Nevis Radio
Nevis Radio, the station local to Fort William and Lochaber, was once again broadcasting live from the Scottish Six Days Trial event’s ‘Parc Ferme’ located at the West End Car Park from Monday 7th May until Saturday 12th May. The outside broadcast team this year consisted of John ‘Big John’ Weller, Simon Abberley and the guest presenter Trials Guru’s John Moffat. As well as radio broadcasting the station was ‘on air’ with live video streaming and additional recorded coverage during the day when ‘The Moffster’ was out at sections with the Nevis Radio’s ‘roving mic’. The daily broadcasts were on from 07:00 - 11:00 on 96.6 102.3 & 102.4 MHz. The sponsors of the programme once again were Michelin Tyres in association with Trial Magazine…
Simon Abberley, Nevis Radio’s Business Development and Sustainability Manager said: “Nevis Radio would like to thank Michelin and Trial Magazine for their continued support over seven years of sponsorship. As a registered charity, every penny we get counts towards our continued service and helps us broadcast across Lochaber.
“In recent years we have expanded into the world of live video streaming on the internet. Without the support from Michelin and Trial Magazine, we wouldn’t have had the funds available to offer this service. Being mostly volunteer-based, with one staff member involved, it takes a lot of resources to achieve our Scottish Six Days Trial coverage. Every year we are driven by the feedback we get and always try and push a little harder the next time around; it’s a way of evolving and improving what we do as much as we can.”
Nevis Community Radio Station
Nevis Community Radio Station is based in Fort William and has been broadcasting to Lochaber and beyond, providing both entertainment and information since 1992.
Nevis Radio is independent of other stations and broadcasts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The majority of the air time is hosted by 40 amazing volunteer presenters and two staff who are responsible for the day-to-day running of the station. From their base in Fort William, they broadcast throughout the Lochaber region, these areas including Skye, Fort Augustus, Mallaig, Kinlochleven and all parts of the Western Highlands. There may be pockets of signal disruption within these areas, but they are continually trying to resolve this and keep them to a minimum. Due to the geography of the area, they have multiple transmitters around Lochaber, which allows them to reach the small remote communities that help make up the wider spectrum of the listeners.
The broadcast is aimed at the Lochaber community with the information and advertising targeted towards their broadcasting range, but they are very proud to have both local and international listeners. You can listen to Nevis Radio when you’re out of signal online or via the Tune In app. Just press play on our home screen.
A Brief History
The radio station was launched back in 1992 in co-operation with Ski FM from the Nevis Range ski resort, to provide a stream of information about the conditions on Aonach Mor to the skiers. Back then they broadcast three to four minutes of information two or three times every hour each morning and two or three hours of music each evening throughout the winter.
In the summer of 1992, they went on air as Holiday FM, which was licensed for eight weeks. The following winter another Ski FM was broadcast for four months through the 1993/94 season. This was very successful, and the demand for a permanent broadcast for Lochaber became apparent. The Nevis Community Radio Action Group was then formed to raise funds and make a local radio station possible.
In 1994, Nevis Radio was awarded a full-time license back and has been on the air ever since. Quite rightly so they are incredibly proud of their history in helping develop the snow sports industry that makes up such a big part of Lochaber’s culture and business industry. All these years on they are very grateful to have still the positive working relationship with Nevis Range that they do, and during the winter season still, provide avalanche reports and information on the weather conditions for the skiers.
They broadcast as a commercial radio station until 2013 when they changed status and became a community radio station and also a registered charity. This change has enabled them to look at alternative ideas regarding running the station. Nevis Radio still broadcasts around the clock daily and is very proud to be able to work with the community closer than before to provide all the relevant content that is desired.