A BRAND new radio station has launched in Glasgow, aiming to bring guitar music back into the mainstream.

The Max, based out of Craigton, launched at the start of August and has been bringing everything from country, to classic rock, to heavy metal to listeners, with a side of sport and friendly chat.

Founded by Iain MacLean and Willie Knox, The Max has so far been a hit with audiences.

Iain said: "The thing that I always found about radio, compared to being able to go straight to Spotify and Apple Music and getting a playlist, is that you go to it for someone to play you music that they like in order for you to discover that you might like something new.

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"That's what we feel we are trying to do.

"We are putting people on air that are passionate about the music that they are playing.

"That is important because there is no point in listening to something that you are hearing on every channel and from every presenter."

Iain admits that it was a difficult time to launch the channel during a global pandemic, but that he and Willie felt that there was a need for this at the moment.

Iain said: "It's been incredibly hard. We have been doing a lot of work for this in lockdown and working virtually which a lot of people find liberating, but a lot of people do find it difficult.

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"A regular feature on the station on a Wednesday morning is that we have a psychologist from Glasgow University call in every week and they talk about mental health issues and how we are coping with the lockdown and coming out of it."

Station manager Dave Mac, who has worked in the industry since the mid 90s, said: "We've only been on air two weeks now and in those first two weeks, we've actually seen our listening figure double that of what we expected.

"The listening sessions is what is key. If they are quite short, around 5 or 6 minutes, people are listening for one song and then tuning out on the next song because they don't like it, which is generally how it goes.

"We're sitting at around 30 to 40 minutes per session at the moment, which is actually quite record breaking for the industry."

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Some of the presenters on the station include country singer/songwriter Martha Healy and rock industry legend Tom Russell.

Tom, who released his own autobiography 'Godfather of Rock' last year documenting his 40 years in the industry, said: "The Max is worth the listen because there is always a fresh, good tune on, no matter what show you are listening to.

"You can still and listen for 4 hours straight and it's always fantastic.

"I have always loved rock music but I have resisted living in the past - we have the hits and all the classic song but we also bring in the brand new up and coming Scottish talent."

Martha added: "Everyone, not just musicians like myself, has been missing live music event.

"Having The Max is really nice because it gives me something to do during times that I would normally be playing live shows.

"It's really great to see a station like The Max take a chance on country music, because there are so many fans in places like Scotland and Ireland that don't have that representation on the radio.

"I hope we can get back to putting on live performances soon, and I'm sure I'm not the only one."

Listeners can tune in on DAB radio and online here.