City Edinburgh | Broadcast area Lothian and Fife | |
Slogan Forth 1: Your Music, Your Life
Forth 2: The Greatest Hits
Forth 3: The Hits Frequency Forth 1: 97.3/97.6/102.2 MHz
Forth 2: 1548 kHz
All services on DAB: 11D First air date 22 January 1975
1990(RFM/Max AM split)
19 January 2015 (Forth 3) Format Forth 1: Hot AC
Forth 2: Adult contemporary and classics
Forth 3: Contemporary hit radio | ||
Radio Forth is a group of three Independent Local Radio stations serving Lothian and Fife. Radio Forth is owned and operated by Bauer Radio, based at studios in Edinburgh and forms part of Bauer's City network of local stations.
History
Radio Forth was launched on 22 January 1975 by current chairman 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.
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. 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 owned by Scottish Radio Holdings until 3 June 2005 when British media group EMAP took over. In January 2008, the company'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. All three 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 in Clydebank and Key in Manchester.