WELL, that was another manic week in the world of irvine Beat FM. last week we took possession of our new stage. Wow! it looks amazing!

You will be able to see it for yourselves this coming Sunday, June 1. At 2pm, we will have an open day for the press and the public to see our new stage.

Weather permitting we hope to have a barbecue going. Come along and visit us at our Portland Place headquarters in Irvine. If you have not seen round our studios before, this is the ideal time to visit Irvine Beat FM.

Last week also seen the return of our Big Breakfast show presenter Ian Young. Ian is now back every Monday to Friday between 7am and 9am. Ian told me: “It’s great to back on the Big Breakfast Show and our listeners in the Irvine area and beyond have been texting in every morning. I love being part of everyone’s morning”.

Ian started a new competition last week. It’s the “humming competition”. Every week a different presenter will guest on the Big Breakfast Show and hum a popular song. Last week Norie B did the honours and this week it’s my turn. I quickly discovered that I’m hummin’ at humming lol!

All the listeners who guess the tune every morning go into the draw on the Friday, where they can win an exclusive Big Breakfast Show Humming Mug. They are so exclusive that even us mere presenters don’t have one, They are strictly for the competition winners!

Ian’s first winner was Jane Cotton from Saltcoats.

Jane popped down to the station with her father on Sunday to pick up her mug. She not only met Ian, but Norie B, David McKenna and myself were all there too. Jane got the full guided tour. An Irvine Beat FM VIP for an hour (see picture above).

Check out the “humming competition” around 8.15am, every weekday morning. You could be the proud owner of an exclusive mug!

It’s not long till the school holidays, but there is still time to nominate your school class as Ian’s ‘class of the week’. Forms are available online at www.irvinebeatfm.com and you can email them to us. Ian will play your selection of music every day for a week! On Sunday there, Jim Higgins returned from three weeks holiday and he was delighted to be back on the famous Irvine Beat FM Ceilidh Show.

While he was away, Ian did the show and the other week there, he had a live ceilidh band Sticks & Kicks playing on the show. It was amazing. Check the band out on You Tube and you may see a couple of songs performed on the show.

While one presenter comes back from holiday, another is away for a couple of weeks. Peter Lockhart loves his holidays. For the next couple of weeks, our Sunday Talk In will be hosted by Irvine Times journalists John McNee and Ciaran Shanks. I wish the guys well. This is the first time they have flown solo, so to speak. The guys will be great!

A few weeks ago, I mentioned that Irvine Beat FM had been appointed a Big Music Hub by Youth Scotland. Well I am now pleased to tell you that we have now received accreditation as A Big Music Hub by Youth Scotland. We are currently setting up a team of Big Music Champions who will be trained by Youth Scotland over a weekend in June to act as peer mentors. We will then work with ACES in Kilwinning to provide training for 100 young people from the area.

It’s all good news for everyone at Irvine Beat FM and the community at large. Till next week, keep those radios tuned to 107.2 Irvine Beat FM.

Ronnie McGhie Irvine Beat FM Team