Northsound 1
 | |
| Broadcast area | Aberdeenshire |
|---|---|
| Frequency | FM: 96.9 MHz 97.6 MHz 103.0 MHz DAB: 11C |
| RDS | N'SOUND1 |
| Branding | Across North East Scotland |
| Programming | |
| Format | CHR/Pop |
| Network | Hits Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Bauer Media Audio UK |
| Greatest Hits Radio North East Scotland | |
| History | |
First air date |
|
Former frequencies | 1035 MW |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Northsound 1 Player |
| Website | Northsound 1 |
Northsound 1 is an Independent Local Radio station based in Aberdeen, Scotland, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Aberdeenshire and North East Scotland.
As of December 2023, the station has a weekly audience of 115,000 listeners according to RAJAR.
History[edit]
Northsound Radio commenced broadcasting at 6 am on 27 July 1981 from converted studios in an old schoolhouse on Kings Gate, near Anderson Drive in Aberdeen. Originally, the station was broadcast from 6 am to 8 pm each day on 1035 kHz AM (290 metres) and 96.9 FM (VHF).
In 1995, the station split its services to become Northsound 1 and Northsound 2 - the latter has now been completely absorbed into the national Greatest Hits Radio network. Both stations broadcast online, on smartphone applications and on DAB radio.
Free concerts[edit]
From 1997 until 2007, Northsound held free music concerts in Aberdeen almost bi-annually. Northsound delivered its first major outdoor event when the Tall Ships arrived in Aberdeen, which called Free at the Quay. Following its success, Free 2000 was staged at the Queen’s Links at Aberdeen Beach followed by Free at the Dee at Duthie Park.
Due to the numbers attending, Northsound decided to move the event to Hazlehead Park and the event was renamed to simply Free 2007. More than 30,000 people attended Free 2007 which saw Beverley Knight, McFly, Shayne Ward, Booty Luv, MacDonald Brothers, Ali Love, Unklejam and others perform free.
Northsound are also sponsors and organisers of Aberdeen's free Hogmanay street party, where in previous years stars such as Sandi Thom, Travis and Amy MacDonald have played to large crowds.
Programming[edit]
Local programming intended exclusively for the Northsound 1 transmission area is limited to 4 hours per day on weekdays, and is produced and broadcast from Northsound's Aberdeen studios between 6am-10am.
Northsound 1 also airs networked programming from Clyde 1 in Clydebank, Forth 1 in Edinburgh, Tay FM in Dundee and Hits Radio in Manchester.
The station's local presenters are Jeff Diack and Lauren Mitchell (Northsound 1 Breakfast).[1]
News and sport[edit]
Northsound 1 broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am to 7pm on weekdays and from 7am to 1pm at weekends. Headlines are broadcast on the half hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside sport, traffic and business bulletins.
National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried overnight with networked Scottish bulletins at weekends, produced from Radio Clyde's newsroom in Clydebank.
Extended sports coverage airs under the Superscoreboard banner on Saturday afternoons.