The Lincs FM Group was the parent company of several Independent Local Radio (ILR) stations. As of Q2 2019 the group had a combined audience of 524,000. It was based in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershir ...

, in the UK.

History

The Lincs FM Group was formed in the early 1990s with the winning of the ILR licence for Lincolnshire. Lincs FM started broadcasting in 1992 and since then the Lincs FM Group has won and acquired licences to operate other local radio stations across the UK's Midlands and Yorkshire regions. The Lincs FM Group also had a 33% share in Ipswich 102 and a 51% share in the digital radio multiplexes operating DAB services in Lincolnshire and Suffolk. Lincs FM Group was purchased by Bauer Radio in February 2019; Bauer also purchased the stations of Celador Radio at the same time. KCFM was sold to Nation Broadcasting due to overlapping with existing Bauer asset

Viking FM Viking FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Riding of Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire. As of September 2022, the st ...

; the other Lincs stations remained with Bauer. Due to further potential competition issues with Bauer's existing stations and their new purchases the group has been operating in 'hold separate' pending investigation of the sale by the Competition and Markets Authority.

Radio Stations

* Lincs FM (Lincolnshire & Newark) *

Compass FM Compass FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving Grimsby, Cleethorpes and Immingham. Last owned by Bauer Radio, the station broadcast from 2001 to 2020, when it was subsumed by Greatest Hits Radio, as part of its Yorkshire region. L ...

(North East Lincolnshire) *

Trax FM Trax FM was a local radio station serving Doncaster in South Yorkshire and the Bassetlaw district of north Nottinghamshire. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. History The stati ...

(Doncaster & Bassetlaw) * Dearne FM (Barnsley, Penistone and the Dearne Valley) *

Rutland Radio Rutland Radio was an Independent Local Radio station which served the county of Rutland and the town of Stamford in Lincolnshire. It broadcast on 107.2 FM in Rutland and 97.4 FM across Stamford and launched on 13 December 1998 from Knights Ya ...

(Stamford & Rutland) * Ridings FM (the Wakefield district) *

Rother FM Rother FM was a local radio station serving Rotherham. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. Studios and coverage Rother FM was originally based in Rotherham but later moved to ...

(Rotherham) * Suffolk First (Suffolk)

Branding

Each station's logo is green and purple as these are the company colours; these logos feature heavily in each stations merchandise. The group runs three music formats across its stations. "Hits & Memories" stations are the staple of the group, playing a wide variety of popular music from the 1960s to the present day. "Music You Love" stations lean older, with a greater percentage of songs released pre-1990 played. "Country music and more" is the format of the digital-only station Suffolk First, which plays a mixture of country music and pop music. :Hits & Memories Brand :* Lincs FM for

and Newark :* Dearne FM for Barnsley, Penistone and the Dearne Valley :*

for

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

and the surrounding area :*

for

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated i ...

Bassetlaw Bassetlaw may refer to: * Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency), Nottinghamshire constituency in the British House of Commons * Bassetlaw District General Hospital, a National Health Service hospital in Worksop, Nottinghamshire * Bassetlaw Distri ...

and

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located east-south-east of Sheffield, close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbyshire, on the River Ryton and not far from ...

(2 licences) :*

for

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest l ...

and Stamford :The Music You Love Brand :*

for

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

, Cleethorpes and Immingham :* Ridings FM for the

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population ...

district

Acquisitions

Until October 2007 the group was unique in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in that it had grown organically through licence awards, rather than by acquisition of existing stations. As FM licences ceased advertising in the late 2000s, the group, with a desire to continue growing, made their first acquisition with

Oak 107 FM :''This is the page for the defunct CN Group station. For the service operated by Quidem see ''The New 107 Oak FM''.'' Oak 107 FM was an Independent Local Radio station owned by the CN Group and based on Prince William Road in Loughborough, ...

in October 2007 (previously owned by the

CN Group CN Group Limited was formerly an independent local media business based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England, operating in print and radio. It is now owned by Newsquest and their newspapers are printed in Glasgow. The company was formerly known as ...

). This station was sold on a few years later to rejoin its former network. This was followed by the acquisition of KCFM in June 2009, previously owned by Planet Broadcasting.

Disposals

* Oak FM, comprising the Hinckley and Loughborough licences, was sold to Quidem in 2012. It was rebranded as Fosse 107 following the insolvency of the station * KCFM was sold to Nation Broadcasting in February 2019

Licence bid failure

In 2006, the group made a bid to win the Hull licence along with six other groups. The format for the Lincs bid was the same of that of Compass FM; this is thought to be because Lincs FM already overlaps the

North East Lincolnshire North East Lincolnshire is a Unitary authority area with borough status in Lincolnshire, England. It borders the borough of North Lincolnshire and districts of West Lindsey and East Lindsey. The population of the district in the 2011 Census was ...

area. The station went under the working title of "White Rose Radio" to reflect the white rose of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

. The group did not win the licence and lost out to

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from ...

-based KCFM. However, KCFM became part of the Lincs FM Group in June 2009.radiotoday.co.uk

References

{{Reflist

External links

lincsfmgroup.co.uk
- Group website. Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Lincoln, England Mass media in Lincolnshire Lincoln, England Mass media companies established in 1991 1991 establishments in England 2019 mergers and acquisitions Mass media companies disestablished in 2019 2019 disestablishments in England