MORAY COMMUNITY RADIO took a major step forward at the weekend when KCR began daytime broadcasting.
For years the local station based in Keith has been building in strength and experience among its team of volunteers to the point where it is finally capable of serving all of Moray on it 107.7FM frequency.
Having secured a licence to broadcast in its own right three years ago, the station has since been beaming programmes throughout the region from 6pm each evening, offering a wide range of music and local talk shows.
All this was building to the day when fundraising efforts were sufficient to purchase the technology required to ‘go live’ – now that has been achieved, with Chairman John Sievewright confirming that KCR would broadcast daily from 10am.
John said: “We have a large and loyal evening audience but we are aware that most radio listening is during the day at work, home or in the car. As a community station it’s important that we make our programmes as accessible as possible and that means broadcasting them at times that suit people’s busy lifestyles.”
Eddie Stuart is the Head of Technology at the community station who has overseen the technology upgrade required to bring it to a live audience each day.
He said: “Re-equipping our studio and getting daytime broadcasting to our FM and internet audiences has taken a lot of effort, volunteer time and generous contributions from our listeners and sponsors. As well as longer hours, we’re also looking to the future and gearing up for more involvement in local events.”
While the station will broadcast 24/7, part of that will be provided by Inverness-based MFR for the overnight and breakfast programming.
As well as another chance to hear its most popular programmes, KCR’s daytime schedules will also have some original programming, such as the “KCR Jukebox” at drive-time offering listeners’ a chance to hear their most requested music on the school run or on their way home from work.
KCR will broadcast live each day from 10am to 11pm before handing over the MFR from 11pm to 10am.