Premier Christian Radio

{{Short description|British Christian radio station}}
{{Distinguish|Premiere Networks}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2014}}
{{Infobox radio station
| name               = Premier Christian Radio
| logo               = Premier Christian Radio (logo).png
| city               = [[London]]
| area               = United Kingdom
| frequency          = [[Digital Audio Broadcasting|DAB]]: 11A<br>[[Medium wave|MW]]: 1305 kHz<br>MW: 1413 kHz<br>MW: 1566 kHz<br>[[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]]: 725<br>[[Sky UK|Sky]] (UK only): 0123
| former_frequencies = MW: 1332 kHz
| airdate            = {{start date and age|1995|6|10|df=y}}
| format             = [[Christian radio]], [[Contemporary Christian music]]
| owner              = Premier Christian Media Trust
| webcast            = [http://tx.sharp-stream.com/http_live.php?i=premiernationallow.mp3 Listen live]
| website            = [http://www.premierchristianradio.com/ premierchristianradio.com]
}}
'''Premier Christian Radio''' is a British Christian radio station, part of Premier (a Christian communications organisation), owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust.

Premier Christian Radio broadcasts Christian programming, including news, debate, teachings and Christian music across the United Kingdom.

==History==
Premier Christian Radio was founded in 1994, broadcasting exclusively on [[medium wave]] to a [[Greater London]] audience when it also began its telephone counselling service, ''Premie''r ''Lifeline''.  It took the air at a launch party in [[Battersea Park]], London on 10 June 1995.<ref>[http://archive.thetablet.co.uk/article/17th-june-1995/14/on-the-air], [[The Tablet]], On The Air, 17 June 1995</ref>

A series of magazine titles then joined. The charity currently produces ''[[Premier Christianity]], [https://www.youthandchildrens.work/ Premier Youth and Children's work], [https://www.womanalive.co.uk/ Premier Woman Alive.]''

In 2001, Premier Christian Radio received an official warning from the [[Radio Authority]] for broadcasting "items that were offensive to people of other, non-Christian beliefs". A "yellow card" warning was issued, recognising that Premier had acknowledged its errors and put in place significant new compliance measures to ensure such breaches would not be repeated.<ref>[http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20080712192732/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/rau/publications-archive/adobe-pdf/regulation/quart-bulletins/bullet43.pdf Quarterly Complaints Bulletin Q3], [[Radio Authority]], 23 October 2001.</ref>
<!-- Backup references: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/rau/newsroom/news-release/01/pr150.htm
[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2001/oct/25/broadcasting Christian radio station warned over content], [[The Guardian]], October 25, 2001-->

In the months of April to July 2014 Premier Christian Radio reached its biggest-ever audience in its near twenty years history. [[RAJAR]] figures showed a weekly reach for the period of 240,700 people in [[London]] and the [[South East of England]], and also showed that each listener tuned in for an average of 10.1 hours each week.<ref>[http://www.rajar.co.uk/docs/2014_06/2014_Q2_Quarterly_Summary_Figures.pdf], [[RAJAR]], Q2 2014 Figures.</ref> This boost followed on from a rebranding exercise in the beginning of 2014, and a new website which included listen-again features and breaking news. As of March 2021, reach and listening had fallen back to 121,000 people and 3.5 hours per week.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php| title = RAJAR}} </ref>

==Availability==
===Medium wave AM===
It operates on three frequencies on medium wave across five [[transmitters]]:<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20040428054914/http://www.geocities.com/thehotw/aircheck_UKKent.htm  Aircheck: Kent]</ref>
* 1305 ([[Stevenage]], [[Bishop's Stortford]], [[Harlow]], [[Hertford]], [[Crawley]], [[Guildford]], [[Reigate]] and [[Woking]])
* 1413 ([[Maidenhead]], [[Camberley]], [[Staines]], [[Harrow, London|Harrow]], [[Watford]], [[Chelmsford]], [[Brentwood, Essex|Brentwood]], [[Dartford]], [[Maidstone]] and [[Sevenoaks]])
* 1566 ([[Guildford]])

The station was also broadcast on 1332 kHz in [[London]], until July 2019.

===Digital DAB, Freeview and internet===
Premier Christian Radio was at first only available on medium wave in London. It later added broadcasts on the internet via its website, via its mobile app, [[Freeview (UK)|Freeview]] channel 725 (UK and Ireland), Sky Digital (channel 0123, terminated 14 December 2012), [[Virgin Media]] (channel 968, terminated 6 May 2009) and London [[Digital Audio Broadcasting|DAB]] - a national DAB broadcast was added later.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.premierradio.org.uk/listen.aspx| title = Premier Christian Radio - Radioplayer}} </ref> In 2006, the media group launched Premier.tv, one of the first Christian [[IPTV]] channels in the UK.

