Cool FM
| |
City | Belfast |
---|---|
Broadcast area | Northern Ireland |
Slogan | Northern Ireland's number 1 for music |
Frequency |
FM: 97.4 MHz DAB: 12D |
First air date | 7 February 1990 |
Format | Contemporary hit radio / Big Top 40 |
Owner | Bauer Radio |
Sister stations | Downtown Radio |
Website |
planetradio |
Cool FM is a commercial radio station, based in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. The station is owned and operated by Bauer Radio and forms part of Bauer's Hits Radio Network.
The station began broadcasting in 1990 when its parent station Downtown Radio ceased simulcasting and split its AM and FM frequencies into two separate services. Downtown Radio continued on 1026 kHz AM and FM frequencies outside Belfast and Cool FM was created to broadcast on the 97.4 MHz FM frequency, initially in the Greater Belfast area only. Today Cool FM is now heard across all of Northern Ireland on DAB.
Cool FM is Northern Ireland's Number 1 Hit Music Station. It plays a broad mix of popular, youth-orientated Pop and Dance music from the 1980s onwards, however there's also a daily dose of EDM. Some of the stations most popular shows are 'Pete Snodden in the moring with Pete, Paulo and Rebeeca and the Cool Saturday Show with Stuart Robinson and Deputy Dave. Cool FM features some specialised music such as Cool of Rock on weekday mornings, Cool Old Skool on Saturday Night, The Cool Years (Classic Hits) and Cool Goes Quiet Love Songs on Sunday - Thursday nights.
Programming
All but one of Cool FM's shows is locally presented and produced from its Newtownards studios. The exception is The Vodafone Big Top 40 on Sunday afternoons, produced by Global Radio at its main London studio for broadcast on 145 commercial radio stations in the UK.
Local news bulletins air on the hour between 6am and 10pm every day. On weekdays, there are extended bulletins at 1pm and 5pm and headlines on the half hour during breakfast and drivetime.
Presenters
Paul Kennedy 1995 - today
Pete Snodden 2000 - today
Gary Myles 2001 - today
DJ Hix 2007 - today
Stuart Robinson 2010 - today
Paulo Ross 2014 - today
John Kearns 1990-1995 / 2014 - today
Owen Beers 2014 - today
Rebecca McKinney 2015 - today
Deputy Dave 2015 - today
Andy Baird 2015 - today
Melissa Riddell 2016 - today
Curtis McCosh 2016 - today
Neal McClelland 2016 - today
Peter Flanaghan 2017 - today
Connor Coates 2017 - today
Notable Past Presenters
Neil McLeod 1990-1994
John-Paul Ballantine 1990-1992
Bill Kerton 1990-1992
Julie May Brown 1998-2001
Lisa Flavelle 1990-1992
Mark Wesley 1990-1999
Connor Phillips 2005-2015
Joe Ferguson 1992-2001
Matt Symons 1995-1997
Paul Thomas 1990-1996
Paul Buckle 1990-2000
Stephen Woods 1994-2010
David Coleman 1990-2007 / 2011-2012
Carolyn Stewart 1990-2005
Sonya Mac 2005-2014
External links