THE TEAM behind Oxford’s Jack FM are to target women with the launch of a new county radio station next week.

The station, the name of which has not yet been revealed, will replace dance and R’n’B station Oxford FM107.9.

Its target audience will be female listeners under 30, and they will be able to tune in when it hits the airwaves on the same 107.9 FM frequency at 9am on Monday.

Last night, station managers refused to reveal what kind of music it would play, but said 60 per cent of all the tunes would be from the last two years.

Programme director and Oxford Mail columnist Sue Carter said: “FM107.9 will disappear completely and a completely new station will appear. It will be significantly different.

“It will be a radio station that targets under-30s and it will appeal to females. It will speak to young professionals.

“There may be some new presenters and there may be some new shows. It will be in a radio form that hasn’t been done before.

“It will still have local traffic, travel and features.”

She added: “We can’t say what the genre of music will be. There might be some ballads in there. It will be more of a ‘thinking woman’s’ radio station.”

Describing a typical listener, she said: “She will probably have been in a job for about 10 years, probably in a long-term relationship, engaged and they might be at that point where they are buying their first decent car, considering buying a house and furnishing their home for the first time.”

Miss Carter said FM107.9 had been around 11 years and had about four different names in the past. She said it was primarily aimed at the student population, but it was time for change.

Sister station Jack FM has won seven national and international awards for its output, including one gold Sony award and two gold Arqiva commercial radio awards.

The late Ali Booker’s Cancer Diaries also won gold at the Arqiva awards and a silver Sony.

Ms Carter added: “Jack will stay as it is, that appeals to over-30s.”

FM107.9’s station manager Ian Walker said: “The new station will be unashamedly local to Oxford, but the format and music style promises to bring a fresh change to Oxfordshire’s radio landscape.”

Mr Walker said the launch would be followed by improvements to its FM transmission signal and an expansion on to regional DAB digital radio.