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The work to bring a truly
local radio station to Banbury and the surrounding area began in the spring of 2001 after a
meeting between Banbury based broadcaster Andy Green and Andy Craig of the
Milestone Group.
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APRIL 2001
Having broadcast on Fox FM for ten
years Andy Green had decided to explore
the opportunities to bring local radio station to his home town.
Just a few months earlier in a completely separate move Andy Craig had written
to the then regulator The Radio Authority expressing an interest in bringing
local radio to a number of areas, including Banbury. A mutual
friend, Ian Downs, suggested the two Andy's meet to see if they could work together.
Andy Craig met Andy Green in April 2001, and
Banbury FM was born.
Plans then began for the first
ever trial broadcast. This was announced thanks to Julian Dancer
at the Banbury Cake with a front page news item in August 2001.
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Andy Green together with
Milestone's Daniel Cass then sought to recruit presenters, news journalists,
promotions team members and helpers.
Local personality John Craven
agreed to join the team, alongside ex-Fox FM presenters Phil Angell and Ian
Downs. A number of talented local individuals also gave up a
month of their time to broadcast to their town.  |
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Dave Pegg from Fairport Convention
interviewed on-air
2001 Town Mayor Cllr Jim Vine
proudly displays his Banbury Fm sticker on his
electric chair |
A listener delivers a petition of support
for Banbury FM
Banbury MP Tony Baldry drops in to the
station for a chat |
Twenty-eight days later and the broadcast was a
hailed a huge success. Independent research showed that in
just four weeks 54% of residents listened to Banbury FM, making it the most
listened to radio station in the area. Awareness of the station in Banbury
stood at an amazing 93%.
Motions in support Banbury FM
were passed unanimously by both Cherwell District Council and Banbury Town
Council. In addition an
unprecedented 6,364 letters and signatures on petitions were received urging
the Radio Authority to make available a permanent radio licence for a
community based radio station in the North Oxfordshire area.
Banbury FM
Sales Manager Anna Marks with Pru from F Stop
Banbury FM really got to the
heart of the local community. Numerous charities had been
involved in the broadcast, including Banbury Lions who ran their Wish Week
live on air. The station's News and Sport coverage had shown
just how good local radio coverage could be, and the on-air team were taken
to people's hearts. |
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Sales Manager Anna Marks became
well known to those wanting to promote their businesses, who showed their
support for the station financially and proved that a well run truly local
station could be financially viable in Banbury.
Banbury FM even broadcast a
marriage proposal on-air - and the subsequent acceptance!
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Shaun
Jardine is interviewed by Banbury FM's Ally Bull |
Local
solicitor Shaun Jardine had supported Banbury FM from the start and
invited Andy Green to speak to the local business community at the
Banbury Business Breakfast Club ahead of the first trial broadcast.
Shaun was an on-air guest during the four weeks and even stored some of
the competition prizes to alleviate the cramped studio conditions! Shaun was
very excited at the prospect of Banbury having its own radio station and was
invited to join the Banbury FM Board. A
few months later Shaun became Banbury FM's Chairman. |
Following the first trial
broadcast Banbury FM submitted a report to The Radio
Authority demonstrating the level of support for local radio in Banbury.
The report included thousands of petition signatures and letters from local
people.
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Andy Green
and John Craven by the Coca-Cola air tunnel, ahead of John stepping inside
to pick a competition winner. |
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Over the coming months work continued behind the
scenes. Members of the Banbury FM team appeared at a number of local
events and supported local charities. The Banbury FM board was
enhanced as John Craven and local business people David Walley and Adrienne
Lawler joined the Board.
MAY
2002
In May 2002 the Radio Authority announced
North Oxfordshire would get its own radio station!
This was a decision that was a direct result of the Banbury FM team's work and
the fantastic support from local people, businesses and organisations.
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SEPTEMBER
2002
Twelve months after the first
broadcast Banbury FM's mobile studios returned to Tesco's car park for a
second four week trial broadcast, which began at midnight on Saturday 22nd September
2002.
Pete
Gardener shows a young listener our studio
The on-air team were joined by Bob Dainty
who had been an ardent supporter of the first trial broadcast.
With his friend Jim he had organised several hundred petition signatures and
letters of support for Banbury FM. As a well known Banbury
character Bob was persuaded to bring his love of sixties music to Banbury
FM's schedule.
The team were also joined by Simeon Courtie, the
TV and radio presenter, who lived locally and wanted to be a part of his local
station. |
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Banbury FM also continued to
show its support of all our local sports teams. Sports Editor
Dave Boxer, assisted by Banbury United Dave Pearce, broadcast a live
commentary on a crucial Banbury United match and helped the team attract
their best gate of the season so far.
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Bob
Dainty on-air
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The
station featured dozens of local charities, interviewed people from
communities across the area as part of the Network Neighbourhood
programme, and introduced some exciting and fun competitions and
opportunities for listeners to interact with their station. |
In support of the local
business community the breakfast show team went on the road and broadcast
live from a Banbury Business Breakfast Club meeting. The team
were also live at the launch of Banbury's Michaelmas Fair.
Of course, the music continued
to be a hugely popular selection for everyone tuning in, with the addition
of a weekly Country Music programme hosted by former Cropredy resident and
Fox FM and BBC Radio Oxford presenter Stuart Cameron. |
Our 2002 broadcast highlighted just
what a difference a station like Banbury FM could make to its local community.
After hearing about Mollie Bird's fight against Neuroblastoma (a childhood
cancer) the Banbury FM team wanted to know what they could do to help
eighteen-month old Mollie. When we were told the Neuroblastoma
Society collected stamps to raise funds for research and support Banbury FM's
listeners sprang into action. Over a three week period an extremely
impressive 22,000 stamps were collected for the appeal.
 
