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Broadcast area | Wester Ross |
Frequency | 106.0 MHz, 106.6 MHz, 96.8 MHz & 102.2 MHz |
Branding | The Music Of Your Life |
Programming | |
Format | Local news, information, music & programmes that reflet our communities |
Ownership | |
Owner | Community owned through Wester Ross Radio Ltd |
History | |
First air date | 22 November 2003 |
Technical information | |
ERP | 0.6 kW & 2 kW (0.7 kW & 0.5 kW in the Lochbroom area) |
Links | |
Website |
Radio Wester Ross is the community broadcaster for the areas of Wester Ross. [1] It broadcasts a music-led service to the communities in Wester Ross, in the Highlands of Scotland and it is the only commercial FM radio station in the area.
The station broadcasts in stereo on 106.0, 106.6 FM in the Gairloch area and on 96.8 and 102.2 FM in the Ullapool and Coigach areas.
The station is staffed by volunteers from across the area, from Gairloch to Ullapool and beyond, as well as from other areas of the Highlands and Islands, broadcasting locally-originated shows from its own presenters and partner stations throughout the week. They offer a mix of local news and information as well as music varying widely from the 60s onwards.
The station is owned by the community and operates on a not-for-profit basis.
In April 2008, Two Lochs Radio launched an online "Listen live" streaming service, accessible from a button on its homepage, and also in the Reciva database for Internet radios. In January 2012, Two Lochs Radio joined the large number of UK commercial and BBC stations also available via Radioplayer. It is also available via TuneIn.
In 2012, Ullapool community station Lochbroom FM started to use Two Lochs Radio as its sustaining service. [2] In 2020, broadcasting regulator Ofcom formally transferred the Lochbroom FM licence to Wester Ross Radio Ltd, the company that also holds the Two Lochs Radio licence.
It was announced on the 9th of April 2024 that Two Lochs Radio & Lochbroom FM will be rebranding to have one united name for programming across both stations. RWR - Radio Wester Ross is set to launch as of Monday 29th April 2024.
The stations rebranded to Radio Wester Ross at midnight on Monday 29th April 2024.
Radio Wester Ross' programme schedule [3] includes daily breakfast and afternoon shows, plus a range of individual music and local interest programmes, including Gaelic broadcasts and recordings from local events. The station also broadcasts Gaelic programmes produced by CKJM-FM [4] in Cape Breton, and shows from several other independent Scottish radio presenters.
Two Lochs Radio was given the "Calor Scottish Business in the Community Business" award in 2004 [5] and is a three-times winner of the Wallace Sword award [6] for the best Gaelic magazine programme produced by a Highland community radio station. It was also nominated for the Scottish Countryside Alliance rural enterprise award in 2009. [7]
Gairloch is a village, civil parish and community on the shores of Loch Gairloch in Wester Ross, in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. A tourist destination in the summer months, Gairloch has a golf course, a museum, several hotels, a variety of shops, takeaway restaurants, a community centre, a leisure centre with sports facilities, a local radio station, beaches and nearby mountains. Gairloch is one of the principal villages on the North Coast 500 route.
Ullapool is a village and port located in Northern Scotland. Ullapool has a population of approximately 1,500 inhabitants. It is located around 45 miles northwest of Inverness in Ross and Cromarty, Scottish Highlands. Despite its modest size, it is the largest settlement for many miles around. It is an important port and tourist destination. The North Atlantic Drift passes Ullapool, moderating the temperature. A few Cordyline australis are grown in the town and are often mistaken for palm trees. The Ullapool River flows through the town, which lies on Loch Broom, on the A835 road from Inverness.
Ross and Cromarty, also referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the latter of which is 8,019 square kilometres in extent. Historically there has also been a constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, a local government county, a district of the Highland local government region and a management area of the Highland Council. The local government county is now divided between two local government areas: the Highland area and Na h-Eileanan Siar. Ross and Cromarty border Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south.
MFR is an Independent Local Radio station based in Inverness, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Moray and the Inverness area. Previously, it broadcast to the Scottish Highlands and South West Aberdeenshire, but this ceased on 11th December 2023 when the 1107 kHZ AM transmitter at Tarbet Ness was switched off.
