Féile FM was a community

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

based at Conway Mill in the

Gaeltacht Quarter The Gaeltacht Quarter ( ga, An Cheathrú Ghaeltachta ) in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom is an area surrounding the Falls Road in the west of the city. A Gaeltacht is an area where the Irish language is spoken. The Quarter aims to pr ...

in west

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

. The station first

broadcast Broadcasting is the distribution of audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum ( radio waves), in a one-to-many model. Broadcasting began ...

in July 1996 on a 28-day

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 ...

, operating as an outlet for the west Belfast community. Within two years, Féile FM began broadcasting for two four-week periods each year, providing a buildup to

Féile an Phobail Féile an Phobail (''The Community's Festival''), also known as the West Belfast Festival is a community arts organisation known for its ''August Féile'' (Festival). The organisation is prominent for its promotion of Irish and international cul ...

's ''Draíocht Children's Arts Festival'', their ''West Belfast Festival'' and the

St Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick ( ga, Lá Fhéile Pádraig, lit=the Day of the Festival of Patrick), is a cultural and religious celebration held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patr ...

events. The station was operated under the banner of

by a radio co-ordinator and a large number of

volunteer Volunteering is a voluntary act of an individual or group freely giving time and labor for community service. Many volunteers are specifically trained in the areas they work, such as medicine, education, or emergency rescue. Others serve ...

s from the local community. Volunteers were involved in many aspects of the station from hospitality, telephones, news team, production, presenters and even managers.

History

Over the first nine years, ''Féile FM'' broadcast on the same

frequency Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit of time. It is also occasionally referred to as ''temporal frequency'' for clarity, and is distinct from ''angular frequency''. Frequency is measured in hertz (Hz) which is eq ...

of 106.2 FM. This frequency changed to 107.7 FM for the radio broadcast in July/August 2005. Although the station had been a roving unit for many years, broadcasting from various venues, it returned to Conway Mill in February 2004 to a purpose-built studio with a full studio and modern equipment. The studio was created through a partnership between Féile an Phobail and Conway Mill and was funded by the Belfast Local Strategy Partnership. In October 2005, Féile FM was granted a full-time 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 ...

. The terms of the

licence A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

allowed ''Féile FM'' to take two years to develop the radio station. After the period of two years, ''Féile FM'' was granted permission to broadcast throughout the year as opposed to its previous restrictions on broadcasting only in the run-up to St. Patrick's Day and the West Belfast Festival. This allowed the station to provide a full-time community radio service to the entire city of Belfast and across area of

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Antrim and Down. The station closed at 4pm on Friday 25 March 2011 owing to financial difficulties and increasing overhead costs.Féile FM: Cash crisis puts Belfast radio station jobs in jeopardy
Belfast Telegraph, 25 March 2011

References

External links

Féile FM WebsiteFéile an Phobail Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feile FM Radio stations in Northern Ireland Mass media in Belfast Community radio stations in the United Kingdom Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom