City Coventry, England First air date 2000-Present | Broadcast area Coventry University Format CHR | |
Slogan Coventry University's Student Radio Station Former callsigns Phoenix Radio, Source FM | ||
Source Radio is a radio station operating from Coventry, England. It is a division of the Coventry University Students' Union, and broadcast to the Campus and beyond, online. It occasionally operated for short periods on FM and AM, complemented by a near CD-quality version of the output via the Internet.
Contents
Known as "Source FM" from 2001 to 2005, and "Phoenix Radio" before that, the station changed its name as part of a rebrand to eliminate confusion over the fact that broadcasts on FM were very occasional, and that the station was available on other platforms.
Source Radio's external website closed sometime in 2010, but now broadcasts via a Ustream! stream at cusu.org
Music
The station provides a blend of music to the city, uncatered for by the other stations in Coventry. Current "youth" favourites and upfront music are complemented by the best tracks of the past few years, and the biggest songs of the 1990s. The breaking of new acts form an important part of the music policy.
Production values
Source Radio's jingle package is produced by ex-Station Manager Chris Nash, with the male voice being Ben Day (Quidem) and the female vocal as Anna Harding (Capital FM North East).
FM RSLs
In May 2005, the station ran a short-term stint on 102.6FM in Coventry. The launch was publicised in the local press, as well as supported by a series of advertising billboards in the city centre. Other stints took place in 2000, March 2002, March 2003 and September 2005. 107.2 was used until the launch of 107.1 Rugby FM ten miles away in the summer of 2002 necessitated a move. This was originally to 107.5, but was occupied by a very high-powered pirate radio station, Sting FM, which drowned the service out.
Becoming Source Radio and going to AM
The rebrand came about as the station rarely broadcast on FM, and with the (later-fulfilled) possibility of an AM licence on the way it was felt it was time to strengthen the brand.
Around the same time youth station Kix 96.2 closed down in the city, and flipped to an adult contemporary station, Touch Radio, which made it part of a network of stations in the Midlands. Source Radio, took this opportunity to fill the gap left, and although Radio 1 became the number one station in the city, Source Radio's placing and status offered a distinctive opportunity.
The station launched to the city on 1431AM on Monday, 5 March 2007 under the management of Kat Page, with a special programme presented live from the Student's Union nightclub, FiftyFour.
The AM launch coincided with the launch of 3G Smart Phones which could stream radio via apps such as TuneIn. This provided a means of listening on the move in a far better quality than AM. The young target audience are generally also quite "AM-resistant" and as a result, the 1431AM service never reached a particularly sizeable audience. The decision was taken to discontinue the AM service in 2009.
Flirt! and Source Radio
During the 2000s, Students Unions across the country participated in a national event called "Flirt!", a franchise for an evening entertainment event. CUSU became the first union in the country to have its radio station simulcast the event live on its radio station throughout the 2004–05 academic year.