North Norfolk Radio

North Norfolk Radio was formerly based on the Stody Estate, near the village of Briston, Norfolk in the United Kingdom.

It originally broadcast from Breck Farm, Stody, Norfolk, England, from a converted milking parlour and was said to be the UK's only radio station based in a building with a thatched straw roof.

As of Monday 9 January 2017, the station merged with sister stations 99.9 Radio Norwich and 103.4 The Beach, with all programming now originating from Radio Norwich's studios in Norwich.[1]

North Norfolk Radio was owned by The Anglian Radio group, who owned several stations in East Anglia, including NNR's neighbouring stations 103.4 The Beach covering the east coast resorts of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk and Lowestoft in Suffolk. Also Norwich's 99.9 Radio Norwich (not to be confused with the fictional station of the same name - see Alan Partridge) in Norfolk's only city.

North Norfolk Radio came about after several groups campaigned for a dedicated radio service for the area. Some of these groups, who ran restricted service licence (RSL) trial stations, included 106.9 FTR-FM (Fakenham - August 1997), Fakenham Community Radio (April/May 1999), Wensum FM (East Dereham - 3 trials between October 1999 & June 2001), Central Norfolk Radio (Fakenham - 5 trials between April 1999 & May 2001), Escape FM (Sheringham - July/August 2000) and Tindles own 87.7 The Beach* (North Walsham - Christmas 2000 & Holt, Norfolk - June 2001). Note: * 87.7 The Beach was the trial stand-alone station, not the full-time 103.4 service nor a relay of it.

On 14 November 2002, the Radio Authority formally advertised a new local commercial radio licence for the coastal area of North Norfolk, covering Wells-next-the-Sea and Cromer, and inland to include Fakenham. Potential applicants had around 16 weeks to put their proposals on paper and send them back to the Radio Authority.

By the closing date for applicants (4 March 2003 at 2:00pm) there were only 2 groups bidding for this licence - North Norfolk Radio (Tindle Radio) & Go-FM (Absolute Radio).

Less than 9 weeks later, on 8 May 2003, the Radio Authority announced that Tindle, trading as North Norfolk Radio, had won the eight-year licence to provide the area with its first dedicated local commercial radio service. Tindle were the majority shareholders in the company (79%), with local directors taking the rest. One director, Angela Bond, was one of the radio producers of the late presenter, Kenny Everett. The Chairman of the new station, Ian McNicol, was the Stody Estate owner.

The original team at NNR were Sharron Tuck (Station Manager), John Bultitude (Head of News) and presenters included former 1960s offshore radio broadcasters Andy Archer and Mike Ahern.

On 21 October 2003, the first test transmissions were broadcast when the main transmitter, at Stody, was switched on. This transmits on a frequency of 96.2 MHz VHF/FM, at a power of 2580 watts. After a few more weeks, the relay transmitters at Aylmerton (near Cromer) and at Bunkers Hill (near Walsingham) were switched on and relayed the test transmissions from Stody. Both of these relay transmitters are tuned to 103.2 MHz VHF/FM at a power of 250 watts.

At 6:00am on Monday 10 November 2003, Norfolk North Radio began officially broadcasting. Mike Ahern was the first presenter on the station, although the first voice on-air was that of the Chairman, Ian McNicol. The song that launched the station was the 1972 hit 'I Get The Sweetest Feeling' by Jackie Wilson.

Due to problems with reception in Fakenham, a 10 watt relay transmitter was built on the Holt Road water tower in the town. This began operating on 11 October 2005 and transmits on 96.2 MHz VHF/FM.

North Norfolk Radio was a station with a few firsts. Unlike many other stations, North Norfolk Radio didn't use radio links or rented landlines to get their studio output to their main transmitter. They have the feature of a 1000-metre armoured multicore cable buried underground, from the studio to transmitter building. Also, because the relay transmitters use common frequencies (i.e. 103.2 at 2 sites and 96.2 at the Fakenham relay), they are GPS-synchronised so they cause no interference to each other.

On 31 January 2017, it was confirmed that Celador had completed the purchase of Anglian Radio group.

On 8 February 2019, North Norfolk Radio and Celador's local radio stations were sold to Bauer. The sale was ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority.[2]

On 27 May 2020, it was announced that North Norfolk Radio will join Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio network.[3]

On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with North Norfolk Radio retaining its own branding.[4]

In September 2020, the station will rebrand as Greatest Hits Radio and merge with its sister stations in the East. The station's local breakfast show will be replaced by a regional drivetime show. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising will be retained.[3]

From 9 January 2017, all programming was shared between North Norfolk Radio, Radio Norwich 99.9 and The Beach (radio station), although the three stations kept separate branding (particularly for local Travel, Events, News, Adverts and Commercials) with programmes broadcast from studios in Norwich and Ipswich.

• OFCOM (Radio Broadcast section)
• North Norfolk Radio
• MDS975's coverage map (archive)