Stafford FM

There have been a number of volunteer-run radio broadcasting projects in the area at intervals over nearly 20 years, and many of the volunteers have taken part in several of them. An experimental project called the Stafford Broadcasting Society, organised by the late Robert Leighton (an electronics engineer and part-time presenter on Radio Caroline) carried out a restricted service licence (RSL) broadcast in the mid-1990s, using a transmitter near Hopton.

Stafford FM was first set up in 2001 following conversations between its founders, former Signal Radio presenter Ray Crowther and local businessman Richard Lamont. A team of ex-Signal presenters was assembled, including Stu Haycock and Paul Heath, and 28-day RSL FM trials followed, serving Stafford and the surrounding area from studios in Gaol Mews and a transmitter near Hopton. It aimed to gain a permanent small-scale commercial radio licence from the then regulator, the Radio Authority. A total of four RSLs at six-month intervals were carried out between 2001 and 2003. By then the Radio Authority had been replaced by Ofcom, which announced that no more small-scale commercial radio licences were going to be handed out, so the project was put on ice indefinitely.

Between 2003 and 2012, Super Radio was in operation. Broadcasting by streaming on the internet, the station kept local radio in Stafford going.

Stafford FM re-emerged as a community station in 2011, launching online.[3] At the time, the station was based in studios on Marston Road, Stafford. While at the Marston Road studios, the station held three RSL licences, using a transmitter at the same Hopton site as the earlier project. This was in an attempt to gain a community radio licence for the town.

As a result of having to leave the studio building in December 2012, Stafford FM went off air for a time, until, on Sunday 3 February 2013, the station re-launched as XL FM.[4] This was branded under a re-structuring, and the station promised a variety of shows and a wide range of music. However, it was announced on 19 August 2013 that the station would revert to its original name.[5]