit on 87.7 MHz FM under a Restricted Service Licence (RSL) issued by the UK's Radio Authority. It broadcast only during the peak summer vacation period, including Alderney Week. In 2004, a regular Christmas broadcast period was added. The station was available to be activated in times of civil emergency, which happened once during extreme weather conditions in the winter of 2010 (which was nicknamed "SNOW FM" locally, although the familiar QUAY-FM name was used on-air).
Since the start of 2015, QUAY-FM has broadcast year-round under a Community Radio Licence issued by Ofcom (the Radio Authority's successor licensing body).
Live, year-round transmissions were commenced at 7:00 a.m. on 12 February 2015 by Tim Butler (one of the original presenters on the very first RSL broadcasts in August 2000) presenting the Early Morning Show