I've written about this before. But back then, it was just a tiny new entity in the UK. Now it's a going concern with a growing number of listeners. 

I'm talking about something called "Fix Radio," a format dedicated to trades people, like construction workers, electricians, plumbers and the like. It was a digital radio station set up a few years ago in the U.K., after its creators - trades people themselves - discovered they liked listening to the radio while they toiled, but got tired of endless repetition on almost every station they tuned in at their worksites. So they created one just for their own. 

And after ten years, it has a growing audience. "Fix Radio is now sustained largely by hardware stores, tool suppliers and trade insurers, and last year had a turnover of £3.7m."

That's over $6 million Canadian. 

"The Fix schedule, which is also broadcast online and via podcasts and social media, includes shows for electricians, plasterers, carpenters, plumbers, decorators, bricklayers and roofers. Most are presented by tradespeople, many of whom arrived with big followings as online influencers."

It all started a decade ago.

"[Louis] Timpany understood how annoying repetitive ads and music can be for all-day audiences. “Three hours plastering a ceiling and I’ve heard the same song four times,” says Hanson, who tended to listen to Heart or Magic on site. Timpany also spied an opportunity; while it might not make business sense for suppliers to the trades to advertise on mainstream radio, could they be drawn to a targeted audience?

After a six-month crash course at Christian Radio, Timpany, who is now 31, pitched his idea to investors, eventually managing to build a shoestring regional London station. Fix Radio, which is now headquartered in studios in south London, hit the air in April 2017. Its first song: Starship’s We Built This City."

I'm not 100% sure this would work as a regular station, although it does in England, where Digital Audio Broadcasting is now the norm, making way for a plethora of stations on a virtually limitless dial. But the concept is interesting and I wonder if a North American streaming version would work. It's certainly a fresh idea, targeting people where they work.

And if such a station could garner a specialized audience in North America, then the Fix would definitely be in. 

‘We’re off in our transit vans after the show’: how Fix Radio built a hit station for builders