Northampton's community radio station gets five year thumbs up from Ofcom

NLive Radio is set to entertain the town for another five years after Ofcom approved its licence extension
NLive Radio station.NLive Radio station.
NLive Radio station.

A community radio station in Northampton has been approved by Ofcom to have its community radio licence extended for another five years.

NLive Radio - situated in St John's Street - is owned and operated by the University of Northampton, however, it is not a university radio station. It aims to serve the wider town of Northampton with a mix of entertainment and informative shows as well as specialist music shows and programmes covering business, arts and culture, faith and monthly specials.

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Station manager, Martin Steers, said: "I’m so proud of all that we do to entertain and engage our listeners, as well as providing a platform to talk about Northampton and showcase local businesses, organisations and community groups and all the work they do to make Northampton a great place to live, work, shop, study and play.

“I also must thank all the hard work that our volunteers do for the station, all the presenters, producers, journalists and all those helping to make NLive Radio a massive success.”

The station was recognised for its role in supporting the community during the coronavirus pandemic when it was presented with a Rose of Northamptonshire Award in January. Teenaged up-and-coming presenter, Will Oelrich, won a national broadcasting award for his weekly Monday Morning Sports Show back in December 2020.

NLive Radio also states they are a "keen supporter" of the business community and offers advertising starting from £100 a month.

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Students from the university of Northampton are encouraged to volunteer for the station so that those studying journalism and media courses are able to cut their industry teeth in the studios, working behind the scenes or in front of the mic.

The station was launched on November 1 2016 under its previous name NNBC before it was rebranded NLive Radio in autumn 2017.

Just over one-in-20 people (6.5 per cent) in Northampton are regular NLive Radio listeners, according to research published by communications regulator, Ofcom.

The licence extension will run until September 30 2026 after which time they will need to apply for another five-year extension.

NLive Radio broadcasts across the town on 106.9 FM, online at nliveradio.com and on smart phones and smart speakers via the TuneIn and UKRadioPlayer apps.