Blast 106 is a volunteer radio station that transmits around the Belfast area and is a station that…read moreshould be brought to the attention of anyone who loves good music. I chanced upon the station in a traffic jam on the way home from the way from university.A great song caught my ear, and I was stunned to encounter another 5 in a row, and with none of the inane rubbish chat most other stations pollute your ears with! The station brings together the student and youth population of Belfast by providing relevant programming.The station is full of excellent music The entire station is run by a passionate group of volunteer presenters, producers, journalists and technicians, and this love of music shines through on every show. I wish this station the best of luck as it continues to grow and hopefully assert itself as one of Northern Irealands Most popular radio stations!

This quirky wee station is only very recently daring to break into the pop music market with an…read morearray of songs that aren't in the top 40. How very bold of you?! Who do you think you are that you can play music that isn't playing in the M Club on a Tuesday Night? It is a waft of fresh air into what is ultimately a pretty small minded market. Radio stations all follow each other and play as many X Factor winners as possible (which is tough going if you can find a Steve Brookstein album). Blast tries to be marginally more diverse and for that I say yes well done. You would never catch Radio one playing MGMT and Lionel Richie back to back would you? That's because most haven't ever heard of Lionel Richie. He's the one from those crisp ads. The one that didn't play football. I can't help that people love trashy pop music so it is inevitable that they have to litter the airwaves with the same repetitive rubbish that everyone else does. But at least they are trying their hand at being a bit different. Not quite groundbreaking, but certainly it is a start. Good on ye'

2 clowns always talking half way through the songs. 2 melts. would rather listen to the staticread more

In the shop that I used to work in for five years, Citybeat was the mandatory station that we had…read moreon in the background, which has given me a long time to mull over the medocrity of this station. Citybeat aims itself at the slighly older market of30-50 year olds, with a mix of music from current hits to hits from the 80s. However that is where the problems start. The playlist on this station is so old and tired.You hear the same hit soongs of today beind played every about 3 hours, which is really grating.Even when songs are niot played numerous times during the day it is the same old songs all the time: there is nothing new or fresh, and there is no desire to showcase anything new or fresh. An example of this is that my brother and I had a game when he worked at the same shop as me.We would bet each week what would be played first after nine: Summer of 69 or Born in the USA!It became strangely competive, and there was always a winner, as the same songs got played at the same times, 24/7, 365, fade to repeat... TheDJs are all pleasant enough to listen to but there is no discerible individuality to anyones programs.It is one grey sludge of a station: please try harder people!

There comes a time in everyone's life when Radio 1 just doesn't cut it in the mornings. It starts…read moregradually, with you thinking on some Monday mornings that Chris Moyles is just downright annoying. Before you know it, you don't even want to listen to music before work. You may not believe me now, but trust me, the time will come. It happened to me a few years back and I'm OK with that now and the up side is that my knowledge of local politics and current affairs has increased by around a million per cent since I switched from Radio 1 to Radio Ulster with my cornflakes. From 6 - 9 am Monday to Friday, I am educated, updated and informed by the wonderful Mark Carruthers, Connor Bradford and Karen Patterson. I wonder what time they have to get up at and do they wear their PJs in the studio? Anyway, Good Morning presents the local and world news in an interesting and easily digestible format. Business news is analysed and that means I no longer have to panic when someone asks what I think about the latest banking fiasco. Even though it's an early morning programme, politicians and other guests on the programme aren't given an easy ride to start the day; all 3 presenters do an excellent job in grilling guests when they have to. They also do an excellent job of giving traffic updates in real time so you can switch your route if necessary. I love listening to Good Morning Ulster in the car on the school run and drive to work. I learn something every morning and I love that. It means I can tick that box and tidy away my brain cells for the rest of the day.

As sometimes Radio 1 (particularly Chris Moyles) is banned in our house in the morning, Good…read moreMorning Ulster becomes the default station for breakfast eating and tea drinking. I do prefer Radio 1 because at least it is a light-hearted style of presenting which can help you wake up and face another horrible day. But when you put on Good Morning Ulster, everything becomes that bit more dreary and painful. It is a current affairs programme with a 'breakfast show' twinge, but what is severely lacking is any presenter who makes you think "I'm glad they are presenting this show" because what Chris Moyles does is he owns the show and stamps his personality on it. With Good Morning Ulster, the people sound as bored as the listeners, and if it continued much longer, both ends of the radio would fall asleep. Chris Moyles can be loud in the morning, but at least he's not boring.

