Local community radio station FM107.5 is celebrating new format and rebranding this weekend with live outside broadcasts from Summer Street Santa Parade and Cudal’s Twilight Christmas markets.

From 8am to midday, this Saturday you’ll find FM107.5 broadcasting live from the Orange Central Square.

“We’ll be there next to the Coffee Club and there will be balloons, stickers, t-shirts, we'll be giving away stuff and we'll launch on air about 8am,” said station manager Farren Hotham.

“We'll also broadcast the Santa Parade live! We've got two of our guys who will be following Santa up the street and interviewing families and kids and all that stuff.”

The relaunch celebrations are to mark new station format and rebranding, which includes a new logo, new jingles and more consistent daytime music selection to appeal to a wider audience.

“It’s a historic change for the radio station,” said Farren. “Formerly was a situation where presenters would bring their own music and play it, but what we did was surveys and community consultation with a lot of people about the kind of music they would like to hear… what we’ve done is turn the radio station into a more modern station which reflects the community.

“The format changes represent a cross of popular music, classic hits and memories and country interspersed with community information from the on-air announcers.”

More community news and involvement has been a priority for Farren, since he took over as station manager in March. Since then they have done more than 60 outside broadcasts from all over the listening area.

“Technically it has taken a lot, but it is something that embraces the community — it is all about them and we're out with them,” said Farren.

“Some weeks we could be out five days of the week! We were at the National Field Days, we were at the Orange Wine Festival, we’ve been at all the shows or we might be at someone's markets, so we are very community focused.”

While building a more unified sound and brand for their daytime programming, Farren said they are continuing to showcase the diverse interests of the community during the evenings.

“We have a night time programming philosophy where people do still bring in their own music and play it, like for example Paul Tierney's Unwind on Monday… and we are doing new programs on religion, Wiradjuri Voice, on Jazz, on Irish Music and other stuff and we are continually evolving in our diversity — keeping a constant flow during the day and at night it becomes more like a TV station with a lot of different programs.”

Catch the team from FM105.7 at Orange Central Square this Saturday 8am until midday and then launching in Cudal at the Twilight Christmas Markets from 5pm.