Midlands 103 (previously known as Midlands Radio 3) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

local

independent radio Independent radio indicates a radio station that is run in a manner different from usual for the country it broadcasts in. In countries where there exist government-run radio stations that served as the primary or only the variety of licensed broa ...

station broadcasting to counties

Laois County Laois ( ; gle, Contae Laoise) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medi ...

Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...

, and

Westmeath "Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivis ...

. The station's offices and main broadcast studios are in

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, midlands reg ...

, County Offaly. It also has studios in

Athlone Towncentre Athlone Towncentre is a shopping centre located in Athlone, County Westmeath. It opened in November 2007. The shopping centre is the largest shopping centre in the Irish midlands with over 13,000 square metres of retail space, over 60 stores, c ...

Shopping Centre,

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midlands Region with a population of ...

and the Bridge Shopping Centre, Tullamore, and a studio and office in

Harbour Place Shopping Centre Harbour Place Shopping Centre () is a shopping centre located in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland. The centre is anchored by Dunnes Stores, which is the largest store. Development Permission was granted by Westmeath County Council for a ...

Mullingar Mullingar ( ; ) is the county town of County Westmeath in Ireland. It is the third most populous town in the Midland Region, with a population of 20,928 in the 2016 census. The Counties of Meath and Westmeath Act 1543 proclaimed Westmeat ...

, with programmes being broadcast regularly from all of these. Midlands 103 also has two outside broadcast units. As of the end of 2021, Midlands 103 had a weekly reach of 122,000 listeners with 73,000 tuning in daily, according to Joint National Listenership Research survey figures.

History

The station was established as "Radio 3" in 1990 having operated as an unlicenced broadcaster "Radio West" between 1982 and 1988.

Station output

The prime-time weekday schedule includes breakfast programming, a daily current affairs magazine show, music-driven programmes in the afternoon and "drive time" programming until 7pm. The weekend schedule is a mixture of music programmes and sports coverage, which sometimes includes full commentary of local and inter-county

Gaelic games Gaelic games ( ga, Cluichí Gaelacha) are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the ...

. Ireland's longest running love songs show, "Twilight Time", is broadcast on Sunday nights.

News

The

newsroom A newsroom is the central place where journalists—reporters, editors, and producers, associate producers, news anchors, news designers, photojournalists, videojournalists, associate editor, residence editor, visual text editor, Desk Head, s ...

is staffed by two full-time newsreaders and a sports correspondent. Midlands 103 also uses its own reporters and freelancers to cover events across the broadcast area. A sports reporter and commentators provide sports updates. The station produces its own local news bulletins for the region during peak times, with evening and weekend network bulletins produced by

Bauer Media Audio Ireland Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group. History Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that ...

Sales and promotion

Midlands 103 has 4 full time sales people covering the station's FM broadcast area, a classified sales person and business development officer. The station is also a part of the group of independent stations affiliated with the IRS+ national media sales and marketing bureau, which provides national and international branded advertising. Midlands 103 runs two annual awards ceremonies: the "Hospitality Awards" (which gives awards to pubs/bars, hotels, restaurants and the tourism sector), and the "Customer Service Awards" (which focus on customer service in retail and other business in the area).

References

External links

*
Midlands 103 Awards website
{{coord missing, County Offaly Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland Mass media in County Offaly