November the 14th is a radio 'date' - it marks the day in 1922 when the first of the then British Broadcasting Company's local stations 2LO took to the air in London, but here at home in 2005 it was the launch of U105 at 6am that morning with Van Morrison singing 'Wavelength'.
Having led the application for this Greater Belfast licence, which was won against competition from 10 other contenders, for me it was the culmination of an 18-month period of apprehension, elation and anticipation.
The station was to cater for those aged 45 and over, and to attract an audience that was primarily listening to the BBC.
Being an established and respected broadcaster, UTV had the resources to provide a comprehensive service, along with the means to promote it. With much of the infrastructure already in place, the new radio station could draw on in-house expertise more cost-effectively than a stand alone operator.
As with the birth of any new media outlet, the early days were exciting, and having attracted a talented team of experienced presenters, the station began to forge its identity and was making steady progress by the time I stepped down from my full time role in May 2008.
The stage by stage build of audience was uncannily close to the predictions made in the extensive research conducted for the licence application, but of course any PLC is impatient to drive growth and when one has its own TV airtime this became much used to push the radio programmes and presenters, to the annoyance of rivals without access to this kind of advantage.
Indeed, U105 has arguably had the most TV promotion of any local radio station in the British Isles. The surge of interest as listeners sampled the output - many in fact under 45 - took the audience up to 234,000 in June 2011 before this fell back a year later to 178,000, a level from which U105 has since struggled to get beyond the 200,000 mark.
So what of the on air sound? The early promise of a wide variety of music during the day and a range of programmes in the evenings and at weekends, covering styles such as Country, Rock, Soul, Irish and Nostalgia, has given way to a limited selection of tracks designed, it seems, mostly to please a
40-something listener.
While the mantra of 'less is more' is not one I subscribe to, it does make all the more necessary the arrival of Belfast 89FM to 'super serve' the 55+ age group in terms of both music and speech.
If the most recent years of U105's first decade have been about streamlining and consistency, the next 10 start under the shadow of the sale of UTV to ITV. Gone will be the shared resources, the TV airtime (unless bought at the going rate), and perhaps even the 'U' in the name as the brand will be the property of ITV.
Whatever the future holds, I wish all those involved well, and say Happy Birthday to you, 105!
Having led the application for this Greater Belfast licence, which was won against competition from 10 other contenders, for me it was the culmination of an 18-month period of apprehension, elation and anticipation.
The station was to cater for those aged 45 and over, and to attract an audience that was primarily listening to the BBC.
Being an established and respected broadcaster, UTV had the resources to provide a comprehensive service, along with the means to promote it. With much of the infrastructure already in place, the new radio station could draw on in-house expertise more cost-effectively than a stand alone operator.
As with the birth of any new media outlet, the early days were exciting, and having attracted a talented team of experienced presenters, the station began to forge its identity and was making steady progress by the time I stepped down from my full time role in May 2008.
The stage by stage build of audience was uncannily close to the predictions made in the extensive research conducted for the licence application, but of course any PLC is impatient to drive growth and when one has its own TV airtime this became much used to push the radio programmes and presenters, to the annoyance of rivals without access to this kind of advantage.
Indeed, U105 has arguably had the most TV promotion of any local radio station in the British Isles. The surge of interest as listeners sampled the output - many in fact under 45 - took the audience up to 234,000 in June 2011 before this fell back a year later to 178,000, a level from which U105 has since struggled to get beyond the 200,000 mark.
So what of the on air sound? The early promise of a wide variety of music during the day and a range of programmes in the evenings and at weekends, covering styles such as Country, Rock, Soul, Irish and Nostalgia, has given way to a limited selection of tracks designed, it seems, mostly to please a
40-something listener.
While the mantra of 'less is more' is not one I subscribe to, it does make all the more necessary the arrival of Belfast 89FM to 'super serve' the 55+ age group in terms of both music and speech.
If the most recent years of U105's first decade have been about streamlining and consistency, the next 10 start under the shadow of the sale of UTV to ITV. Gone will be the shared resources, the TV airtime (unless bought at the going rate), and perhaps even the 'U' in the name as the brand will be the property of ITV.
Whatever the future holds, I wish all those involved well, and say Happy Birthday to you, 105!
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