Juice Radio is a community radio station based in Preston, Lancashire, which broadcasts pop and dance music. It was initially established in 2008 as Preston FM before relaunching in 2015 as City Beat, subsequently known as Beat 103. On the 8th of January 2024 the station merged into the digital radio station Juice Radio, which took over the 103.2 MHz frequency used by Beat.
History.
Preston FM.
Preston FM was initially operated by Prescap (Preston Community Arts Project), a local arts charity. It originally broadcast six Restricted Service Licence trials over three years from October 2005 to June 2008 and subsequently received a full-time community radio licence from Ofcom. The station was partly backed by EU funding. It broadcast a wide range of music and speech programming by local presenters and arts practitioners. Speech programming included the serialisation of a novel by a local writer.
In April 2012, the Prescap charity closed due to the loss of its Arts Council England funding. Preston FM was spun out into its own independent company to allow it to continue broadcasting, and moved out of Prescap's building into its own studios on Cannon Street.
In early January 2015, the station unexpectedly went off the air. It resumed broadcasting a few days later, but was unable to sustain itself long-term and Preston FM ceased broadcasting in 2015.
City Beat.
Following the closure of Preston FM, the station relaunched with a more mainstream commercial music format under the name City Beat 103.2, with new premises at Preston Guild Hall. In June 2017, the station was found in breach of its Ofcom licence after transphobic comments were made by the presenter of the "Bigger Drive Home" programme.
Beat 103.
In 2018, the station relaunched once again as Beat Radio and subsequently Beat 103, reflecting its FM frequency. In late 2019, the station once more fell off air following a number of problems, including the deletion of music and audio from the station's computers.
In May 2020, Beat 103 was again found in breach of its Ofcom licence. The regulator's investigation found that the station had not adhered to its Key Commitments on a number of levels, including the absence of any news, sport or speech programming, and a lack of older music tracks.
Juice Radio.
In January 2024, the station again rebranded as Juice Radio, merging its operations with a commercial DAB digital radio station already on the air in North West England.
Transmission.
Beat 103 transmits on 103.2 MHz with an ERP of 25 watts from Guild Tower in Preston city centre.
References.
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