NME Radio has come to a sudden end, as the station has unexpectedly announced yesterday’s show was its last.
The station ended its five-year life without warning at midday Monday (March 25), as programme provider Town and Country Broadcasting is set to hand back its licence to Ofcom.
Presenter Michelle Owen took to Twitter to break the news, saying: “To those asking, its with sadness I inform you NME Radio is no longer on air. A massive thanks to the bands and artists who did sessions and chatted, thanks to you for listening to new and real music. Still on air everyday on Nation Radio,weekdays on Bridge FM and Sundays on Q!”
The service started as an extension of the NME Magazine in 2008 owned by IPC Media but the licence to run the station was awarded to DX Media. Town and Country Broadcasting took over the licence in 2010 and went on to re-launch the station.
Martin Mumford, managing director of Town and Country Broadcasting told RadioToday.co.uk: “NME Radio isn’t part of Town and Country’s core media business in Wales and we’ve decided to concentrate in expanding Nation Radio (which is now testing on DAB in Wrexham and Chester) and launching DAB transmissions in Mid and West Wales later during 2013.”
[UPDATE] NME has provided Music Week with a statement saying: “After almost three years of working with Town & Country Broadcasting on NME Radio we have decided to terminate the arrangement in order to focus our attention on developing new ways in which NME’s audience can engage with audio content.
“In the meantime, audio visual content will continue to be available via nme.com/video and we look forward to unveiling exciting plans in the coming weeks.”
NME acting publishing director Tracy Cheesman says “We would like to thank Town & Country Broadcasting for the tireless energy, effort and hard work that has gone into NME Radio.”
Source: Music Week
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