Preston FM was a community radio station broadcasting on 103.2 MHz from its base on Cannon Street, Preston, United Kingdom, which commenced full-time broadcasting on 6 October 2008. It has no connection with the now defunct Northern Irish station of the same name. The station has broadcast previously on six one-month trials, in October 2005, March 2006, November 2006, May 2007, November 2007, and 2-29 June 2008. The community broadcaster, which was led by station manager Richard Lace, subsequently received a full-time community radio licence from UK regulator Ofcom. The station was partly backed thanks to EU funding. The station was initially operated by the local arts charity Prescap (Preston Community Arts Project). As of April 2012, the station went independent due to the closure of Prescap after Prescap lost its funding. Innovative programming included serialising a novel by a local writer. In early January 2015, the station unexpectedly went off the air. It resumed broadcasting a few days later. 10 April 2015 Licence Number CR000158BA/3, designated to run until 5 October 2018, was registered to Preston Community Radio 23, a limited company differing in makeup, and constitution, to Preston FM Ltd which had run the station from April 2012. From 4 May 2015, 103.2 Preston FM ceased to exist as a station and its name was changed to Beat Radio and City Beat and has no connection with any of the presenters who presented at Preston FM. After the name change the station took a more commercial route and only wanted to have professional presenters doing shows and had a limited schedule.
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