The Breeze (South West)
The Breeze is a group of Independent Local Radio stations broadcasting to the areas of Bath, Bridgwater, Bristol, Taunton, West Somerset, Warminster, Frome, Westbury, North Somerset and Trowbridge in the West of England. The station is operated by Bauer Radio and is part of The Breeze network of stations. The station is aimed at an audience for the over 40's and plays a contemporary easy listening music format, playing anything from the past 40 years, which is both classic and recent melodic and popular music.
| Broadcast area | Bath, Bridgwater, Bristol, Yeovil, Warminster, Frome, Westbury,Trowbridge and North Somerset |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 100.8MHz (Porlock) 102.4MHz (West Somerset) 105.6 & 106.6 MHz (South Somerset) 107.2MHz (Bristol) 107.4MHz (Bridgwater) 107.5MHz (Warminster/Frome/Westbury/Trowbridge) 107.7Mhz (North Somerset) 107.9MHz (Bath) |
| Slogan | Your Easy Place To Relax |
| Programming | |
| Format | Easy Listening |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Bauer Radio |
| History | |
| First air date | February 14, 2011 |
| Links | |
| Website | http://www.the breeze.com |
The stations studios are at County Gates, Ashton Road in Bristol. Another station, Sam FM, shares its facilities in the same building and is also owned by Bauer.
The Breeze originally broadcast a combination of different radio stations in each local area, which also had separate ownerships, and have now formed into one single network. Each area carries the same presenting line-ups (including the regional Breakfast and Drive-time shows), but have their own local news, weather, travel news and information guide.
History
Bristol on 107.3
Originally launched on 26 November 1999 as 107.3 The Eagle and was owned by UKRD. The slogans used were "Bristol's Newest Radio Station" or "Bristol's Fastest Growing Radio Station". Its sister station at the time was also called The Eagle, which is based in Guildford, Surrey and also owed by UKRD, and is still survives today.
In 2000, the station name had changed, and was called Star 107.3. The station played a different variety style of adult contemporary music after they changed the format and renewed their licence.
Frequency change to 107.2
In 2004 Star's frequency allocation changed to 107.2 with increased transmitter power for better coverage.
UKRD sold the Bristol licence to new owners Tomahawk Radio and shared new premises with another radio station, Bristol's Original 106.5.
From 7 September 2010 Celador became the new licence holders and rebranded Star 107.2 as The Breeze 107.2 on 14 February 2011.
West Somerset on 102.4 & 100.8
Originally known as Quay West and was launched in August 1998. It was later relaunched as Total Star Somerset under the ownership of One Gold Radio and breached Ofcom regulations after transmitting new transmitter power at North Hill at 30,000 watts vertically without permission on the 102.4 frequency. OFCOM said they would then terminate and re-advertise their licence by December 1, 2011.[1] The station has since changed their ownership to Celador, and from midday on August 7, 2011 they joined The Breeze Network.
Bridgwater on 107.4
A new radio station went on air on 4 July 2001 as BCR FM under the owners of Choice Media and later was sold to Laser Broadcasting in July 2006.
The station was relaunched as 107.4 Quay West to bring it in line with the other Quay West stations in West Somerset. In August 2010 the two Quay West stations merged as one station called Total Star Somerset and was taken over by One Gold Radio Ltd until 2011.
Bath on 107.9
Launched in Bath and North East Somerset as 107.9 Bath FM from its Bathampton Down transmitter in November 1999 and was a rival station to GWR FM Bath (now Heart). It had several ownerships such as The Local Radio Group in February 2006, Laser Broadcasting from June 2008 and later in the same year as South West Radio Ltd in October. Bath FM relaunched as Total Star Bath in August 2010 after Total Star Gloucestershire company Storm Radio Ltd teamed up with One Gold Radio Ltd (now More Radio Ltd), but the two companies soon had separated in 2011 and Total Star Bath along with two other Total Star stations in Swindon and Warminster had changed the name to More Radio in June 2011. More Radio has recently been relaunched in Bath as The Breeze in September 2011 after being bought by Celador.[2]
Frome and West Wiltshire on 107.5
The Breeze began in November 2001 as 3TR FM and was operated under The Local Radio Company. On the 30 June 2008 the station was sold to Laser Broadcasting who went bankrupt on 28 October 2008. The station was then bought out by South West Radio Ltd who also went into administration on August 4, 2009. 3TR was then ran under the YMC Ltd group which ran the station along with other radio stations like Brunel FM, Bath FM, plus two Quay West stations as a group of stations until March 24, 2010 when the administrators closed down all the stations on the behalf of OFCOM because of multiple refusals. One Gold Radio and Storm Radio Ltd opened an agreement to re-brand all stations as Total Star before the Warminster licence was acquired by Celador in November 2011 and is rebranded as The Breeze 107.5.[3]