Its 2007 application for a national [[Digital Audio Broadcasting|DAB]] licence, as part of the [[National Grid Wireless]] consortium, was refused; Premier Radio said "almost 72,000 Premier listeners stepped up and made their voices heard in supporting the bid".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20071010083919/http://www.premier.org.uk/engine.cfm?i=1082 "Disappointing news"], Premier website. Retrieved 8 January 2008. Archived at the [[Internet Archive]]</ref> In August 2009, Premier achieved its target of meeting the £650,000 yearly fee to broadcast on the national [[Digital One]] DAB multiplex and launched on the multiplex on 21 September 2009.<ref name="DigitalOne">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/aug/19/premier-christian-radio-national-dab|title=Premier Christian Radio set for national digital launch|date=19 August 2009|last=Plunkett|first=John|access-date=19 August 2009|work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> In 2016, it moved its DAB transmission to the SDL national multiplex which is lower cost but has less complete national coverage.

===[https://www.instagram.com/premiergospel/?hl=en Premier Gospel]===
'''Premier Gospel''' was launched as a DAB spin-off station in 2010, taking the London DAB slot vacated by the parent service's move to D1.<ref>{{cite web |last=Clarkson |first=Stuart |title=Premier Gospel Radio signs MOBO winner |publisher=Radio Today |date=10 January 2012 |url=http://radiotoday.co.uk/2012/01/premier-gospel-radio-signs-mobo-winner/ |archive-date=12 February 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212053834/http://radiotoday.co.uk/2012/01/premier-gospel-radio-signs-mobo-winner/ |quote=Premier Gospel Radio is a DAB spin-off station from Premier Christian Radio. |url-status=dead}}</ref> Premier Gospel launched the Premier Gospel Awards in 2016.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.premiergospel.org.uk/About/Premier-Gospel-Awards|title=Premier Gospel Awards - Premier Gospel|last=Premier|date=18 April 2017|work=Premier Gospel|access-date=18 April 2017|language=en-GB}}</ref>

===Premier Praise===
A second sister station, '''Premier Praise!''', playing contemporary [[Christian pop]] and [[Christian rock|rock]], launched on 27 March 2016 as part of the [[Sound Digital]] national DAB multiplex. It will be available on SDL alongside the core Premier service, which completes its migration over from Digital 1 to SDL in April.

==Listenership==
Premier Christian Radio's supporters come from many different [[Christian denomination]]s, including those from the [[Anglican]], [[Baptist]], [[Catholic]], [[Evangelical]], [[Methodist]] and [[Pentecostal]] churches.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.christiantoday.com/article/premier.announces.new.website.to.target.whole.of.church/16277.htm|title=Premier announces new website to target whole of church|date=17 January 2008|publisher=[[Christian Today]]|language=en|access-date=4 April 2015|quote=Premier Christian Media Trust, the Christian media group that serves all denominations of the Christian faith, has redesigned its core website, premier.org.uk, in a bid to reach new parts of the church. "It is well known that Premier have a strong Evangelical audience, but it is often forgotten that many of our supporters are from Anglican, Baptist, Catholic or other Christian backgrounds," premier.org.uk's Web Editor, Naomi Thatcher commented.}}</ref>

In 2004, ''[[The Times]]'' placed Premier Christian Radio at number one in a chart of the "most upmarket stations" based upon the percentage of its audience (81%) that is [[NRS social grade|ABC1]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article488240.ece |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517075755/http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article488240.ece |title=Radio Waves: Paul Donovan: Top of the toffs |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |archive-date=17 May 2011 |date=3 October 2004 |publisher=[[The Sunday Times]] }}</ref> In the quarter ending June 2010 the station was receivable by 10,983,000 people; 143,000 listened, for an average of 12 hours each, 0.80% of all listening hours.<ref>[http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php RAJAR listening figures]</ref>

As of September 2023, the station has a weekly audience of 101,000 listeners according to [[RAJAR]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php | title=RAJAR }}</ref>

==Notable presenters==
<!--Any non-notable presenters (those without Wikipedia articles) added here are liable to be removed - if someone is considered notable (red linking is not enough), please write a Wikipedia article on them first, or provide multiple reputable independent sources to show they deserve an article and are associated with the station. Any presenters with Wikipedia articles also need such sources on this page to stay here.-->
* [[Rob Frost]], English Christian evangelist and author
* [[Cindy Kent]], former singer with the 1960s folk group [[The Settlers (band)|The Settlers]].
* [[Muyiwa Olarewaju]]
* [[John Pantry]], 1970s singer and music producer.
* [[Pam Rhodes]]
* [[Noël Tredinnick]], Principal Conductor of the [[All Souls Church, Langham Place|All Souls Orchestra]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Official website|http://www.premierchristianradio.com/}}
* {{EW charity|287610|Premier Christian Media Trust}}

{{London radio}}
{{Media in the United Kingdom|radio}}
{{Freeview}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Radio stations established in 1995]]
[[Category:Radio stations in London]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Kent]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Essex]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Sussex]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Surrey]]
[[Category:Radio stations in Hertfordshire]]
[[Category:Christianity in London]]
[[Category:Christian radio stations in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Charities based in London]]