I visited BBC Blackstaff Studios last week as part of The Belfast Film Festival and I was impressed…read moreby the facilities on offer. From the outside the building looks like any other characterless public sector building in the City but once you're inside the building the grandeur becomes apparent. There's something exciting about getting to go in to television studios, even if you are just going to watch a movie. As you'd expect the building has quite high levels of security with guards and turnstiles on the door so if you don't have the correct credentials you simply won't get in. The movie itself was played in one of the main production studios, which seated around 300 people - it is in these studios that the likes of 'The Nolan Show' and other BBC NI productions are filmed. I think the public should have more access to this building as it is extremely interesting seeing how TV shows are created as someone at the Film Festival said, 'we did pay for it after all'!

This for me is the kind of radio station that Citybeat should aspire to be.The target market of…read morethis station is again at the 30+ kind of market, but it provides a much better service to the people of Northern Ireland! The line-up of presenters includes Maurice Jay, Frank Mitchell, Carolyn Stewart, George Jones and Jerry Lang who play a wide range of music every day, catering to the needs of different listeneers on this station.There may be genres on the station like country that arent my cup of tea, but the station has a varied playlist which is to be applauded. The station also has quality talk elements, where current issues are debated well, with specialist night-time and weekend programming to cater again to more specific markets. The news content on the station is also of a high quality, and the station has excellent charity and local community events links which is another bonus!The station is only a year or two old, so I hope it grows from strength to strength and continues to improve!

In Northern Ireland, ITV is known as UTV and U105 would be the radio station brother of said…read moretelevision station. Still with me? Good. U105 is something similar as Downtown in that it is a pleasant, daytime, Magic FM-esque radio station. It is a nice, relaxing, (boring) station with all your favourites from the television plus a handful of voices you won't recognise. And that is all of the positives. The negatives unfortunately could get me done for slander. So instead of bring a lawsuit on, I'll say this. For people under the age of 35, this is a pretty terrible station. It needs to be livened up somehow. Stick a bunch of students on and get them to play Sex Pistols and drink vodka. Get the old presenters and on the hour, every hour, they have to drink a pint of tequila. Something to inject a bit of interest into this station. Perhaps it is not aimed at me. In fact it is definitely not aimed at me. And unless there is tequila or Sex Pistols involved, I don't think I am going to listen again.

Queen's Radio is a very vibrant and rich station, and I feel that it needs to have a lot more…read moreattention that it currently gets! The station broadcasts on 1134MW in the Belfast area, but your most reliable bet is to listen via the internet! The station is ran by QUB students, and as such operates mainly in term time from September until June, however in summer there are many special broadcasts! The station is ran by people who genuinely care about music and want to try their hand at broadcasting, and the results are refreshingly professional!(That rolls off the tongue...unfortunately thi is written so the impact is lessened!) There is a huge breadth of programming, including a news debating show,a sports talk show where the topical sporting issues of the day are bantered about with the minimal of tired clichés, a show about computer games and of course oodles of music! Personal favourites of mine are the regular Audi Beef sessions where DJs have track battles over certain subjects , and also Wavelength, a show fronted by a charismatic friend of mine called Jamie who fills our lugs with the crème de la crème of alternative music every week! So if you need something to distract you from your homework or give you something interesting to listen to whilst at work or home Queen's Radio can provide something for all tastes, not just students!

