Spire FM

Spire FM was a UK radio station based in Salisbury, Wiltshire. It was awarded the licence to broadcast to Salisbury and the surrounding areas by the former Radio Authority, now Ofcom, in 1991. The station took its name from the spire of Salisbury Cathedral.

Spire FM
CitySalisbury
Broadcast areaSalisbury
Frequency102.0 MHz
Programming
FormatContemporary
Ownership
OwnerBauer Radio
History
First air date
20 September 1992 (1992-09-20)
Last air date
1 September 2020 (2020-09-01)
Links
Websitewww.spirefm.co.uk

It was rolled up into Greatest Hits Radio in September 2020, ceasing local programming.

History

It was fully launched on 20 September 1992 (the licence ran from the 5th, when test transmissions began with programmes about the Salisbury Arts Festival). Spire FM broadcast from City Hall Studios in Malthouse Lane, Salisbury, part of the City Hall entertainment venue.

Originally owned by Radio Investments Limited, from 1996 the station was owned by The Local Radio Company, which was a joint venture with GWR Group until it became an independent company in 2004.[1] TLRC was acquired by UKRD Group in 2009,[2] and Bauer Radio bought UKRD's ten stations in 2019.[3]

Spire FM won a prestigious Sony Radio Award for Station of the Year in 1994 and the runner-up award in 2003. Other awards included the KPMG Marketing Excellence Award, and Wiltshire Business of the Year finalists.

Bauer Media rebranded the station as Greatest Hits Radio Salisbury in September 2020, as part of their national Greatest Hits Radio network.[4] It now broadcasts national and regional music programmes with local news bulletins.[5]

Programming

All programming on the station was locally produced. Until 2018, Spire FM broadcast The Vodafone Big Top 40 chart show (previously The Pepsi Chart and Hit40UK) which was produced from Capital FM in London and syndicated across over 140 commercial radio stations in the UK. However, the show was withdrawn from syndication in 2018 and now broadcasts solely on Heart and Capital stations.

References
  1. "Welcome to The Local Radio Company Limited". Archived from the original on 17 July 2011.
  2. "Bidding war commences for TLRC". Radio Today. 9 April 2009. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009.
  3. "Managing Director Ceri Hurford-Jones to leave Spire FM". RadioToday. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  4. Waterson, Jim (31 August 2020). "Bauer closes dozens of regional radio stations in England and Wales". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  5. Paessler, Benjamin (27 August 2020). "Presenters announced for Greatest Hits Radio in Salisbury". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 29 September 2020.

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