C103

File:C103 Logo.png

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.{{cite web |title=C103 – Corporate Info |url=http://www3.c103.ie/utilities/corporate_info.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503061218/http://www3.c103.ie/utilities/corporate_info.asp |archive-date=3 May 2009 |access-date=19 August 2009 |publisher=C103}}

In 2008 as part of a refresh of the station's sound, it was re-branded as C103,{{cite web|url=http://www.radiowaves.fm/newsart/080129c.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213210455/http://www.radiowaves.fm/newsart/080129c.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=13 February 2008|title=CORK'S 103FM TO CHANGE NAME TO C103|publisher=radiowaves.fm News|access-date=20 August 2009}} having previously traded as Cork's 103FM, 103FM County Sound, and County Sound 103FM. The refresh included a new jingle package from Jones TM,{{cite web|url=http://www.jinglenews.com/2008/02/06/corks-103fm-becomes-c103/|title=Cork's 103FM becomes C103|author=Paul|publisher=jinglenews.com|access-date=20 August 2009}} 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.

File:96FM Broadcasting House.png

Since the expansion of the original County Sound 103FM into West Cork launched on 15 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.

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.southernstar.ie/article.php?id=1249|title=Disappointment locally as 'West Cork Today' axed|author=Leo McMahon|work=The Southern Star|access-date=20 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721132630/http://www.southernstar.ie/article.php?id=1249|archive-date=21 July 2011|url-status=dead}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.westcorktoday.com/wct.php|title=West Cork Today|publisher=westcorktoday.com|access-date=20 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090629234035/http://www.westcorktoday.com/wct.php|archive-date=29 June 2009|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://ardnashee.com/c103-to-axe-west-cork-today/ |title=UTV and C103 Axes West Cork Today |author=Quentin Gargan |publisher=ardnashee.com |access-date=20 August 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090418204044/http://ardnashee.com/c103-to-axe-west-cork-today/ |archive-date=18 April 2009 }}{{cite web|url=http://www.radiowavesforum.com/rw/showthread.php?t=17480|title=What's up with C103??|author=forum members|publisher=radiowavesforums.com|access-date=20 August 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715145720/http://www.radiowavesforum.com/rw/showthread.php?t=17480|archive-date=15 July 2011|url-status=dead}}

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|date=December 2024}}

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

• The C103 Drivetime Show with Martina O'Donoghue was broadcast from Bandon each weekday.
• Tim Coughlan's Sunday night programme also broadcast from Bandon.

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|date=December 2024}}

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|date=December 2024}}

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|date=April 2020}}

• 102.6FM Cork City and areas of East Cork
• 102.7FM Bantry
• 102.9FM Fermoy – Mitchelstown area
• 103.0FM (a) Youghal, (b) Kinsale
• 103.3FM West Cork, and also Fermoy town booster
• 103.5FM Carrigaline & Cobh
• 103.7FM North Cork
• 103.9FM Clonakilty, Macroom

:(main frequencies in bold)

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.c103.ie/}}

{{Local radio in Ireland}}

{{Media in County Cork}}

{{News Broadcasting}}

{{coord missing|County Cork}}

Category:Radio stations in Ireland

Category:Radio stations in the Republic of Ireland

Category:Mass media in County Cork

Category:News Broadcasting

Category:Radio stations established in 1990