Saga 106.6FM was an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

for the

East Midlands The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of ITL for statistical purposes. It comprises the eastern half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It consists of Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Li ...

, broadcasting to

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

and

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

. Part of the

Saga Radio Group {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) The Saga Radio Group was a British radio network owned and operated by Saga Services Ltd, and aimed at an audience aged 50 and over. The first Saga station was launched in the West Midlands on ...

, the regional station was broadcast from the Riverside Business Park in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, close to the old

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Carlton Carlton may refer to: People * Carlton (name), a list of those with the given name or surname * Carlton (singer), English soul singer Carlton McCarthy * Carlton, a pen name used by Joseph Caldwell (1773–1835), American educator, Presbyterian ...

Television studio A television studio, also called a television production studio, is an installation room in which video productions take place, either for the production of live television and its recording onto video tape or other media such as SSDs, or for t ...

s on Lenton Lane.

Presenters

The array of presenters on the station included many who made their names on the region's commercial stations. These included John Peters, who launched

Radio Trent Trent FM was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Nottinghamshire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Leicester Sound and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's Capital FM Network) on M ...

(the East Midlands' first commercial radio station in 1975), