Bristol Sound has applied for the re-advertised Bristol licence, saying the current station fails to cater for local tastes and interests.
The bid is from Nation Broadcasting, which first applied for the Bristol licence in 2006.
Jason Bryant Executive Chairman of Nation and Launch Director of Bristol Sound said; “We are confident we will significantly improve the audience of local commercial radio in the great western city of Bristol. After seven years on air, the incumbent is the least successful station in Bristol, achieving just 1.5% of all listening (Q3 2017 RAJAR). Self-evidently, it fails to cater for local tastes and interests. The Breeze is a radio station for the few, not the many. It is a failed brand in this market.”
Bristol Sound is proposing to be based in the city with Bristol-led news and information and a classic oldies format targeting an adult audience aged 45+. Bristol news will be provided in partnership with Bristol based news agency, South West News Service.
Celador, which operates The Breeze on 107.2 FM, is also bidding to keep the licence.
The licence was originally part-owned by UKRD when it launched in 1999 as 107.3 The Eagle, a name similar to two other of UKRD’s stations in Guildford and Cambridge. It rebranded in 2001 to Star 107.3 and in January 2004, the frequency moved to 107.2 MHz FM. It was bought by Tomahawk Radio in 2009 then again to Celador in 2011.
Nation Broadcasting is also a 33% shareholder in Ipswich FM, which has also submitted an application to Ofcom today rivaling Celador’s licence in Ipswich.
