Bailrigg FM Archive

Items found in the Bailrigg FM archive drawer concerning the history of the station and its members.

The collection can be accessed by appointment in the Archives Research Centre. Request for access must be made at least one week in advance to ensure we are able to book your place and retrieve the requested material ahead of your visit.

Bailrigg FM is a radio station run by students on the campus of Lancaster University. It is one of the longest running student radio stations in the UK.In 1968 two physics students at Lancaster University started negotiations with the University to get permission to test-transmit a radio station for students on campus. In the meantime, some students started their own pirate radio station known as Radio 220 (later Radio Rag). Following permission from the University, a small loop aerial and a low power transmitter were built in 1969 to test the feasibility of student radio at Lancaster. The test proved the project was feasible but needed financial support to continue. University Radio Bailrigg (URB) received £1000 from the Lancaster University Student Union (LUSU) to install studio equipment in January 1971. Test transmissions began in March 1971. In November 1972 URB was forced off the air as it was broadcasting without a full licence. After being awarded a licence, the station returned to air in 1973, broadcasting on 963 kHz on AM. In 1974 URB had built two studios in Fylde College with £2000 of funding from the University.The station was issued a FM Restricted Service Licence to broadcast on 87.7 MHz for 4 weeks in 1994. Broadcasting under the name Bailrigg FM, the temporary station could be received across the Lancaster and Morecambe area. Contemporary reports also record that the station could also be received as far off as Preston, Blackpool, and Barrow-in-Furness. A second four-week FM licence was issued in 1995. Due to the high cost of maintaining the medium wave loop induction system, URB opted to broadcast permanently on FM from 19 January 1996. The station was rebranded to ?Bailrigg FM?. In 2006 the station moved into new studios in Furness College, which were later renovated in 2013 with funding from the LUSU. In 2019 the station was under threat of closure due to lack of funding. Due to widespread disapproval this decision was ultimately reversed. On 7 December, Bailrigg FM licence was amended, and its frequency changed to 95.3 MHz.