Radio 1521 (later Heartbeat 1521) was a radio station based in County Armagh, Northern Ireland from 1996 to 1999. The station broadcast from Craigavon and covered much of mid-Ulster.
County Armagh is one of the traditional counties of Ireland and one of six counties that form Northern Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of 1,326 km² and has a population of about 174,792. County Armagh is known as the "Orchard County" because of its many apple orchards. The county is part of the historic province of Ulster.
Northern Ireland is variously described as a country, province or region which is part of the United Kingdom. Located in the northeast of the island of Ireland, Northern Ireland shares a border to the south and west with the Republic of Ireland. In 2011, its population was 1,810,863, constituting about 30% of the island's total population and about 3% of the UK's population. Established by the Northern Ireland Act 1998 as part of the Good Friday Agreement, the Northern Ireland Assembly holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters, while other areas are reserved for the British government. Northern Ireland co-operates with the Republic of Ireland in several areas, and the Agreement granted the Republic the ability to "put forward views and proposals" with "determined efforts to resolve disagreements between the two governments".
Craigavon is an incomplete planned settlement in northern County Armagh, Northern Ireland. Its construction began in 1965 and it was named after the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland: James Craig, 1st Viscount Craigavon. It was intended to be the heart of a new linear city incorporating Lurgan and Portadown, but this plan was mostly abandoned and later described as having been flawed. Among local people today, "Craigavon" refers to the area between the two towns. It is built beside two artificial lakes and is made up of a large residential area (Brownlow), a second smaller one (Mandeville), plus a central area (Highfield) that includes a substantial shopping centre, a courthouse and the district council headquarters. The area around the lakes is a public park and wildlife haven made up of woodland with walking trails. There is also a watersports centre, petting zoo, golf course and ski slope in the area. In most of Craigavon, motor vehicles are completely separated from pedestrians, and roundabouts are used extensively.
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The station launched in 1996 before being bought by Belfast station Belfast CityBeat in 1998 and rebranded to "Heartbeat 1521". [1] At the end of 1998, with 9,000 listeners per week, it was one of the two smallest commercial broadcasters in the UK. [2] The station and its sister station Goldbeat 828 ceased broadcasts on 22 May 1999. [3]
Goldbeat was an AM radio station broadcasting on 828 kHz in Cookstown, Northern Ireland. It was launched in 1995 as Townland Radio, but was purchased in 1997 by media tycoon Owen Oyston who had already bought and relaunched Belfast Community Radio in 1996. The Oyston group relaunched Townland Radio as Goldbeat 828, but the station folded in 1999 along with sister station Heartbeat 1521 AM in Craigavon. Both AM licences where handed back to the then UK regulator The Radio Authority. At the time only one other radio licence in the UK had ever been handed back to the regulator.
