Spire FM

Last updated

Spire FM
Spire-FM.png
  • Salisbury
Broadcast area Salisbury
Frequency FM: 102.0 MHz
DAB+: 8A (Trial Salisbury)
Programming
Format Contemporary
Ownership
Owner Bauer Radio
History
First air date
20 September 1992 (1992-09-20)
Last air date
1 September 2020 (2020-09-01)
Links
Website www.spirefm.co.uk

Spire FM was an Independent Local Radio station based in Salisbury, Wiltshire. It was awarded the licence to broadcast to Salisbury and the surrounding areas by the Radio Authority, now Ofcom, in 1991. The station took its name from the spire of Salisbury Cathedral.

Contents

After several changes of ownership, it was rolled up into Greatest Hits Radio in September 2020, ceasing local programming.

History

The station was fully launched on 20 September 1992 (the licence ran from the 5th, when test transmissions began to include programmes about the Salisbury Arts Festival). Spire FM broadcast from City Hall Studios in Malthouse Lane, Salisbury, part of the City Hall entertainment venue.

Originally independently owned, it was acquired by Radio Investments Limited in 1995, and from 1996 the station was owned by The Local Radio Company, which was a joint venture with GWR Group until it was converted into an AIM-quoted company in 2004. [1] [2] TLRC was acquired by UKRD Group in 2009, [3] and Bauer Radio bought UKRD's ten stations in 2019. [4]

Spire FM won a prestigious Sony Radio Award for Station of the Year in 1994 and the runner-up award in 2003. Other awards included the KPMG Marketing Excellence Award, and Wiltshire Business of the Year finalists.[ citation needed ]

Bauer Media rebranded the station as Greatest Hits Radio Salisbury in September 2020, as part of their national Greatest Hits Radio network. [5] It now broadcasts national and regional music programmes with local news bulletins. [6] In January 2024, Bauer dropped local news bulletins for Salisbury - determining these to sound "jarring and parochial" alongside networked programming - and instead transmitted bulletins shared with the (then digital-only, prior to the April flip of Wave 105) South Hampshire iteration of GHR. Salisbury-specific bulletins on weekdays were reinstated in March 2024; Ofcom considered that a complaint about the lack of local news material had been resolved by their reintroduction. [7]

Programming

All programming on the station was locally produced. Until 2018, Spire FM broadcast The Vodafone Big Top 40 chart show (previously The Pepsi Chart and Hit40UK) which was produced from Capital FM in London and syndicated across over 140 commercial radio stations in the UK. However, the show was withdrawn from syndication in 2018 and now broadcasts solely on Heart and Capital stations.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hits Radio Cornwall</span> Local radio station in Cornwall, England

Hits Radio Cornwall, formerly Pirate FM, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Cornwall on DAB from studios in Redruth.

Greatest Hits Radio South Wales is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. The station broadcasts to Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Llanelli and South East Wales from studios in the Llansamlet area of Swansea on DAB.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greatest Hits Radio West Sussex</span> Radio station

Greatest Hits Radio West Sussex is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to West Sussex.

Greatest Hits Radio Bolton & Bury is an Independent Local Radio station serving the Bolton and Bury areas of Greater Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio Wave 96.5</span> Radio station in Blackpool

Radio Wave was an Independent Local Radio station serving Blackpool, The Fylde and surrounding areas. It broadcast from studios in the Layton area of Blackpool via a specially constructed transmitter atop Blackpool Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wave 105</span> Radio station in Fareham

Wave 105 was a regional radio station based in Fareham, England, owned and operated by Bauer. It broadcast to South Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, Wiltshire, and Dorset.

Minster FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving York and the surrounding areas such as Selby, Tadcaster, Thirsk, Northallerton and Goole. The station closed on 31 August 2020 and its frequency is now a relay of Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire. It broadcast on 104.7 FM from the Acklam Wold transmitter, near Leavening, on the Yorkshire Wolds.

Greatest Hits Radio Dorset (North Dorset) (formerly Vale FM) is an Independent Local Radio station which broadcasts to the Blackmore Vale and Cranborne Chase, from Shaftesbury, Dorset, in southern England.

Yorkshire Coast Radio was an Independent Local Radio station serving Scarborough, Whitby & Bridlington. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Local Radio Company</span> British media company

The Local Radio Company was a British media company, based in Redruth, Cornwall, that owned eleven Independent Local Radio stations in the UK. After takeover talks with UTV Media, UKRD Group and Hallwood Financial, UKRD acquired the majority share of the company in June 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wish FM</span> Radio station in Greater Manchester, England

Wish FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving Wigan in Greater Manchester and the St Helens area of Merseyside from studios in the Orrell area of Wigan.

Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & North Suffolk (Norwich) is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer, broadcasting to Norwich and the surrounding area. The station was merged with North Norfolk Radio and The Beach and became Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk and North Suffolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Easy Radio South Coast</span> Radio station in Southampton

Easy Radio South Coast is an Independent Local Radio station based in Southampton, England, owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting. It broadcasts to the South Coast of the England.

The Breeze (Bath) was an Independent Local Radio station serving Bath, Somerset.

Greatest Hits Radio South West is a regional radio station serving the South West of England, as part of Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sam FM Radio (Swindon)</span> Radio station

Sam FM Swindon was an Independent Local Radio station based in Swindon, England, broadcasting on the 107.7 FM frequency between 2006 and 2020.

Stray FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving the western half of North Yorkshire, and sections of West Yorkshire, to the north of Leeds and Bradford, England. The original licence covered the towns of Harrogate and Ripon and the surrounding areas.. From 1 February 2012 the station expanded to cover the Yorkshire Dales.

A timeline of notable events relating to Bauer Media Audio UK, a British media company established as a division of German company Bauer Media Group in 2008.

Greatest Hits Radio North West is a regional radio network serving North West England and North Wales, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network.

Greatest Hits Radio Midlands is a regional radio station serving the East & West Midlands as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network.

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to The Local Radio Company Limited". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011.
  2. ↑ "Radio Investments Ltd: Report and Financial Statements". 31 March 2004. p. 2.
  3. ↑ "Bidding war commences for TLRC". Radio Today. 9 April 2009. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009.
  4. ↑ "Managing Director Ceri Hurford-Jones to leave Spire FM". RadioToday. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  5. ↑ Waterson, Jim (31 August 2020). "Bauer closes dozens of regional radio stations in England and Wales". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  6. ↑ Paessler, Benjamin (27 August 2020). "Presenters announced for Greatest Hits Radio in Salisbury". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  7. ↑ Radio Today, May 2024

Radio svg icon.svg Flag of the United Kingdom.svg

This article about a radio station in the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.