Nation Radio South is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting on 106 MHz & 106.6 MHz FM, on DAB on the South Hampshire and Bournemouth multiplexes across the South Coast of England and on DAB+ across a limited area on the Portsmouth small scale trial multiplex. The station is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting.
 | |
| Broadcast area | Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and West Sussex |
|---|---|
| Frequency | FM: 106.0 MHz 106.6 MHz DAB: 11C (South Hampshire) DAB+ 8A (Small-scale Salisbury) |
| Branding | “The Best Variety of Hits” |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classic and Contemporary Hits |
| Network | Nation Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Nation Broadcasting |
| Operator | Nation Broadcasting |
| Easy Radio South | |
| History | |
First air date | 1 October 2006 |
Former names | Original 106 The Coast Jack FM Sam FM Greatest Hits Radio |
| Links | |
| Website | Nation Radio South |
The station is owned by Nation Broadcasting which was under a licensing agreement with operator Bauer Radio. In September 2022, the agreement ended and the station has become part of the Nation Radio network.[1]
As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 127,000, according to RAJAR.[2]
A number of former Wave 105 presenters including Steve Power, Tony Shepherd, Andy Jackson, Gary Parker, Tim Allen, Selina Ross and Kate Weston can be heard on Nation Radio South.
History
editOriginal 106 & The Coast
editThe station was originally launched in 2006 as Original 106 (Solent), owned by Canwest, which then sold the station to Celador in August 2008.[3] It was replaced by The Coast 106 on 30 October 2008, and while initial RAJAR results were encouraging with a healthy increase over those posted by Original, the weekly reach stagnated at around 115,000 by early 2011.
Jack FM
editCelador then rebranded the station as Jack FM,[4] to bring it in line with its sister station in Bristol, from 4 July 2011. All prior presenters except Robin Caddy were removed from the station, which switched to a format also used by Celador's other Jack stations - a presenter-led breakfast show (hosted by Bam Bam),[5] a Saturday morning "World Of Sport" show presented by Robin Caddy and automated music interspersed with topical one-liners in between songs voiced by actor Paul Darrow at other times.
Sam FM
edit
On 1 April 2015, the station was rebranded again as Sam FM, which runs with a strapline of We're In Charge - the station controls the music and doesn't play requests - interspersed with topical one-liners in between songs by Gareth Hale who is referred to as The Voice of Sam FM.[6] However, as of the end of 2019 these one-liners have long since been withdrawn.
In March 2019, Sam FM South Coast was taken over by Nation Broadcasting following the sale of Celador Radio to Bauer Radio.
On 1 December 2019, Sam FM no longer shared programming with its sister stations in Bristol and Swindon and took the tagline The South's Greatest Hits. This appears to have had an effect on the playlist, with less rock and more pop tracks being played than previously.
Greatest Hits Radio
editIt was announced that from 27 May 2020, Sam FM will become Greatest Hits Radio in early September after Nation Broadcasting agreed a licensing agreement with Bauer Radio.[7] From 1 September 2020 Greatest Hits Radio was launched at 6am.
Nation Radio
editOn 19 September 2022, the station relaunched as Nation Radio South.
Programming
editLocal programming is broadcast from 11pm to 4am Monday to Friday with Tim Allen on Overnights, 4-6am Gary Parker on Early Breakfast, 1-3pm Tony Shepherd and 3pm-7pm, presented by Steve Power alongside his former Wave 105 co-host Selina Ross. Other local programming occurs over the weekend. The rest of the time it takes networked programming from Nation Radio UK with opt-outs for news, sport, travel and weather updates.
Transmitters
editAnalogue (FM)
edit| Transmitter Site | Frequency | Power | RDS Name | PI Code | Area |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chillerton Down | 106 MHz | 4000W | NATION | C385 (C485 Switched) | Isle of Wight, South Hampshire, West Sussex and West Dorset |
| Crabwood Farm | 106.6 MHz | 20W | NATION | C385 (C485 Switched) | Winchester |
| West Howe | 106.6 MHz | 310W | NATION | C385 (C585 Switched) | Bournemouth & Poole |
Following the station's previous launch, Coast 106 made use of a restricted service licence from Ofcom to re-broadcast the station to Guernsey. This was done to promote the station to Guernsey residents for when they travelled to England.
Digital (DAB)
edit| Multiplex Name | Bitrate | Short Label | Long Label | SID | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NOW S Hants | 80Kb/s | Nation | Nation Radio | C4E5 | MP2 MONO |
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Nation Broadcasting removes Bauer branding from its stations". 13 July 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
- ^ "RAJAR".
- ^ radiotoday.co.uk Archived 18 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Radio Today: Jack FM to Replace The Coast
- ^ RadioToday:Bam Bam launches Jack FM South Coast
- ^ Radio Today: Celador's JACK stations to become Sam FM: 1 April 2015
- ^ Clarkson, Stuart (27 May 2020). "Most acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio". RadioToday. Retrieved 12 September 2020.