C103

Last updated

C103
Broadcast areaCork City and County
Frequency FM: 102.6–103.9 MHz
RDS C103 (North Cork/East Cork/City) C103West (West Cork)
Programming
Language(s)English (one Irish language programme)
Format AC/Oldies
Ownership
Owner News Broadcasting
Cork's 96FM (dual franchise) [1]
History
First air date
January 26, 1990 (1990-01-26) (as County Sound 103FM)
Links
Webcast c103.ie/player
Website c103.ie

C103 is one of three local radio stations licensed by the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland [2] for Cork City and County in Republic of Ireland (the other two being its sister station 96FM and youth music station Red FM). It broadcasts from studios at the Majestic Business Park, Goulds Hill in Mallow (its headquarters, North Cork Studios and official postal address), Weir Street in Bandon (its West Cork Studio) and St. Patrick's Place in Cork City [3] (the headquarters of sister station 96FM). [4]

Contents

C103 is operated as a dual franchise with 96FM by County Media Limited which is owned by Wireless Group. [5] [6]

Since 2016, the station is marketed as Cork's Greatest Hits.

History

C103 logo used until 2016. C103 Logo.png
C103 logo used until 2016.

The station launched on 26 January 1990 (as County Sound 103FM) and was originally licensed for the north of County Cork. The station launch was performed by well known Cork born actor Joe Lynch. The first programme broadcast was by Derry O' Callaghan who was also Programme Controller. Other presenters included Robert Walshe, Mike O' Sullivan, Brian Gunne, Sean Donlon, John O' Connor (Head of News), Mick Mulcachy and John Foot. The franchise was subsequently expanded to cover the whole county. As a dual franchise, the station's sound broadcasting contract (and thus its broadcasting licence) is advertised together with that of 96FM and one company is required to operate the two stations, in a similar situation to that of Shannonside FM and Northern Sound Radio in the north-west of Ireland. Most of the management are based at Broadcasting House in the city and are in charge of both stations. The only senior position which is separate for each station is that of the head of music. [3]

In 2008 as part of a refresh of the station's sound, it was re-branded as C103, [7] having previously traded as Cork's 103FM, 103FM County Sound, and County Sound 103FM. The refresh included a new jingle package from Jones TM, [8] a reworked schedule which saw an end to networked programmes broadcast on both C103 and 96FM and a new music format, consisting mainly of music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, in addition to a limited amount of more recent chart hits.

Broadcasting House, C103 and 96FM HQ 96FM Broadcasting House.png
Broadcasting House, C103 and 96FM HQ

West Cork studio

Since the expansion of the original County Sound 103FM into West Cork launched on 15th November 1990, the area had its own daily 'opt-out' programmes from a studio in Bandon, originally for 8 hours on weekdays, and less at weekends.

This was reduced significantly following the relaunch as C103 with current affairs show "West Cork Today" presented by David Young then becoming the only opt-out on weekdays.

"West Cork Today"

In what proved a controversial development in April 2009, C103 cancelled the "West Cork Today" show without warning, merging it with Patricia Messenger's "North Cork Today" to become a county-wide show titled "Cork Today" and presented from the main C103 studios in Mallow. [9] People dissatisfied with the change stated that 'West Cork Today' had been one of the very few radio programmes serving the needs and addressing the issues of people in the far South-West. [10] [11] [12]

From then until the November 2009 flood damage of the Bandon studio, the only remaining regular programmes specifically for the West Cork region were the "Saturday Sports Preview" on Saturday mornings, and Tim Coughlan's 'Irish Sunday' show on Sundays from 10 am until 2 pm. Occasionally there has been also separate GAA sports coverage on C103 West Cork.[ citation needed ]

Other output from the Bandon studio was broadcast county-wide:

All programmes from the Bandon studio were indefinitely suspended damage cased by flooding in November 2009, the separate programmes for west Cork were discontinued, and other 'countywide' programmes, which previously broadcast from Bandon, were transferred to the main studio at Mallow.[ citation needed ]

In May 2011, broadcasting resumed from the Bandon studio. Tim Coughlan's Sunday night programme moved back to Bandon on 1 May, with the show also being extended by one hour, whilst on 15 May a separate west Cork 'opt-out' Irish Sunday show from 10AM to 2PM on Sundays resumed, presented by the well-remembered John Greene, who had last worked for the then 103FM over seven years previously and in the interim had worked for Radio Kerry. John Greene had been known to West Cork listeners since the days of the pirate WKLR radio from Bandon in the 1980s (on which Tim Coughlan and C103 head of sport Michael Scanlon had also broadcast) and had presented on County Sound from the launch of its West Cork service in 1990.[ citation needed ]

News

News bulletins from the Cork newsroom are broadcast from 6:30am to 7pm (weekends from 8am to 6pm) with news bulletins from Bauer Media Audio Ireland outside these times. Bulletins run for five or six minutes throughout the day, and the 10am, 11am, 12pm and the flagship 6pm bulletin runs for ten minutes.[ citation needed ]

Frequencies

(main frequencies in bold)

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References

  1. ↑ Radio in Ireland#Cork ILRs
  2. ↑ "Local Radio Services: C103 County Sound". Broadcasting Commission of Ireland. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  3. 1 2 "C103 – Corporate Info". C103. Archived from the original on 3 May 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  4. ↑ "96FM – Contact Us". 96FM. Archived from the original on 28 August 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  5. ↑ "ABOUT UTV – Corporate Structure – UTV Radio – Ireland". utvmedia.com. Archived from the original on 31 July 2009. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  6. ↑ Jason Deans (23 November 2000). "UTV moves into radio by acquiring County Media". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2009.
  7. ↑ "CORK'S 103FM TO CHANGE NAME TO C103". radiowaves.fm News. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  8. ↑ Paul. "Cork's 103FM becomes C103". jinglenews.com. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  9. ↑ Leo McMahon. "Disappointment locally as 'West Cork Today' axed". The Southern Star. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  10. ↑ "West Cork Today". westcorktoday.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  11. ↑ Quentin Gargan. "UTV and C103 Axes West Cork Today". ardnashee.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2009.
  12. ↑ forum members. "What's up with C103??". radiowavesforums.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2009.

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