By Rachael Grealish

A new 24-hour audio stream has been welcomed to the county’s vibrant media landscape with the launch of Cumbria Now.

A project brought to life by its founder, former CFM DJ, Pete Moss, Cumbria Now, which launched on Monday, September 4, fills a void left behind when CFM transformed into Greatest Hits Radio earlier this year, he told The Herdwick News exclusively,

He said: “Since CFM changed over to become Greatest Hits Radio in April I have had many people getting in touch with me (and even approaching me when I’ve been DJing in Carlisle) to do something, as they were missing the music that they used to get from CFM.

“I would tell them that it was out of my hands, there was nothing I could do as I had left CFM in May last year.”

However, after a short time, the seasoned radio professional realised there was nothing stopping him from launching an alternative platform to offer Cumbrians something different, this is when he came up with Cumbria Now.

“I thought… actually… I COULD do something and offer up an alternative that played a great mix of music and provided local content,” Pete explained, “I’d like to point out that I do enjoy Greatest Hits Radio personally and I think it’s a great addition to the local radio offering and, I’ve been working with BBC Radio Cumbria since late last year and the team there are fantastic – they provide a brilliant service for the people in Cumbria.

“However, there is going to come a time very soon when there will be no radio station broadcasting anything from Cumbria after 4pm each day.”

The difference is that Cumbria now is not a radio station like Pete previously worked for, but a 24-hour audio stream ‘playing great music interspersed with local content all day and all night’.

The platform features news, police appeals, details of events in Cumbria and messages from small local businesses.

The Carlisle-born DJ explained that the platform was something he wanted to be community-based, straying away from the traditional host-presented radio show.

He said: “I wanted to get as many people from Cumbria on the stream delivering their own messages. I see it as being like an audio version of a social media feed filled with relevant Cumbrian content.”

Pete has been able to launch the platform due to his experience at CFM where he worked not only as a show presenter, but a producer, music scheduler and management.

“I’m now using all that I learned in those roles to put together Cumbria Now – something of a personal project – and I’m overwhelmed by the support I’ve had from people who have listened to me over the years,” he continued.

Listeners can tune into Cumbria Now via smart speakers, TV, the Live365 app and online.