Delta FM was a

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 continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

local radio station, broadcasting to East Hampshire, South West Surrey and North West Sussex. The station provided local news, community information, and specialist music programming to the towns of

Alton Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) *Alton (surname) Places Australia *Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Alton, New Zealand, ...

Bordon Bordon is a town in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It lies in the interior of the royal Woolmer Forest, about southeast of Alton. The town forms a part of the civil parish of Whitehill which is one of two contiguous villages ...

Four Marks Four Marks is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is southwest of Alton, on the A31 road. It is situated on the borders of the South Downs National Park on the Pilgrims' Way that leads from Winche ...

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

Hindhead Hindhead is a village in Surrey, England. It is the highest village in Surrey, with buildings at between 185 and 253 metres above sea level. It is best known as the location of the Devil's Punch Bowl, a beauty spot and site of special scientific ...

Liphook Liphook is a large village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 4.1 miles (6.6 km) west of Haslemere, bypassed by the A3 road, and lies on the Hampshire/West Sussex/Surrey borders. It is in the civil parish of Brams ...

Midhurst Midhurst () is a market town, parish and civil parish in West Sussex, England. It lies on the River Rother inland from the English Channel, and north of the county town of Chichester. The name Midhurst was first recorded in 1186 as ''Middeh ...

and

Petersfield Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is north of Portsmouth. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth a ...

Background

The original Delta Radio first broadcast in January 1990. It was the brainchild of

County Sound County Sound Radio was an analogue commercial radio station covering Surrey and north-east Hampshire in the United Kingdom. One of its closing forms in 2012-2014 formed Eagle Extra occupying 1566 MW following an internal split between older an ...

CEO, Mike Powell who successfully lobbied the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Authorit ...

for permission to put separate programming for the Haslemere district on what was originally intended to be a relay transmitter for Guildford's County Sound. The station was launched by County Sound's Terry Mann, formerly Programme Director of

Radio 210 Heart Berkshire (formerly 2-Ten FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Berkshire and North Hampshire from studios in Reading. About Launched as Radio 210 (Two-One-Oh), the station commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its medi ...

, Reading. After County Sound merged with

Radio Mercury Mercury FM was a radio station in the Surrey and Sussex area of the United Kingdom that was founded on 20 October 1984 and closed on 25 July 2010. The station broadcast on FM broadcasting, FM 97.5 MHz in Horsham and 102.7 MHz in Eas ...

to form Allied Radio, Delta Radio was closed down by its new owners in 1992 and the transmitter went back to being a relay. However, when Mike Powell's

UKRD Group The UKRD Group Ltd was a British media company that owned 15 commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. The name originates from UK Radio Developments. Since its acquisition in March 2019, it has been run as a subsidiary of Bauer Radio. H ...

won the Guildford licence (after it came up for renewal), Delta Radio was relaunched in 1996. Wey Valley Radio had already been operating as a full-time service in nearby Alton and Four Marks since 1992. This station was launched as a "community" station by David Way and Paul Mann after years of campaigning for such a licence and is still the licence holder today. It was acquired by UKRD in 1994. The decision to merge the two stations operationally was made in 1998 and the Wey Valley service was renamed Delta, and then in 2000, the Haslemere licence (which had previously been a part of the Surrey and North East Hampshire franchise) was merged with the Alton licence to finally form a single radio station.

Transmitters

Due to the geographical conditions, Delta Radio used five

transmitter In electronics and telecommunications, a radio transmitter or just transmitter is an electronic device which produces radio waves with an antenna (radio), antenna. The transmitter itself generates a radio frequency alternating current, which i ...

s to cover its transmission area, which broadcast on four separate frequencies. The 97.1 FM transmitter was situated at the Holy Cross Hospital in Haslemere and served Haslemere, Midhurst and the surrounding area. Two transmitters operated on 101.6 FM. The first of these was situated in

Medstead Medstead is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. Its nearest town is Alton, which lies northeast of the village. According to the 2011 census, the village had a population of 2,036 people. The parish ...

which is close to Four Marks. This transmitter covers the West of the Delta FM transmission area. The second operated from the Hindhead crossroads on the A3 and operated as an "in-fill" between the service areas of the 97.1 and 102 transmitters. A transmitter on 101.8 served Petersfield and the surrounding area. This transmitter was added in 2003 after many years of campaigning. The final transmitter, on 102, operated from

Holybourne Holybourne is a village in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 1.3 miles (2.2 km) northeast of the centre of Alton, Hampshire, Alton, is contiguous with it and shares its A31 road, A31 bypass. The nearest Alton railway s ...

near to Alton. This transmitter could be heard from

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

to Four Marks and also covered Bordon.

Closure

On 29 April 2010, it was announced that Delta Radio would co-locate and merge with Kestrel FM in Basingstoke and share some programming.http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/formats/formats/fc/delta.pdf However, after the relocation, only a regional breakfast continued. After many weeks of trails announcing "Kestrel is coming", Delta Radio was replaced by Kestrel FM at 9am on 3 June 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Delta Fm Radio stations established in 1990 Radio stations in Hampshire Radio stations in Surrey Radio stations in Sussex East Hampshire District Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom 1990 establishments in England