Heart Ipswich (formerly SGR FM) was a radio station that evolved from

Suffolk Group Radio Suffolk Group Radio was the parent company for two Independent Local Radio stations serving the county of Suffolk in England. The Stations Radio Orwell began transmissions from Electric House, Ipswich on 28 October 1975. It was one of the orig ...

, which was the parent company for two

Independent radio Independent radio indicates a radio station that is run in a manner different from usual for the country it broadcasts in. In countries where there exist government-run radio stations that served as the primary or only the variety of licensed broa ...

stations serving the county of

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

in England.

Overview

The older of the radio stations was Radio Orwell, which began transmissions in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

on 28 October 1975 on 257m MW. It was one of the original group of ILR stations set up by 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 ...

following relaxation of the rules governing broadcasting in Britain. Other stations that were included in the original 19 were

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

and

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. I ...

in London and

BRMB Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has a ...

in Birmingham. The western side of Suffolk got its own radio station in the form of Saxon Radio on 240m MW, which began broadcasting in

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

in November 1982. The two stations operated separate breakfast shows, and then programmes were networked from either site to both transmitters. Most of the programmes came from the studios at Electric House, Ipswich, and a few from the Bury St Edmunds' Long Brackland studios. In 1984-85, the stations experimented with a drive-time news and current affairs programme ("The Home Run") which had presenters in both studios - Allan Lee in Ipswich and Adrienne Rosen in Bury. This proved too expensive to continue for long and the programme was cut back to one presenter in the Ipswich studio.

Ipswich Town FC Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professi ...

was sponsored by Radio Orwell and had the station's logo on the front of the team's shirts in the mid-1980s. In 1990, the stations were taken over by the successful Norwich-based

Radio Broadland Radio Broadland (later Heart Norwich) was an Independent Local Radio station for Norfolk and North Suffolk, including Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, until early 2009. The station, now part of the national Heart Network, is owned and operat ...

to form the

East Anglian Radio East Anglian Radio was a company based in Norwich that operated radio stations in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex in the UK. The stations owned by the group were: *Radio Broadland in Norwich. *SGR FM in Ipswich & Bury St Edmunds (origi ...

group, run by the Broadland management team. EAR re-launched Orwell and Saxon as one station under the SGR-FM banner in 1992 and also won the licence to start

SGR Colchester Heart Colchester (formerly SGR Colchester) was a radio station broadcasting to Colchester and the surrounding areas. The station was launched in 1993 as SGR Colchester by the East Anglian Radio group, which also operated the Ipswich-based SGR-FM, ...

in Essex the following year. The group launched a new service in 1995 called

Amber Radio Amber Radio was a classic hits/gold radio station operating from studios in both Norwich and Ipswich, in the region of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. It was the AM sister station of Radio Broadland and SGR and served Norfolk and Suffolk, ...

, with studios in Ipswich and Norwich, on the AM transmitters previously used to simulcast the SGR stations; these, some years later, became Classic Gold Amber and then Gold. In 1996, EAR was bought by the

GWR Group GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. ...

network, which continued to run the stations for about 10 years until it was taken over by Global Radio.

Heart rebrand

On 5 January 2009, SGR-FM was renamed as ''Heart'', as part of a major re-brand involving 29

One Network The One Network was the collective name for thirty-eight regional Independent Local Radio licences operated by GCap Media in the United Kingdom. It was formed from the combination of GWR Group's 'The Mix Network' and Capital Radio Group's 'The ...

stations. By that time, local programming was restricted to daily breakfast and weekday afternoon drivetime shows with all other output networked from London. As part of the re-brand, the station pulled out of a contract to broadcast live commentary on

games after just one season.

Network restructuring

On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to close Heart Ipswich and merge the station with

Heart Norwich Radio Broadland (later Heart Norwich) was an Independent Local Radio station for Norfolk and North Suffolk, including Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, until early 2009. The station, now part of the national Heart Network, is owned and ope ...

as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 16. The new station, ''Heart East Anglia'', began broadcasting from Norwich on 3 September 2010.Heart slims but strengthens
, RadioToday, 21 June 2010.

References

{{coord missing, Suffolk Radio stations established in 1975 Radio stations disestablished in 2010 Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Ispwich Radio stations in Suffolk

Overview

Heart rebrand

Network restructuring

See also

References