Mollie Bird with
her dad Dave and some of the Banbury FM team, and generous listeners with some
of their stamps.
Banbury FM was also first to report
the closure of the local Alcan factory and the loss of hundreds of local jobs.
Within hours of the news breaking we broadcast an extended news programme and
interviewed Alcan management in Switzerland, employees affected by the news, and
the Chief Executive of Cherwell District Council on the implications for the
local economy.
 
Dave Boxer and
Dave Pearce commentate on Banbury United
Nikki Kirk conducts an interview at the breakfast club meeting
 
Cat Warner and
Kevin Price from the news team
Andy Green interviews Town Mayor Cllr Tony Mepham at Banbury Fair
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Again the station was an unprecedented success
and a report was submitted to The Radio Authority.
SPRING
2003
With it now guaranteed that a licence would be
awarded in the town, in the spring of 2003 the first sign of any competition for
the licence appeared.
Laser Broadcasting were a company
who went round the country to areas where local radio licences were to be
issued. In return for investment by local people they spearheaded a
campaign. Laser Broadcasting set up BLR (Banbury Local Radio) and
successfully obtained investment from a group of local business people.
The first of their two trial broadcasts went on-air in the spring of 2003.
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More competition came in the shape
of ImpactLive which was run by a small group of local people who had previously
broadcast via the internet. They subsequently withdrew from the race
for the licence when the radio group that had been backing them withdrew their
support.
The government appointment of Ofcom as the
new radio regulator delayed the advertisement of Banbury licence until late
2004.
NOVEMBER 2004
Banbury FM submitted its application in February
2005. BLR also submitted their bid, alongside one from a third applicant
- The CN Radio, who ran stations elsewhere in the country, including The Bear in
Stratford. Their bid "The Bear for Banbury".
Many local
people dismissed this latter application as a rank outsider.
However, in a moved that shocked
many
people, in May 2005 Ofcom awarded the licence to CN Radio.
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The dream of
Banbury FM being the commercial radio for our town died on Monday 9th May 2005.
FEBRUARY
2006
After winning the licence it was a
while before anything was heard of CN Radio. In Warwickshire it was
announced they had decided to rename The Bear in Stratford as Touch FM.
Subsequently it was announced that the Banbury station would launch as Touch FM
during
February 2006.
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NOVEMBER
2008
CN Radio failed to make Touch FM a success
financially or in terms of the number of listeners the station attracted.
They
announced they intended to close it in December 2008. This led to
the Touch FM management team seeking investment in order to keep the station
alive. Local property developer Russell Harrison agreed to join the
team and fund the project.
JUNE 2009
The now independently owned station
was relaunched as Banbury Sound in June 2009. A request had been
made to call the station Banbury FM, but this had been refused. Part
of the relaunch included hiring Banbury FM founder Andy Green to present
programmes on the station.
Banbury Sound was a far greater success than
Touch FM had been, but never achieved the ratings success of Banbury FM's trail
broadcasts in 2001 and 2002.
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OCTOBER 2010
It was announced to staff that Russell Harrison
had sold
Banbury Sound to the new owners of the Touch FM stations in the Midlands - Quidem. Quidem
decided to keep the Banbury Sound name, but closed down the local studios and
shared presenters with its other
stations from their base near Kenilworth.
SEPTEMBER 2011
Some ten years
since Banbury FM stated the campaign for a truly local radio station for the
town it appears the story has gone full circle. But the hope on the
horizon comes in the form of the Community Radio opportunity that could see the
Banbury FM dream finally become a reality...
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