Cool FM is an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

station based in

Newtownards Newtownards is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It lies at the most northern tip of Strangford Lough, 10 miles (16 km) east of Belfast, on the Ards Peninsula. It is in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Newtownard ...

, Northern Ireland. The station is owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of Bauer's

Hits Radio Network Hits Radio is a network of 25 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. As of October 2022, the network has a combined reach of 6.6 million weekly listeners according to RAJAR. Overvie ...

. The station began broadcasting in 1990 when its parent station

Downtown Radio Downtown Radio is a Hot Adult Contemporary music radio station based in Newtownards, County Down, that serves all of Northern Ireland using a network of AM, FM and DAB transmitters. As of December 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 3 ...

ceased

simulcasting Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...

and split its AM and FM frequencies into two separate services.

continued on AM and FM frequencies outside Belfastand Cool FM was created to broadcast on . Initially broadcasting to the Greater Belfast area only, Cool FM can now be received across Northern Ireland on DAB. As of September 2022, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 434,000, according to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was calle ...

.https://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php

Programming

Cool FM plays a broad mix of popular, youth-orientated Pop and Dance music. Some of the stations most popular shows are ''

Pete Snodden Pete Snodden (born Peter Scott Snodden, 11 June 1980) is a radio host on Cool FM Cool FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. The station is owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of Bauer's Hit ...

in the Morning'' with Pete, Paulo and Rebeeca and the ''Cool Saturday Show'' with Stuart Robinson and Deputy Dave. Cool FM features some specialised music such as ''Cool of Rock'' on weekday mornings, classic hits in ''The Cool Years'' on Sunday afternoons and ''Cool Goes Quiet'', love songs on SundayThursday nights. Although station owner,

Bauer Radio Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of the Bauer Media Group. History In early 2008, German magazine publisher Bauer bought the radio division of British company Emap, which had been established as East Midland Allied Press in ...

, packages Cool FM as part of the

for selling advertising, Cool FM does not broadcast any Hits Radio networked programmes. All of Cool FM shows are locally-presented and produced from its Newtownards studios. Local news bulletins air on the hour between 6am and 10pm every day. On weekdays, there are extended bulletins at 1pm and 5pm and headlines on the half hour during breakfast and drivetime.

Presenters

*Paul Kennedy 1995 - today *

2000 - today *

DJ Hix DJ Hix is a Northern Irish DJ, radio presenter, and music producer. As a music producer his artist name is Hix. He is known for presenting radio shows on Cool FM, a commercial radio station based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. He is also kno ...

2007 - today * Stuart Robinson 2010 - today *Paulo Ross 2014 - today *John Kearns 1990-1995 / 2014 - today *Owen Beers 2014 - today *Rebecca McKinney 2015 - today *Deputy Dave 2015 - today *Melissa Riddell 2016 - today *Curtis McCosh 2016 - today *Connor Coates 2017 - today *Katharine Walker 2019 - today *Evanna Maxted 2021 - today *Ciara Ewing 2021 - today *Ryan A 2010-2014 / 2022 - today

References

External links

* Bauer Radio Mass media in County Down Newtownards Radio stations established in 1990 Radio stations in Northern Ireland 1990 establishments in Northern Ireland {{NorthernIreland-media-stub