Northsound 1

{{Infobox radio station

| name = Northsound 1

| logo = Northsound 1 logo 2015.png

| logo_size = 200px

| image =

| image_size = 80px

| city = Aberdeen

| area = Aberdeenshire

| branding = Across North East Scotland

| airdate = {{plainlist|

{{Start date and age|1981|7|27|df=y}} (as Northsound Radio)
{{Start date and age|1995|1|9|df=y}} (as Northsound 1)}}

| frequency = FM:
96.9 MHz
97.6 MHz
103.0 MHz
DAB: 11C

| former_frequencies = 1035 MW

| rds = N'Sound1

| format = CHR/pop

| network = Hits Radio

| owner = Bauer Media Audio UK

| sister_stations = Greatest Hits Radio North East Scotland

| webcast = [https://planetradio.co.uk/northsound/play/ Rayo]

| website = [https://planetradio.co.uk/northsound/ Northsound 1]

| coordinates =

}}

Northsound 1 is an Independent Local Radio station formerly 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, although the station no longer has any studios or offices in Aberdeen. In March 2025 it was announced that Northsound's studio building was to close and be put up for sale.{{Cite web |last=Cromar |first=Chris |date=2025-03-24 |title=Northsound 1 studio in Aberdeen to permanently close |url=https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/entertainment/6719606/northsound-1-studios-permanently-close/ |access-date=2025-06-28 |website=Press and Journal |language=en-GB}}

As of September 2024, the station has a weekly audience of 117,000 listeners according to RAJAR.

History

File:Northsound 1 Logo.png

Until Northsound Radio's establishment, the only local radio output available to listeners in the North East of Scotland was a regional opt-out from the BBC at Beechgrove, which broadcast specialist music programmes for a couple of hours a week along with some opt-out regional news coverage. When a commercial radio franchise for Aberdeen, Peterhead and the surrounding areas was advertised by the then-regulator, the Independent Broadcasting Authority, a group of local businessmen applied under the consortium of North of Scotland Radio Ltd and won the franchise.

After a change of name, Northsound Radio commenced broadcasting at 6{{nbsp}}am on 27 July 1981 from its original studios in an old schoolhouse on Kings Gate, near Anderson Drive in the city. Originally, the station was broadcast from 6{{nbsp}}am to 8{{nbsp}}pm each day on 1035 kHz (290 metres) and 96.9 FM (VHF).

For a two-year period from 1994, the station was the main sponsor of Aberdeen Football Club, with the logo appearing on the players' shirts.[https://www.afc.co.uk/2017/06/26/the-history-of-the-blue-kit/ The history of the blue kit], Aberdeen Football Club, 27 June 2017

On 9 January 1995,{{Cite news |url=https://britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005278/19950108/703/0053 |work=Scotland on Sunday |date=8 January 1995 |access-date=3 June 2025 |title=Radio Preview |page=21 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}} Northsound Radio was renamed Northsound 1 and Northsound 2 was established as a classic hits station using the station's AM frequency. Both stations have since started broadcasting on DAB radio and online.

= Free concerts =

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 has also been sponsors and organisers of Aberdeen's free Hogmanay street party when they were staged in the city, where performers such as Sandi Thom, Travis and Amy MacDonald have played to large crowds.

Ownership

Northsound Radio was bought over by Radio Clyde in 1988, which changed the name of its parent company to Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) in 1994.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/1079487.stm] SRH was bought by Emap in 2005, which then sold its radio stations to Bauer Media Group in 2007.

Programming

The entirety of the station's programming is networked across Scotland, and produced and broadcast from Clyde 1 in Clydebank, Forth 1 in Edinburgh and Hits Radio in London & Manchester.

The last remaining local, Aberdeen-based programming strand which consisted of just weekday breakfast was axed in December 2024, and now this show is broadcast from Edinburgh and shared with Bauer radio marketplaces in Edinburgh, Tayside and Inverness.{{Cite web |date=2024-11-13 |title=MFR, Tay FM and Northsound 1 breakfast shows to end |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6k9w5wpe1o |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=BBC News |language=en-GB}}[https://radiotoday.co.uk/2024/11/forth-1-northsound-1-mfr-and-tay-fm-to-share-breakfast-as-boogie-in-the-morning-expands/ Forth 1, Northsound 1, MFR and Tay FM to share breakfast as Boogie in the Morning expands], Roy Martin, Radio Today, 13 November 2024

=News and sport=

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.

Notable DJs

Nicky Campbell - now a BBC journalist and television presenter.{{citation |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/nowyouretalking/3529311.stm |title=BBC NEWS, programmes, now you're talking, Nicky Campbell |publisher=BBC |work=BBC News|accessdate=17 February 2015}}{{citation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/14/nicky-campbell-5-live-25-years |title=Nicky Campbell interview: 'Up north? For me, this is down south' |last=Sabbagh |first=Dan |accessdate=17 February 2015 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=14 October 2012}}

{{citation |url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/comment/ken-smiths-diary/point-of-law-the-diary-8-april-2010-1.1019113 |title=Point of law - The Diary, 8 April 2010 |newspaper=The Herald Scotland |accessdate=17 February 2015 |date=8 April 2010}}

Alan Fisher - worked at the station as a reporter/newsreader and is now a senior correspondent with the global news channel, Al Jazeera English based in the United States.{{r|Herald}}
Robin Galloway - later became a continuity announcer and newsreader for Grampian Television. He would later present the breakfast show on Pure Radio in Glasgow & Tayside.