Coast Radio to rock the Larne airwaves

The station has two years to begin broadcasting on its five-year community licence and plans to launch by January 2020.

Within the next 24 months, it will assume the new name ‘Coast Radio’. However, the service will sound much the same as the current online-based station (www.radiolarne.co.uk), including features like the community diary, news and locally produced shows.

It will, according to the station, offer for the first time a service that is currently not available in the Larne area, one that will be for the benefit of the entire town and surrounding villages.

Coast Radio is one of three new community radio licences for Northern Ireland. The others are Coast FM, which will serve students and young people in Coleraine and Bounce FM, which will cover Banbridge.

Community radio services are provided on a not-for-profit basis, focusing on the delivery of specific social benefits to a particular area or community of interest.

Lewis McAdam, founder and director of Radio Larne, said: “We are delighted that we have been awarded a full-time licence, but now the hard work of getting Coast Radio up and running starts as it will require a significant investment in new equipment, so time will need to be spent applying for the funding to launch the station.

“Now that we have the licence we can now work on finalising how the station’s running and set-up costs will be met.