Celebrating our 7th birthday

On the 17th of April 2024 we are seven years old. Well, on FM actually. We officially got our FM licence in 2015 and spent the time until April 2017 getting everything else ready – finding studios, furniture, equipment and miles of wiring. It wasn’t easy. Our team was quite small back then.

Founder Tony Gillham was the first to take to the FM airwaves, welcoming our listeners for the very first time to the sound of  ‘The Year Of The Cat’ by Al Stewart.

Tony Gillham’s opening broadcast at the radio station back on April 17th 2017.

Since then we’ve broadcast on DAB in Cambridge and across Bedford, moved our transmitter site, changed our frequency from 107 to 102.5fm, re-branded, had a power increase in 2019 to reach a wider audience, and moved our studios.

From our small beginnings in a garage way back in 2007  Black Cat Radio has grown to be an award-winning radio station with a huge following, not just in St Neots but across the world. Here are some of our amazing statistics:

• Our team has grown to over 40 volunteers
• We have around 27,000 regular listeners in and around St Neots
• Our FM transmission has a radius of around 15 km around St. Neots and it reaches Sawtry in the north, Baldock in the south and Bedford in the west.
• Our smartphone app has been downloaded by over 6,000 people
• We have over 13,000 subscribers to our station via tunein.com
• Our social media channels have almost 12,000 followers
• and we have had over 167,000 listening sessions on our stream in the past 24 months.

That’s a lot to be proud of and to celebrate, but we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our dedicated listeners and some supportive advertisers that were there with us right at the start – Lovett Sales & Lettings, Premier Plus, Goldstraw Goldsmiths, Roxton Garden Centre and Ten property Agents. Over the years as we’ve grown and new advertisers (as well as old) have come to value what radio brings to their businesses. And, new listeners have been attracted by our unique mix of music and specialist music as well as our community focus.

So, thank you all for helping to make Black Cat Radio what it is.