Nocturne Media is an Independent Radio Producer and Consultancy established in 2009 by John Rosborough, one of the longest serving professionals in Northern Ireland radio.
John's interest in radio began early, and he keenly followed all the developments in the mid '60s to mid '70s from the offshore stations such as Radio Caroline to the opening of BBC Radio 1 and the arrival of Independent Radio.
Having graduated from Queen's University Belfast with a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1975, he joined Downtown Radio in December of that year as one of the technical installation team.
Once Downtown was on air successfully in March 1976, he moved to Commercial, then Programme Production, becoming Production Manager in 1977.
In October 1979 he was appointed Head of Programming, and in the years that followed, Downtown was consistently among the top stations in the UK ILR network, with seven out of ten adults tuning in each week.
By 1986, Downtown was expanding its coverage on FM, first to the North West, then a year later to the West of the Province.
In 1989 John wrote the application to the IBA for the station 'split', where Downtown would remain on 1026 kHz AM and the newer FM frequencies, and a new service would be created on 97.4 MHz FM.
Cool FM launched in February 1990, and John's remit covered both stations, which saw their total audience hours boosted by almost 40% following the 'split'.
During the 90s, Downtown extended coverage again, bringing a clear FM signal to South Down, Mid Antrim, Newcastle and Larne.
This decade also saw Downtown achieve success in the Awards arena, winning the New York Radio Festival Gold Award for 'Voices from the Somme'; a Sony Gold Award for Best Phone-in Programme and a Sony Special Award for 'Outstanding Service to the Community'.
Following a visit to the US National Association of Broadcasters Show in Los Angeles in 1994, John was invited to become a correspondent for the World Chart Show, which was broadcast to over 20 million listeners on radio stations across the globe.
In October 2000, a new challenge beckoned, and John left Downtown/Cool FM to take on the role of Station Director at Belfast City Beat.
A golden period for Citybeat followed in the next three years; the audience grew by over 30% to 187,000 adults weekly, a figure which remains unsurpassed in the station's history; advertising income doubled; and the station won 5 Sony Golds and 1 Silver Award for Stephen Nolan's evening phone-in show, and was named ntl Station of the Year in 2003.
By March 2004, Ofcom had announced that Belfast was to be one of the locations for a new FM radio service, and John took this as his cue to become involved with a licence bid, joining UTV in May to lead the Company's application.
An extensive research project was undertaken that summer, and based on this, the application proposed a new station for the over-45 age group.
In March 2005, Ofcom announced that of the 11 contenders, the UTV application had won the licence, and with John as Managing Director of U105, work began on recruiting staff and installing new state-of-the-art radio studios at UTV's HQ on Belfast's Ormeau Road.
U105 opened on November 14, 2005, and steadily built up its audience. By 2007 the listening hours targets predicted in the application had been exceeded, and early the following year John announced that he was standing down from his fulltime role, which he did on May 1, 2008.
While continuing with the Sunday night late show 'Take it Easy' on U105, which had returned when the station launched, he took some time to travel within Europe, North America and Australia.
In the summer and autumn of 2009, John undertook a project for BBC Northern Ireland, titled 'Community Radio Initiatives: An enabling role for BBCNI?', following which he became involved on a regular basis with the Sound & Vision funding scheme run by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in Dublin.
John has also been active in the radio awards field, judging in the Sonys; the PPI and now IMRO Radio Awards, for which he has been a member of the organising committee; the Community Media Council Awards; and the Nations and Regions Awards of the Radio Academy. He was elected a Fellow of the Radio Academy in 2003, and is also a member of Equity and the Royal Television Society, serving on the NI Centre Committee for 8 years as Honorary Treasurer.
John's original radio 'alma mater', Downtown, asked him to provide consultancy on several projects, and in the summer of 2010 it was announced that 'Take it Easy' would return to the station as an Independent production by the company John had set up - Nocturne Media. This series ran until September 27, 2020.
The 'Take it Easy' section of this website has details about the programme over the years.
Alongside these commitments, a fresh challenge arose in March, 2012 when Ofcom announced a round of Community Radio licensing for Northern Ireland. Together with four former colleagues, John submitted an application for an FM service aimed at the 55 plus age group in Belfast, known as the 'Baby boomers'.
On June 10, 2013 Ofcom announced that the application was successful, and the Group set to work on the station, called Belfast 89, which launched at 2pm on June 30, 2015. See the video below.
The station was then officially opened on the 8th of September at 3pm by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Arder Carson. See the report broadcast by NvTv below.
Following the station's third birthday in 2018, by which time Belfast 89 had established itself firmly on the radio dial as a valued listening choice for the over-55s, John announced his decision to step down from the Board of Belfast FM as of July 3, and is now a director of Belfast DAB Plus Ltd, a company formed in August 2018 to pursue opportunities in local multiplex licensing.
