Saint FM 94.7 was a
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 radi ...
serving the
South Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
island of
Saint Helena. The station's studios and administration offices were located at Association Hall, Main Street,
Jamestown. It was the only independent radio station broadcasting on Saint Helena, and was also the island's only
FM station.
The station also broadcast via the Internet and was relayed by stations in
Ascension Island and the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...
. The organisation also produces a weekly newspaper, the ''St Helena Independent'' which continues despite the closure of SaintFM.
The managing director of the station was
Mikael Olsson.
[Saint FM evacuated]
, Saint.fm, Retrieved 2010-08-02
The radio channels vacated by Saint FM have been taken over by
Saint FM Community Radio. Also Saint Fm 94.7 closed down on 31 April 2018 at midnight.
History
Saint FM was started by Johnny Drummond, whose bequest provided the initial funding for the station. Talks about the new station began in August 2003 between Drummond and the current station manager of Saint FM, Mike Olsson. Negotiations started soon afterwards and the broadcasting licence was issued on 22 July 2004.
The station commenced test transmissions on the Internet on 28 September 2004, and on
FM via a temporary aerial on 27 September 2004.
After three months of test transmissions Saint FM officially opened with scheduled broadcasts on 3 January 2005.
In June 2006 broadcasts commenced in Ascension Island on 91.4 MHz, locally re-broadcast by VT Merlin Communications.
On 1 September 2006 Saint FM began broadcasting to
Stanley
Stanley may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
* ''Stanley'' (1972 film), an American horror film
* ''Stanley'' (1984 film), an Australian comedy
* ''Stanley'' (1999 film), an animated short
* ''Stanley'' (1956 TV series) ...
on the Falkland Islands on 95.5 MHz. The re-broadcast service was provided b
KTV Ltdon the Falkland Islands under the title 'KTV Radio Nova Saint FM', and was extended to cover residents in the vicinity of
RAF Mount Pleasant
RAF Mount Pleasant (also known as Mount Pleasant Airport, Mount Pleasant Complex or MPA) is a Royal Air Force station in the British Overseas Territory of the Falkland Islands. The airfield goes by the motto of "Defend the right" (while the m ...
.
The station closed on 21 December 2012.
Closure
Saint FM posted the following on Wednesday 19 December 2012 on its Facebook page:
SaintFM closed down at 4p.m. on 21 December 2012. After a brief speech from the station's owner,
Mikael Olsson, the final record played was ''
The Carnival Is Over'' by
The Seekers
The Seekers were an Australian folk-influenced pop quartet, originally formed in Melbourne in 1962. They were the first Australian pop music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States. They were ...
. Then the transmitter was switched off.
Programmes
The majority of programming was music-based with a significant number of requests being played for islanders from relatives and friends overseas and vice versa.
As befits the musical preference of the many Saint Helenians much
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
was played, but most popular music styles from the last 50 years were featured.
Weekday daytime programmes were usually presented by station staff, with evenings and weekends programming done by 'voluntary presenters'.
'Local news' (which also included events on Ascension Island and the Falkland Islands) was broadcast throughout the day. The station also did international news bulletins as well as international and local sports updates throughout the day.
The programming style could best be described as 'informal'.
Many of the station's requests were placed by 'Saints' contacting relatives worldwide.
As a commercial station, Saint FM played adverts for local businesses. Some of these are still available online.
Saint Helena Frequencies
Although Saint Helena is a small island its terrain is such that island-wide coverage requires more than one transmitter.
The main island transmitter was at
High Knoll Fort, and radiated on 93.1 MHz. From this were also fed:
* a relay at The Flag, for the Levelwood area, opened July 2007, which operated on 95.1 MHz.
* a relay for the
Blue Hill and
Barren Ground area, on 91.1 MHz from the Head 'O Wain TV transmitter site.
The High Knoll Fort transmitter was itself fed from a transmitter located at the studios in Jamestown, which radiated on 106.7 MHz. This transmitter also provided a service in Jamestown.
FM DX
Because of its remoteness Saint FM was interested to hear from people who could receive the station at unusually long distances, for example in Africa or at sea, direct from its main 93.1 MHz FM transmitter on Saint Helena.
References
External links
Station Website at www.saint.fm(now taken over by
Saint FM Community Radio)
St. Helena Independent (Newspaper)* Featured in th
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Radio stations in Saint Helena
2004 establishments in Saint Helena and Dependencies
Radio stations established in 2004
2012 disestablishments in Saint Helena and Dependencies
Radio stations disestablished in 2012
Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom
Jamestown, Saint Helena