It received the licence from the Radio Authority to broadcast to Rutland on 4 June 1998, on the same day as announcements for two Leicestershire-based licences in Loughborough and Nuneaton. Although had applied for the licences by 3 February 1998, only Rutland Radio had submitted proposals for Rutland - the other seven were for the other licences. Rutland had only recovered its independence from Leicestershire a year before the station commenced.
Broadcasting content
The station is officially aimed at people aged between 25 and 54 and broadcasts a range of songs from the 1960s to the present day with local news bulletins through the day and frequent travel updates and local events features. Its current morning presenter, Rob Persani, has been with the station since its launch. Rutland Radio also broadcasts a farming programme at 7am on Sundays. This is produced by Lincs FM and is carried on other stations in the group. The show won an Arqiva Commercial Radio Award in 2016. The station's local community involvement is for Oakham, Uppingham and Stamford. Rutland has the highest average house-prices in the East Midlands, so it has advertiser-friendly demographics. Within its small broadcast area are well-known public schools: Oakham School, Uppingham School and Stamford School. In early 2010, refocussing of the Lincs FM Group's stations led to the creation of two separate station identities. Stations were either classified as 'Hits' or 'Music You Love' stations. Rutland, alongside Ridings FM, transferred over to the 'Music You Love' log which had previously only been carried by Compass FM. The music subsequently skewered older with a focus on the 1960s to the 1980s and with only a handful of songs released after the year 2000 in rotation. This format was carried for a number of years until the group brought Rutland and Ridings back into the 'Hits' network in late 2014, with 'Hits & Memories' branding returning in 2017. Rutland Radio continues to broadcast to Stamford & Rutland from its premises in Oakham. Due to its size there is still a heavy reliance on automation from presenters across the group but there are an average of ten hours live broadcasting from its Oakham studios everyday.
Awards
In December 2009 it the Sony Radio AcademyNations & Regions Award for the East Midlands. It also won this in 2008, and this award is for stations with a TSA of under 300,000. Coincidentally, Rob Persani is Chairman of the branch of the Radio Academy. The station was also nominated at the 2009 Arqiva Commercial Radio awards for station of the year.