And so they should have one. The students have one in Hollyoaks, and Zak had one in Saved by the…read moreBell (points for whoever can remember its name). So should Queen's have their own radio station that can play the music they want and have shows presented by the students. Problem number one. The majority of it is rubbish. I don't want to generalise. And I try not to be so general. But I do tune in regularly and I do know a few people who have worked at the station. But the majority of it is rubbish. They seem to strive to make it a 'cool' music station which plays hip music for some funky cats. Problem number two. 'Cool' music stations aren't particularly interesting. Or for that matter are they particularly good. Yes so I don't mind listening to the Libertines or the Strokes every so often. But when I do some work, the last thing I want is more of the Libertines or the Strokes. Whenever I go to the library, I want to listen to a variety of music and talk. Not the same cool music that I've heard all day. Radio One, for all those that hate it, is still more popular and interesting. So is Radio Two, Cool FM, 2FM... they all have a variety that appeals to a spectrum. Not all students play guitar to Pete Doherty songs. Damn it I want a Girls Aloud hour and I want it now! Queen's Radio has all of the basic ingredients for a good radio station, but it needs a bit of a better direction to go in and it could be as good as KKTY BAYSIDE... (Two points if you got it right)

For me, ATL does a great job of promoting music in and around Northern Ireland. The BBC…read moreintroducing programme with Rory O Connell is good, but saying it is stuck at midnight on a Thursday the ability of it to make in impact on the local community is sevelely limited. Risy is a charismatic and enthusiastic host, and dispite his sometimes questionable taste and un faltering quest to be at the front of every trend, it is clear he has a genuine passion for local bands and this comes through in his show. There is always regular sessions with local bands aswell as extended interviews with local bands( and occasionally visiting stars) which add depth to the programme in addition to the music. The website linked to the show is also an excellent source of new gig and album launch information for local bands and the Belfast area, if only they would sort out the flash on the site because it has made numerous computers I have ran the site on stop working right!

This is pretty much the best radio station you are going to get in Belfast. ATL as its better known…read moreis kind of the MTV for Northern Ireland but without as much commercial rubbish. ATL promotes local bands as well as playing some of the best music currently floating around the airwaves. Presented by the ever-enthusiastic Rigsy, ATL is the one and only stop for Northern Irish music. As well as the radio show, ATL also has a terrific website packed with news and interviews, as well as doing the occasional bit on the telebox, most recently Snow Patrol's record breaking gig in Bangor. It's on 8-10 at night and definately makes a change from the rubbish you hear on Cool FM

Cool FM is probably the most popular commercial station around Northern Ireland, and i does its job…read morewell. The station has recently underwent a revamp to its lline up which shows its commitment to improvement and responding to listener's needs. The highlights of the schedule are the mornings with Pete Snodden, who is pleasant as a cheeky chappy to listen to, followed by PKs silky smooth stylings in mid morning and DJ hix from 6-10, and also on his urban show on friday nights. The newsreaders are also something approaching cult heros, with Bob Huggis( for name alone) and Brian Moriarty ( for having a super announciated style which kind of sounds as if he is trying to keep his dentures from falling out!) the most excellent newsreaders! I have great praise for DJ Hix who has a real passion for all types of music, and doesn't feel obliged to pump out the same generic playlist as most radio stations.He mixes all genres in , su kudos to him. The criticisms of the station I have is that Gareth Steart is rather in your face and irraitating, and has to be switched over frequently on the way home, whilst the Source with Pete Snodden on a saturday night is a steaming pile of the metaphorical stuff! Hopefully the station can continue to freshen up in future and innovate its website and playlists, and the new Cool FM app shows the stations commitment to advancing into new territories.

Depending on where you go for a night out, this is either a true gem in the Northern Irish music…read morecalendar, or one of the biggest monstrosities known to man. If you are a club goer, one who likes to get their boogie on to a bit of Dizzee or (frantically looking up pop charts) Jason Derulo, then Cool FM is your ideal radio station. They sound like Radio 1 but with less diversity and less celebrities. However, what they do is play the same weak trash that everyone listens to and will listen to again and again, not because it is worthy of any Ivor Novellos, but because it is popular and 'new'. If you are not a club goer, and would see a night in the M Club being as painful as being repeatedly kicked in the parts that you shouldn't ever be kicked in, then perhaps Cool FM should be avoided. If you like to listen to the entirety of albums before making a judgement, or if you frown at the idea of a 'Greatest Hits' album because it only includes the popular tracks and not some B-side they released once on a Japanese LP which is 'clearly' worthy of being their Greatest Hit, then you should avoid this station like the plague. It is cheesey, it is aimed at younger people and chances are you are going to get more Jason Derulo (whoever she is) than you want.