John's interest in radio began early, and he keenly followed all the developments in the mid '60s to mid '70s from the offshore stations such as Radio Caroline to the opening of BBC Radio 1 and the arrival of Independent Radio.
Having graduated from Queen's University Belfast with a degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 1975, he joined Downtown Radio in December of that year as one of the technical installation team.
Once Downtown was on air successfully in March 1976, he moved to Commercial, then Programme Production, becoming Production Manager in 1977.
In October 1979 he was appointed Head of Programming, and in the years that followed, Downtown was consistently among the top stations in the UK ILR network, with seven out of ten adults tuning in each week.
By 1986, Downtown was expanding its coverage on FM, first to the North West, then a year later to the West of the Province.
In 1989 John wrote the application to the IBA for the station 'split', where Downtown would remain on 1026 kHz AM and the newer FM frequencies, and a new service would be created on 97.4 MHz FM.
Cool FM launched in February 1990, and John's remit covered both stations, which saw their total audience hours boosted by almost 40% following the 'split'.
During the 90s, Downtown extended coverage again, bringing a clear FM signal to South Down, Mid Antrim, Newcastle and Larne.
This decade also saw Downtown achieve success in the Awards arena, winning the New York Radio Festival Gold Award for 'Voices from the Somme'; a Sony Gold Award for Best Phone-in Programme and a Sony Special Award for 'Outstanding Service to the Community'.
Following a visit to the US National Association of Broadcasters Show in Los Angeles in 1994, John was invited to become a correspondent for the World Chart Show, which was broadcast to over 20 million listeners on radio stations across the globe.
In October 2000, a new challenge beckoned, and John left Downtown/Cool FM to take on the role of Station Director at Belfast City Beat.
A golden period for Citybeat followed in the next three years; the audience grew by over 30% to 187,000 adults weekly, a figure which remains unsurpassed in the station's history; advertising income doubled; and the station won 5 Sony Golds and 1 Silver Award for Stephen Nolan's evening phone-in show, and was named ntl Station of the Year in 2003.
By March 2004, Ofcom had announced that Belfast was to be one of the locations for a new FM radio service, and John took this as his cue to become involved with a licence bid, joining UTV in May to lead the Company's application.
An extensive research project was undertaken that summer, and based on this, the application proposed a new station for the over-45 age group.
In March 2005, Ofcom announced that of the 11 contenders, the UTV application had won the licence, and with John as Managing Director of U105, work began on recruiting staff and installing new state-of-the-art radio studios at UTV's HQ on Belfast's Ormeau Road.
U105 opened on November 14, 2005, and steadily built up its audience. By 2007 the listening hours targets predicted in the application had been exceeded, and early the following year John announced that he was standing down from his fulltime role, which he did on May 1, 2008.
While continuing with the Sunday night late show 'Take it Easy' on U105, which had returned when the station launched, he took some time to travel within Europe, North America and Australia.
In the summer and autumn of 2009, John undertook a project for BBC Northern Ireland, titled 'Community Radio Initiatives: An enabling role for BBCNI?', following which he became involved on a regular basis with the Sound & Vision funding scheme run by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland in Dublin.
John has also been active in the radio awards field, judging in the Sonys; the PPI and now IMRO Radio Awards, for which he has been a member of the organising committee; the Community Media Council Awards; and the Nations and Regions Awards of the Radio Academy. He was elected a Fellow of the Radio Academy in 2003, and is also a member of Equity and the Royal Television Society, serving on the NI Centre Committee for 8 years as Honorary Treasurer.
John's original radio 'alma mater', Downtown, asked him to provide consultancy on several projects, and in the summer of 2010 it was announced that 'Take it Easy' would return to the station as an Independent production by the company John had set up - Nocturne Media. This series ran until September 27, 2020.
The 'Take it Easy' section of this website has details about the programme over the years.
Alongside these commitments, a fresh challenge arose in March, 2012 when Ofcom announced a round of Community Radio licensing for Northern Ireland. Together with four former colleagues, John submitted an application for an FM service aimed at the 55 plus age group in Belfast, known as the 'Baby boomers'.
On June 10, 2013 Ofcom announced that the application was successful, and the Group set to work on the station, called Belfast 89, which launched at 2pm on June 30, 2015. See the video below.
The station was then officially opened on the 8th of September at 3pm by the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Councillor Arder Carson. See the report broadcast by NvTv below.
Following the station's third birthday in 2018, by which time Belfast 89 had established itself firmly on the radio dial as a valued listening choice for the over-55s, John announced his decision to step down from the Board of Belfast FM as of July 3, and is now a director of Belfast DAB Plus Ltd, a company formed in August 2018 to pursue opportunities in local multiplex licensing.