Irvine Beat FM ready to celebrate 10 years on the air

Irvine Beat opened on August 12, 2013, after a long journey before finally going live on air.

And their initial line-up included three well known names who had just left West Sound: Tommy Truesdale, Peter Lockhart and Kenny Campbell.

Irvine Beat FM was initially set up as a community radio station in 2009 and became a registered charity in 2012.

Having successfully completed a series of trial broadcasts on 'restricted service licences', broadcasting regulator Ofcom finally awarded a five year licence to begin broadcasting on a full time basis.

Their remit was to provide a radio service with a wide variety of music. Their programming would have a firm focus on health and wellbeing topics and information to benefit the local community.

Specially invited guests joined stars of the station at the official launch party in Irvine’s Harbour Arts Centre on the big day.

Speeches were given by Jack Bennie, Ian Young and Ronnie McGhie, and guests gave a fantastic cheer during the countdown and launch of the station. 

With a lot of hard work and high levels of continued support and commitment from volunteers the station was granted a five year extension to the licence in 2018.

But when Covid struck in March 2020, they had no choice but to close down their studios.

Fortunately the station was able to keep broadcasting during the pandemic - albeit on a reduced schedule, with presenters who had the equipment broadcasting from their own homes.

The latest good news is that Ofcom has recently extended Irvine Beat FM's licence for another five years, taking them through to August 2028.

That's great news for their listeners - and a great start to the 10th anniversary celebrations set to take place next month.