Isle of Wight Radio

Isle of Wight Radio (occasionally shortened to IW Radio) is an independent local radio station in Newport on the Isle of Wight. The station began transmitting from Briddlesford Farm AM transmitter on 15 April 1990. Isle of Wight Radio switched to FM in March 1998, its main transmitter is at Chillerton Down on 107FM, with three low power relays on 102FM in Cowes, Ventnor and Ryde.

Isle of Wight Radio's 20th birthday celebrations

Isle of Wight Radio
Broadcast areaIsle of Wight
Frequency102.0 MHz and 107.0 MHz
SloganSwitch on the Isle of Wight Radio
Programming
FormatContemporary
Ownership
OwnerIsle of Wight Radio Ltd
History
First air date15 April 1990
Technical information
Transmitter coordinates50.6491°N 1.3290°W / 50.6491; -1.3290

History

Ownership

Isle of Wight Radio was independently-owned for two years before being purchased by GWR (now Global Radio) and then by The Local Radio Company (TLRC). The station then came under the control of a joint venture between TLRC and the Portsmouth FC,[1] under the name of Quadrant Media Limited, which also owned Spirit FM in Chichester and 107.4 The Quay in Portsmouth. In August 2009, the station was sold in a management buyout by programme controller Paul Topping, Claire Willis, Ian Walker and Hedley Finn, making it independently owned again.[2]

In October 2012, it was announced that the station, alongside local Beacon magazine which it owns, was to merge with Media Sound Holdings, owner of Splash FM, Bright FM, Arrow FM and Sovereign FM, the latter two being former sister stations under TLRC.[3] The merger involved the station's shareholders taking shares in Media Sound Holdings, with Willis and Finn joining the board. It was said that staffing would not be affected[3] with continued broadcast from the Isle of Wight and no plans for content sharing amongst the stations, although this could be considered in future for off-peak hours. The station currently broadcasts a bespoke Isle of Wight mid-morning show presented by Anna Bingham from studios in Worthing, West Sussex.

Awards

The station was the Radio Academy's Station Of The Year in 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2011 and 2013 in the category for stations with a target audience under 1 million.

In 2007, the station won the prestigious Sony Award for Station Of The Year for stations with fewer than 300,000 listeners. It has also won the Arqiva Commercial Radio Station Of The Year award (under 500,000 listeners) for 2012 and 2013, and was nominated for that award in 2011.

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References
  1. Joint venture to be created with Portsmouth FC - the local radio company plc
  2. UKRD/TLRC sells IOW Radio
  3. Findon, Ross (5 October 2012). "Merger for Isle of Wight Radio". Isle of Wight County Press. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
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