Q Radio is a network of radio stations in Northern Ireland airing an

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

format. The network is the fifth most listened to radio station in Northern Ireland, with a combined figure of over 241,000 listeners as of September 2022, 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 ...

Network

Q Radio covers seven licence areas: *

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 ...

- 96.7 & 102.5 FM and DAB *North West - 102.9 FM *North Coast - 97.2 & 97.6 FM *Mid Antrim - 107.0 & 107.6 FM *Mid Ulster - 106.0, 106.3 & 107.2 FM *Newry & Mourne - 100.5 FM & 101.1 FM *Tyrone & Fermanagh - 101.2 & 102.1 FM The various stations in the network previously had local opt-outs from the network schedule, including the Q Cafe on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. There are currently no opt-outs on the schedule with all stations taking the network at all times, except for local news, traffic and advertising.

History

The first use of the Q brand in Northern Ireland came with the launch of Q97.2 from

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

County Londonderry County Londonderry ( Ulster-Scots: ''Coontie Lunnonderrie''), also known as County Derry ( ga, Contae Dhoire), is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the thirty two counties of Ireland and one of the nine counties of Ulster. B ...

, on 26 January 2000. Additional stations were opened in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

(Q102.9) and

Omagh Omagh (; from ga, An Ómaigh , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. North ...

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

(Q101.2). Further stations that would later become part of Q Radio launched in the mid-2000s. Seven FM launched on 1 November 2005 from its base in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

., while Five FM won a licence to broadcast to Newry and Mourne on 100.5 MHz in 2006, signing on 12 December. That same year, River Media bought Mid 106 FM in

Cookstown Cookstown ( ga, An Chorr Chríochach, IPA: �anˠˈxoːɾˠɾˠˈçɾʲiːxəx is a small town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the fourth largest town in the county and had a population of 11,599 in the 2011 census. It, along with Maghe ...

from

CN Group CN Group Limited was formerly an independent local media business based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England, operating in print and radio. It is now owned by Newsquest and their newspapers are printed in Glasgow. The company was formerly known as t ...

and rebranded it as Six FM. In 2011, Five FM, Six FM and Seven FM were rebranded as Q Radio stations. In 2015, Q Radio acquired CityBeat in

from CN Group, marking its entry into that market. The station was then rebranded as Q Radio Belfast. In 2017, "QHQ", the network's main studios, were opened in Belfast's Fountain Centre. A series of licence extensions in 2018 brought Q Radio additional coverage in Northern Ireland, including transmitters covering Larne, Newcastle, Draperstown, Enniskillen and Ballycastle.

Presenters/former presenters

Stephen Clements Stephen Clements (17 December 1972 – 6 January 2020) was a Northern Irish radio DJ and TV presenter. He was best known for hosting the Q Breakfast Show on Q Radio for seven years until June 2019, and The Stephen Clements Show on BBC Radio Ulst ...

*Gareth Stewart *Gareth Woods *Ryan A *Steve Turnbull *Jordan Humphries *Yazz *Cate Conway *Owen Larkin *Mark Lima *Carl Kinsman *Eoghan Quigg *Sean Hegarty *Declan Wilson *Ibe Sesay *Connor Brennan *Victoria Quinn *Sean Mckeown *Errol Doherty *Olga Kaye

References

External links

Q Radio
{{Radio in Ireland Mass media in Belfast Radio stations in Northern Ireland