Abbey FM stopped broadcasting at 3pm on Friday, shortly after the announcement that the South Cumbria station had been placed into administration by its joint owners CN Group, TLRC and The Radio Business.
It is reported that the decision to place the station into voluntary liquidation came after TLRC, which owned 30 per cent of Abbey FM, withdrew its support for the business three weeks ago. Staff were asked to leave the building shortly after the station went off the air.
The station started life as an RSL in 2001, operating two temporary broadcasts, and went on to win a full time licence in 2006. Abbey FM's TSA of approx 75,000 is fully overlapped by CN Group's The Bay, broadcasting from Lancaster.
In the most recent RAJAR survey, Abbey FM's reach dropped from 16,000 to 11,000 quarter-on-quarter, while market share was down over 20%.
The closure of the Barrow-in-Furness based station will result in seven redundancies including Station Manager Amanda Bell.
Radiodays Europe is happening in March 2025 - use code RTY25ATH to get a discount and join us in Athens! More..