Actual Radio is an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2 ...

station serving

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

& North East

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

in the United Kingdom. Broadcasting via DAB across Essex and Online via

smart speaker A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant (artificial intelligence), virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and Hands-free computing, hands-free activation with the help of o ...

. The station is owned by Pete Chapman. The station, serving a local population of around 350,000, broadcasts shows from its studio in the city centre 24 hours a day. The Colchester station has firmly established itself as the main local radio station for the area.

History

The station was launched on the 9th April 2014 by Pete Chapman, a former

Essex FM Heart Essex (formerly Essex Radio and then Essex FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving the county of Essex and parts of East Hertfordshire. It was launched on 12 September 1981, broadcasting from Southend-on-Sea and since 27 Octobe ...

presenter. The company was formed in 2016 and launched in Colchester on the 1st January 2017. On 8 September 2020, Actual Radio launched on the Essex DAB Multiplex. Key people include Pete Chapman (former

presenter), Phil Terry (former

Dream 100 Dream 100 was an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer. It broadcast to Tendring and Essex from studios in Colchester and Ipswich, airing the same music programming as sister station Town 102. The station was folded into ...

and

SGR Colchester Heart Colchester (formerly SGR Colchester) was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Colchester and the surrounding areas. The station was launched in 1993 as SGR Colchester by the East Anglian Radio group, which also operated the Ip ...

presenter), Andre Kimche (former

presenter), Dom Atkins (former

Ipswich 102 Nation Radio Suffolk is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting. It broadcasts from Ipswich in Suffolk. As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 26,000, according to RAJAR. Hist ...

presenter).

Technical

Actual Radio broadcasts to Essex on the

Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquart ...

owned Essex DAB Multiplex. Arqiva currently operates 11 transmitters in the Essex multiplex, Harlow (Rye Hill), Bakers Wood, Westley Heights, Benfleet, Southend, Great Braxted, Braintree, Colchester, Manningtree, Clacton, and Sudbury, which is just over the Essex and Suffolk border.

Digital (DAB)

The radio station also simulcasts its output online, to provide the service on

devices and on their website.

Current presenters

* Pete Chapman * Tony Dibbin * Emma Saint * Phil Terry * Greg Potter * Martin Roscoe * Kevin Peters * Lawrence Ladbrook * Dave Gowland

References

External links