Connect FM Peterborough (formerly 106.8 Lite FM) was 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

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

The Deepings The Deepings () are a series of settlements close to the River Welland near the borders of southern Lincolnshire and north western Cambridgeshire in eastern England. Peterborough is about 8 miles to the south, Spalding about 10 miles to the no ...

Crowland Crowland (modern usage) or Croyland (medieval era name and the one still in ecclesiastical use; cf. ) is a town and civil parish in the South Holland district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Peterborough and Spalding. Crowland ...

, Spalding, Yaxley,

Whittlesey Whittlesey (also Whittlesea) is a market town and civil parish in the Fenland District, Fenland district of Cambridgeshire, England. Whittlesey is east of Peterborough. The population of the parish was 17,667 at the 2021 Census. Toponymy W ...

& Stamford on 106.8FM and online at www.connectfm.com

History

The station launched as Lite FM 10:00am on Saturday 24 July 1999 with a live outside broadcast in Cathedral Square. The first song played was 'So Good' by Boyzone. The first scheduled programme was Saturday Sport, with Neil Evans & Keith Hazelton. Lite rebranded to Connect in 2010 and moved from the city centre to the then Connect Northants territory of Kettering. In February 2019, the station was sold to

Communicorp Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group. History Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that ...

with the station to be rebranded as

Smooth East Midlands Smooth East Midlands is an Independent Regional Radio station for the East Midlands, 107.4 MHz, 97.2 MHz, 106.8 MHz 106.0 MHz which replaced Saga 106.6 FM at 6 am on Monday 26 March 2007. It is owned by Communicorp UK and oper ...

depending on Ofcom approval. Smooth took over broadcasting on 1 October 2019.

Ownership

The station was owned by

On air

The station broadcast locally focused information and entertainment for the Peterborough area with dedicated local news, travel news and a wide choice of music for the city. Amongst the presenters during the final months as Connect were Liz Jeeves, Paul Lovett, Mikey Faulkner, Murray J and Daniel Fox - alongside long-serving Connect FM news journalist Carlo Fiorentino. The transmitter is situated at Gunthorpe just off Paston Parkway on 106.8 FM. The station was also on DAB, smart speaker and online.

References

External links

Lite FM 106.8

{{coord, 52.5598, -0.2302, display=title} Radio stations in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Radio stations established in 1999 Radio stations disestablished in 2019 1999 establishments in England 2019 disestablishments in England Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom