The station then broadcast two RSLs as "Magic Dune FM", with a target area of the town and neighbouring West Lancashire and North Sefton, and a transmitter close to the present site of Aughton near Ormskirk.

The Radio Authority eventually advertised a small-scale local licence for the towns of Southport and Ormskirk and the Merseyside borough of Sefton, which attracted three bids, including the winning Dune FM consortium.

Dune FM was sold to Forward Media in 1999, backed by venture capital finance and chaired by David Maker, at a time when the station claimed its highest listening figures.

In October 2011, High Court enforcement officers acting for multiple creditors removed the station's broadcasting equipment from its studios, forcing makeshift facilities to be quickly assembled to get back on-air.

[3] On Monday 9 July 2012 Dune FM Ltd was wound up in the Liverpool District Registry[4] Following the winding-up order, the station's licence passed into the hands of the official receiver.