Wester Ross is an area of the Northwest Highlands of Scotland in the council area of Highland. The area is loosely defined, and has never been used as a formal administrative region in its own right, but is generally regarded as lying to the west of the main watershed of Ross, thus forming the western half of the county of Ross and Cromarty. The southwesternmost part of Ross and Cromarty, Lochalsh, is not considered part of Wester Ross by the local tourist organisation, Visit Wester Ross, but is included within the definition used for the Wester Ross Biosphere Reserve.
Kinlochewe is a village in Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. It is in the parish of Gairloch, the community of Torridon and Kinlochewe and the Highland council area. It lies near the head of Loch Maree in its magnificent valley, and serves as a junction between the main Ullapool road north, and that which heads west to the coast at Loch Torridon. Loch Maree was at one time also known as Loch Ewe, hence the village's apparently confused name.
The Isle of Ewe is a small Scottish island on the west coast of Ross and Cromarty. The island is inhabited by a single family, the Grants, who have lived at the Main House in the south of the island since the mid-19th century.
Aultbea is a small coastal fishing village in the North-West Highlands of Scotland. It is situated on the southeast shore of Loch Ewe, about 30 kilometres (19 mi) west of Ullapool. The village has a primary school and a small post office.
Nevis Community Radio Ltd (Nevis Radio) is a community radio station broadcasting from Fort William in Scotland, serving the communities of Fort William and the surrounding region of Lochaber including Fort Augustus, Mallaig, Glen Coe, Kinlochleven and parts of the Isle of Skye. The station broadcasts on 96.6 MHz (Fort William), 97.0 MHz (Glencoe), 102.3 MHz (Skye & Mallaig) and 102.4 MHz (Loch Leven) FM, and the station also transmits live on the internet.
Loch Broom is a sea loch located in northwestern Ross and Cromarty, in the former parish of Lochbroom, on the west coast of Scotland. The small town of Ullapool lies on the eastern shore of the loch.
The A835 is a road in the Scottish Highlands linking Inverness to Ullapool and the Far North of Scotland.
Isle Martin is an uninhabited island in Loch Broom, on the west coast of Scotland. It is the closest of the Summer Isles to Ullapool and has been the site of a monastery, a herring curing station and a flour mill. Now recognised as a bird sanctuary, it is owned and managed by a community trust.
Longa Island is a small uninhabited island at the mouth of Loch Gairloch, on the west coast of Scotland. Longa is nearly one mile in length with an area of 126 hectares and a maximum elevation of 70 metres (230 ft) above sea level.
Loch Ewe is a sea loch in the region of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig-speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most notable of which, situated on the north-eastern shore, is the Aultbea settlement.
Eilean Ruairidh Mòr is a forested island in Loch Maree, Wester Ross, Scotland. Its name was formerly anglicised as "Ellan-Rorymore".
Radio Skye is a local radio station which broadcasts from Portree to the Isle of Skye, as well as the region of Lochalsh, Wester Ross on the Scottish mainland.
Gruinard Bay is a large remote coastal embayment, located 12 miles north of Poolewe, in northwestern Ross and Cromarty, and is in the former parish of Lochbroom, in the west coast of Scotland.
Lochbroom FM was a radio station based in Ullapool, Wester Ross in the Highlands of Scotland that broadcast 1995-2020 and which was Britain's smallest radio station.
The Loch Maree and Aultbea Railway was one of several branch railway-lines proposed for the North-West Highlands of Scotland in the early 1890s. Although a full survey was conducted in 1892 and a Private Bill was submitted to the Westminster Parliament on 18 November 1892, the necessary Act to permit construction did not receive approval and the plan was dropped.
Lochbroom is a civil parish in Ross and Cromarty, Scotland, part of the Highland Unitary Authority area. Its name is Gaelic (Lochbraon), meaning "loch of rain showers". It completely surrounds Loch Broom, a sea loch extending from 7 miles (11 km) inland from the Minch on the west coast of Scotland. The former parish church stands at the head of this loch, hence the name of the parish. Lochbroom is also a Community council area, but the north-west corner of the parish is the Coigach community council area.