Well known radio personality Jay Crawford believes the capital city needs its own radio station and he is using Edge Radio to fill that gap.
He began his career at Forth ahead of the station’s launch in 1974, when he was the youngest full time UK broadcaster. He explained that even at the very beginning Forth was trying to cover an area from Dundee to the Borders, without concentrating solely on the capital. The station split frequencies between Forth 1 and Forth 2 and now it has changed format to become a network station.
Crawford recently took over another DAB licensed station MIX 1 and has used it to create Edge 2, which is Edinburgh’s newest local station airing the best music from the last five decades. He said: “Edge 1 has been designed really for a younger target demographic of around 15 to 35 or 40, whereas Edge 2 will have an appeal for over 35s. On Edge 1 we are playing mostly chart music like Beyoncé, Harry Styles, Lewis Capaldi whereas Edge 2 will play the Beatles, the Stones, Roxy Music, David Bowie, a bit of Led Zeppelin, a bit of Pink Floyd, and at the same time Dionne Warwick, Al Green and Marvin Gaye. So there will be a totally different feel to the music on both stations.”
Jay Crawford will be on air every Monday to Friday from 10am to 2pm. He said it has been “good fun” getting used to it all again and practicing with the technology. He said: “It’s a little bit like riding a bike I suppose, you know once you get the headphones back on, it all comes back to you.”
It is around 18 months since Crawford bought Edge Radio and he has spent the time since then mentoring the rest of the team. He said: “The plan was always to bring another brand on board and so when we took over MIX 1 a couple of months ago I decided to change it to Edge 2. We have around 18 presenters including Mark Martin on Edge 1 who used to work at Forth and then with me at Real Radio. He is a very experienced presenter and is doing a great job on Edge 1 Breakfast.
“We have Brad Yule who used to work at Capital Radio who will be on air mid-morning. And later in the day we will have a former colleague of mine from Forth days, Micky Gavin. So that is a really strong team and on Edge 2 on breakfast we will have Sam Hinks, followed by me mid morning and then Billy Kirkwood in the afternoons. He is a lot of fun to listen to. So we have some really good experienced presenters,130907 but also one or two young ones who we have been helping to bring on. It’s been exciting to be able to pass on that knowledge to the next generation.”
Jay outlined the various moves on other radio stations serving Edinburgh such as Radio Forth which have resulted in the content coming from one source in London or in Glasgow. He said that there is “a real gap in the Edinburgh market for more Edinburgh content”.
Edge have two journalists, George Icke and Jill McLaren, who produce the content to keep everyone in Edinburgh up to date with what is going on.
Jay explained: “Whether it’s concerts or sport or events of any kind we’re right across that. I think it’s important because Edinburgh has never really had its own radio station. I think it’s a great opportunity for us. And I really hope that people are going to love listening.”
The studios in Stockbridge are the main hub although some presenters have also set up to broadcast from home, a real need during the pandemic and now something which just adds to the mix.
The station website can be found here.
Edge 2 is now live from Monday 10 July playing music from the last 5 decades broadcasting online, on mobile, smart speakers and DAB+ . More information here on ways to listen.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
