Celtic Music Radio is a

Community Radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popu ...

station in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

, broadcasting to the

Greater Glasgow Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...

on 95.0 FM, Edinburgh on DAB+ and also worldwide via the internet. Celtic Music Radio is a Scottish Charity, registration number SC041172. The station broadcasts continuously, with live programming during most daytime and evening periods.

Musical styles and genres

The main focus of the station is traditional and contemporary Celtic-influenced music, mainly from

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, although the playlists regularly include many other genres, including folk, world music,

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

and roots music.

Music and cultural festivals

As a local community broadcaster with strong links to Scottish culture and arts, Celtic Music Radio works closely with many of the music and arts festivals in the Glasgow area, providing live coverage of key events, interviews with performers, and detailed what's on. information. Celtic Music Radio is closely associated with the annual

Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of tra ...

music festival which takes place in Glasgow every January, broadcasting 8 hours of live music and interviews from the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall daily. Celtic Music Radio works closely with the Scottish International Piano Competition broadcasting live coverage of all of the performances. The station is working with the organisers of other festivals, including the

World Pipe Band Championships The World Pipe Band Championships is a pipe band competition held in Glasgow, Scotland. The World Pipe Band Championships as we currently know them have been staged since 1947 although the Grade 1 Pipe Band Competition winners at the annual Cowal ...

, Piping Live and the

Merchant City Festival {{No footnotes, date=September 2011 The Merchant City Festival is a major cultural festival taking place in Glasgow's Merchant City area. Attracting more than 55,000 people, the four-day Festival presents the cream of Scotland’s theatre, musi ...

and many folk and traditional music events throughout Scotland and Ireland.

History

Following two Ofcom

Restricted Service Licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL), is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofc ...

(RSL) short-term trial broadcasts during January 2006 and January 2007 on FM, Celtic Music Radio was awarded a 5-year AM (MW) broadcast Community Radio Licence by

OFCOM The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

in July 2007.Ofcom awards seven new community radio licences , Ofcom
The station went live at 15:30 on 1530 kHz AM/MW on 16 January 2008. Celtic Music Radio applied to

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

for an FM broadcasting licence during Round 3 of Community Radio licensing and was successful with an award announced on 17 July 2012 and the 95.0FM frequency was allocated. Within two years a station would have to be launched on the awarded frequency. The 95FM launch was on 1 July 2014 with 1530 AM/MW ceasing transmission on the same day due to the terms of the FM licence. This welcomed a new audience to the station across

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. The switch to FM improved reception, availability, visibility to tune-in, listener experience and reasons to reach the audience.

Technical

During February 2016, the radio station moved from Glasgow Caledonian University to premises in Admiral Street, which allowed the station to build 3 new studios, a performance space, boardroom, production facilities and Green Room for performing artists. During Covid times the station was broadcasting 100% from presenters homes. The decision was made in 2021 to close their Admiral St studios. A new studio complex is currently being built ready for 2022 in the Braehead shopping centre. Celtic Music Radio is a member of the

Community Media Association The Community Media Association (CMA) is the UK membership association for community broadcasting. Founded in 1983 as the Community Radio Association, the name of the organisation was changed in 1997 to the Community Media Association (CMA) to re ...

and the Scottish Community Broadcasting Network.

References

External links

* http://www.mediauk.com/radio/344167/celtic-music-radio-1530am * http://www.scottishinternationalpianocompetition.com/
Charity registration details
{{Radio in Scotland Radio stations established in 2008 Internet radio stations in the United Kingdom Community radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations in Glasgow