Sam FM (South Coast)

Nation Radio South is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting on 106 MHz & 106.6 MHz FM across the South Coast of England, and on DAB on the South Hampshire, Bournemouth, Sussex, Salisbury and Somerset multiplexes.

The station is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting, and was previously run under a brand licence agreement with rival operator Bauer Radio, where the frequencies were used to broadcast Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio. In September 2022, the agreement ended and the station was rebranded to its current name.

As of September 2024, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 127,000, according to RAJAR.

Following that station's rebranding, a number of former Wave 105 presenters have moved to broadcast on Nation Radio South, including Steve Power, Mark Collins, Tony Shepherd, Andy Jackson, Stuart McGinley, Gary Parker, Tim Allen, Selina Ross and Kate Weston.

History

Original 106 & The Coast

The station was originally launched in 2006 as Original 106 (Solent), owned by Canwest, which then sold the station to Celador in August 2008. It was replaced by ''The Coast 106'' on 30 October 2008, and while initial RAJAR results were encouraging with a healthy increase over those posted by Original, the weekly reach stagnated at around 115,000 by early 2011.

Jack FM

Celador then rebranded the station as Jack FM, to bring it in line with its sister station in Bristol, from 4 July 2011. All prior presenters except Robin Caddy were removed from the station, which switched to a format also used by Celador's other Jack stations - a presenter-led breakfast show (hosted by Bam Bam), a Saturday morning "World Of Sport" show presented by Robin Caddy and automated music interspersed with topical one-liners in between songs voiced by actor Paul Darrow at other times.

Sam FM

On 1 April 2015, the station was rebranded again as Sam FM, which runs with a strapline of ''We're In Charge'' - the station controls the music and doesn't play requests - interspersed with topical one-liners in between songs by Gareth Hale who was referred to as 'The Voice of Sam FM'. However, by end of 2019 these one-liners had been withdrawn.

In March 2019, Sam FM South Coast was taken over by Nation Broadcasting, following the sale of Celador Radio to Bauer Radio.

On 1 December 2019, Sam FM no longer shared programming with its sister stations in Bristol and Swindon and took the tagline ''The South's Greatest Hits''. This appears to have had an effect on the playlist, with less rock and more pop tracks being played than previously.

Greatest Hits Radio

On 27 May 2020, it was announced that Sam FM would become Greatest Hits Radio in early September, after Nation Broadcasting agreed a licensing agreement with Bauer Radio. From 1 September 2020 Greatest Hits Radio was launched at 6am.

Nation Radio

On 19 September 2022, the licencing agreement with Bauer Radio ended, and the station relaunched as Nation Radio South.

Following the rebranding of rival station Wave 105 to Greatest Hits Radio in spring 2024, a number of former Wave presenters have moved to Nation Broadcasting stations to present shows on Nation Radio South and sister station Easy Radio. The station now operates a local schedule for most of the day, sharing some presenters with its sister Nation Radio stations in other parts of the UK through the use of localised links for each station.

In March 2025, the station further expanded its DAB coverage area by launching on the Somerset multiplex, taking its overall broadcast area to cover a potential audience of nearly four million adults. Nation Broadcasting stated they made the move to increase their DAB coverage in North Dorset where reception of the Bournemouth multiplex is poor, but also welcomed new listeners in Somerset itself who may have been listening to other Nation Radio stations previously.

With this expanded coverage, the station can now be heard on DAB across an area that stretches from Weston-super-Mare in the north to Rye in the east.

Programming and presenters

Programming

Nation Radio South broadcasts a mix of regional and networked programming. It has the most regional programming out of all Nation Radio stations.

Regional Shows

* Weekday Breakfast with Steve Power and Selina Ross
* Weekday Golden Hour with Mark Collins
* Weekday Drivetime with Andy Jackson
* Weekday Evenings with Stuart McGinley
* Friday and Saturday Nights with David Francis
* Sunday Nights with Andy Jackson and Kate Western

Local Presenters

* Steve Power
* Selina Ross
* Mark Collins
* Tony Shepherd
* Andy Jackson
* Kate Weston
* Stuart McGinley
* David Francis

Networked Presenters

* Tim Allen
* Gary Parker
* Mark Collins
* Mark Franklin
* Tony Shepherd
* Roberto
* Neil Greenslade
* Neil Fox
* Greg Burns

Programming

Outside of regional programming, Nation Radio South broadcasts the Nation Radio UK feed, sharing it's playlist with local opt-outs for news, sport, travel and weather updates. During regional programming, the station plays a separate playlist rather than broadcast the same playlist as Nation Radio UK.

Some local presenters also have networked shows on Nation Radio UK, such as Steve Power who presents Beat Surrender on Sunday evenings. Mark Collins and Tony Shepherd also broadast their shows across the whole of the UK network. Nation Radio South presenters often provide cover in other regions or for networked shows.

Transmitters

Analogue (FM)

Following the station's previous launch, Coast 106 made use of a restricted service licence from Ofcom to re-broadcast the station to Guernsey. This was done to promote the station to Guernsey residents for when they travelled to England.

Digital (DAB)

See also

*Easy Radio South Coast
*Nation Broadcasting

References

External links

Official website

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Radio stations established in 2006
Radio stations in Dorset
Radio stations in Hampshire
Radio stations in the Isle of Wight
Radio stations in Somerset
Jack FM stations
Nation Broadcasting
Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom