The new UTV Radio station for Preston, Chorley and Leyland will launch later this year as Central Radio, RadioToday.co.uk can reveal. UTV won the licence in 2006 as Proud FM but the name change better reflects the area of broadcast – central Lancashire – whereas Proud is associated with Preston alone.
John Barnett MBE DL, chairman of Central Radio, said: “In the area we serve, there is the University of Central Lancashire, Central Lancashire Primary Care Trust and a host of local sports clubs with Central Lancashire in their titles — so it made sense to call it Central Radio.
“We canvassed opinion from our future listeners who told us they were crying out for a new radio station that serves Preston, Chorley and Leyland but they felt that the name Proud FM was too closely associated with Preston and its motto, Proud Preston.”
Final preparations are now being made for the new service, which will broadcast on 106.5 FM later in the year, serving 265,000 people.
UTV Radio already runs a number of stations in the north west including 96.5 Radio Wave in Blackpool, 102.4 Wish FM in Wigan and St Helens, 107.4 Tower FM in Bolton and Bury and 107.2 Wire FM in Warrington and Runcorn.
