At 8am this morning (Monday 6th October) 103.2 Preston FM launched fulltime. The radio station, managed by community arts charity, Prescap, has been running for over three years, and has so far seen over 300 volunteers from Preston and the surrounding areas take part, but things will step up a gear from today, allowing it to involve the community to an even greater extent.

Broadcasting on 103.2 FM and on line at www.preston.fm, it promises to have presenters from every walk of life - all fifty of their presenters are local volunteers who really know the city. Just a few of the programme highlights include the ‘Chat City Breakfast Show’ with guests, news and great music, ‘Voice of the Streets’ a show made by young people from all over the city and every evening the station will be playing a great variety of musical styles from Mozart to Metal and Reggae to Rock’n’Roll.

103.2 Preston FM is managed by Prescap who have been serving the people of Preston for over 23 years and has considerable, relevant experience and success in obtaining funding and working in the heart of the community. Preston FM is funded by the European Regional Development Fund and has £180,000 of V funding to extend its work with young people in the area.  Di Cuming, Chief Executive of Prescap said: “We are thrilled that Preston now has a fulltime community focused radio station. This has been made possible by the support of the likes of Preston City Council who have been one of the lead supporters of Preston FM”.

Mike Brogan, Preston City Council’s City Vision Manager said: “Radio is an excellent medium for getting information into the public realm and for putting forward ideas and moving debates concerning development … Preston FM could and should play a major part in making consultation fully inclusive and representative.

Although there are no plans at this stage to have commercials on the station there are plenty of sponsorship opportunities for local business. John Storey, 103.2 Preston FM’s Development Manager said: “Utilising the radio station will give businesses the opportunity to raise awareness of their own successes, engage with key target audiences and at the same time demonstrate their ‘corporate social responsibility and corporate community investment”.  If you are a local business and would like to support Preston FM, you can contact John either at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or on 01772 887785.

103.2 Preston FM’s Manager Richard Lace said, “It’s the hard work and dedication of all the team that’s made this possible. Huge thanks have to go to them and to all the community groups and funders who have supported the station. Over the course of the project the station has worked with 400 organisations and received overwhelming support in our bid for the community licence. We are now looking forward to expanding this work and working with more voluntary and community based organisations”.

The station will offer something for everyone, with volunteers from all backgrounds, walks of life, cultures, faiths and age groups encouraged to take part and no previous radio experience is required. 103.2 Preston FM welcome enquires from anyone who fancies volunteering or getting involved with community radio.