Uckfield FM

Coordinates: 50°58′12″N 0°06′00″E / 50.9700°N 0.1000°E / 50.9700; 0.1000

Uckfield FM

Broadcast area	Uckfield
Frequency	FM: 105.0 MHz
Programming
Language(s)	English
Format	community, speech, adult contemporary, pop music
Ownership
Owner	Uckfield Community Radio Limited
History
First air date	23 July 2003
Links
Webcast	www.uckfieldfm.co.uk/radioplayer/console
Website	www.uckfieldfm.co.uk

Uckfield FM is a community radio station based in the town of Uckfield, East Sussex which was founded during the 2002 Uckfield Festival. The station currently broadcasts from studios at Bird In Eye Farm, to the south east of Uckfield town centre towards the village of Framfield.

RSL broadcasts (2003 - 2010)[]

Uckfield FM first launched at 8:00am on Monday, 23 July 2003.

The station was founded by Gary King, Mike Skinner, Alan French and the late Paddy Rea.

A temporary studio was situated within a storage and office area at the Picture House Cinema in Uckfield High Street. The station broadcast on 87.9FM and online; subsequent temporary broadcasts took place on the same frequency.

The station broadcast each summer in support of the Uckfield Festival by way of a 28-day restricted service licence until 2009.

During the station's time at the Picture House presenters were live 24 hours a day, to allow for access when the cinema was closed, plus the playout system didn't support broadcast automation.

Uckfield Community Radio Limited was formed in late 2006 by Gary King and Mike Skinner. The station moved to its current premises at Bird In Eye Farm in early 2007. Summer broadcasts resumed from the new location that year.

Additional 21 day broadcasts took place during December 2007 and 2008, to support Uckfield's late-night shopping event.

An application was submitted to Ofcom in November 2008 for a community radio licence.^[1]

The initial community radio licence for full time broadcasting was awarded on 22 July 2009,^[2] just after the final restricted service licence broadcast ended.

Full-time broadcasting (2010 - present)[]

Full time broadcasting commenced at 1.05pm (to mark the current frequency of 105FM) on Thursday 1 July 2010. Then Uckfield Town mayor John Carvey officially cut the ribbon. Community radio stations in the United Kingdom are required to set out key commitments.^[3]

The station was initially branded as 105 Uckfield FM. This has since been largely dropped from the imaging and the name is referred to as just Uckfield FM.

The schedule was adjusted in March 2020 due to COVID-19. During usual live broadcast hours from 7am until 10pm, additional programmes of (usually) one hour have been introduced between programmes being broadcast from Bird In Eye Farm. This is to allow for cleaning of studio equipment and to maintain social distancing. These additional programmes are generally voice-tracked by regular presenters from other locations.

On 18 February 2021, the station announced their planned expansion into the nearby town of Crowborough.^[4]

On 12 October 2021, it was confirmed the station will be rebranded as Ashdown Radio, with transmitters in Uckfield on 105FM and Crowborough on 94.7FM. The launch of the new station is planned for 1 April 2022.^[5]

Licence[]

The community radio licence is valid for five years. The initial licence was valid until 2015.

Although Uckfield FM was one of a number of community radio stations who had certain key commitments investigated by Ofcom in late 2014,^[6] the licence was extended from 2015 to 2020 and a further extension was confirmed in 2020 for a further five years until 2025.

Studio guests[]

Regular guests on the station include MPs Nus Ghani (Wealden) and Maria Caulfield (Lewes).

BBC Radio 2 newsreader John Marsh lives locally and has been a long term supporter of the station has been a guest a number of times. Marsh returned in 2016 as part of the tributes to Terry Wogan alongside Mike Skinner (Wogan had offered regular publicity during the early years of the station on Wake Up to Wogan). The tribute also featured on BBC South East Today.

Other notable guests include Henry Blofeld, Carlo Curley, Paul Carrack, Michaela Strachan, Gretchen Peters, Frank Ifield, John Wheeler, Wayne Horsburgh, Chloe Paige and Kerry Katona.

On 28 February 2020, early in the global coronavirus crisis, Uckfield FM allowed a registered nurse to deliver a 20 minute section on unproven theories falsely alleging that 5G mobile phone networks cause Covid. After multiple complaints to Ofcom, the station was warned for its actions and ordered to take actions for allowing unproven theories to be aired without guests being "sufficiently challenged". The registered nurse was found to be a proponent of alternative medicine and has been removed from the nurses' register.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Outside broadcasts[]

The station broadcasts special programmes from events within Uckfield and the surrounding villages throughout the year.

Key events include The Big Day (generally the first Saturday of the annual Uckfield Festival in July). Uckfield Carnival which takes place on the first Saturday in September and Uckfield's Christmas late night shopping event on the first Friday in December.

References[]