Jamaica’s newest radio station, The Edge 105, got off to an excellent start yesterday morning, living up to its promise to provide listeners with programming that will help them live more useful lives, plus wholesome, first-rate music from across the world influenced by Jamaican culture.

“If I’m to go by the responses, both online and by phone, we had a phenomenal start. I’m very happy with it,” S&B Communications General Manager Ronnie Sutherland told the Jamaica Observer yesterday evening during a review meeting in his office with Producer Roxene Nickle, Music Director and Librarian Lloyd Laing, and Digitial Media Specialist Tamika Coley.

“What we found most interesting, even though we got a lot of responses locally, is the number of people who were linking from abroad,” Sutherland said.

However, he said even more encouraging is the fact that three advertising agencies called for ad packages.

“Normally, advertisers wait to get some indication of where the station is going, and you have to validate your listenership, and so on. That we got these requests on the first day means that they are based on the excitement they are picking up around the station.

So when we thought that we would not have been selling a lot until after 90 days, it seems as if we are going to start selling immediately because we’re setting out advertising packages as of tomorrow (today), which is great. So, by and large, I think we had a great start. It exceeded our expectations,” Sutherland said.

The Edge is owned by S&B Communications, a Jamaica Observer affiliate, and is now a sister station to FYAH 105 FM.

Daily programming on The Edge, which can be heard on frequencies 105.3 FM in Kingston and other parishes, and 105.1 FM in central Jamaica, begins at 5:00 am with an hour of uplifting and inspiring gospel and secular music.

At 6:00 am through to 10:00 am veteran broadcaster Richard “Richie B” Burgess hosts Top of the Morning, a programme designed to get listeners in the frame of mind to take on the work day.

He is followed by singer/songwriter-turned podcaster Tami Chin Mitchell on Live Out Loud from 10:00 am to 12 noon providing music and life-inspiring talk segments with the clear purpose of transforming the lives of listeners.

Between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm university lecturer Georgia Crawford delves into issues that are mainly common to women in the programme call Un-Filtered, after which songstress Alaine Laughton pilots the 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm slot called High Frequency, which is designed to bring expression to the cultural realities of the country while providing a recipe of what it takes for the audience stay true to and grounded in their lives.

The last show of the day, Home Run, kicks off at 5:00 pm and goes through to 8:00 pm and is hosted by another veteran broadcaster, Deon Mattis, who uses her experience to calm the minds of listeners who may have had a hectic day at work and are looking forward to the solace of their home.

After yesterday’s first day of programming, Sutherland expressed pleasure with the performance of the team.

“Obviously, we would have been a bit nervous about who we call the newbies, because we made a very deliberate effort to have a good mix of experienced broadcasters, and those who we call fresh and new. And so the apprehension was around Tami Chin and Alaine, but we were pleasantly relieved with what we saw. So that was quite gratifying,” Sutherland said.

“If I were to use a cricket analogy, starting with your best bat to open, Richie B in the morning, it set the stage and I’m sure the confidence flowed from him. Everybody took their cue. In the middle Georgia Crawford, with her storytelling, we found that to be very appealing. Then in the evening, we had another experienced broadcaster closing the innings.

It was a great day,” he said.