EDINBURGH'S newest radio station will hit the airwaves next week in a fresh bid to make a success of the frequency left open by the demise of Talk107.
Coast 107, which is owned by Celador – the company behind hit film Slumdog Millionaire – will call on the services of well-known names such as Scott Wilson and Brian Ford, and will broadcast from an as-yet unnamed historic building on Calton Hill.
It hopes to take listeners from Radio Scotland and BBC Radio Two, and will feature older, more classic music than is currently available from Forth One or Real Radio.
Managing director Kevin Stewart, who was one of the key players in the legendary Radio Caroline pirate movement, said he hoped the people of the Lothians would warm to the station and it could become a full-time station after its initial one-month trial.
One of the most crucial aspects of its 28-day stint will be to help launch a bid to raise £1 million for new Sick Kids hospital. The Million Smiles initiative will raise cash for the Evening News-backed New Pyjamas campaign.
"I'm incredibly excited about this," said Mr Stewart, whose company currently runs Coast 106 in Southampton, which ironically – given Talk 107's strategy – has the motto "more tracks, less chat".
"I think the Million Smiles, which we'll be plugging at every opportunity, will really get people involved. The Sick Kids is a hospital which has directly or indirectly impacted on millions of people across the world. It will be people like this we want to reach out to."
The campaign will see the launch of a website whereby people are urged to submit pictures of themselves smiling, making a donation in the process.
All the images will be collated and formed into a variety of montages of famous Edinburgh landmarks such as Edinburgh Castle.
Kiosks will also be placed around the Capital where people can go in to have their picture taken and automatically sent to the website.
Mr Stewart added: "There's real scope to reach people now through things like Facebook and Twitter that never existed before, and this is a tool that can be used to spread awareness of what we're doing."
New Pyjamas director Elaine McGonigle added: "One of the key things about this is that nurses say when they can make a child smile, they feel like they've achieved something, and that's what's really behind this."
The radio station will begin broadcasting on restricted licence next Saturday at 8am. The New Pyjamas campaign aims to raise £15 million for the new Sick Kids hospital at Little France which is due to open in 2012. The money will pay for equipment and research over and above what the NHS already supplies.
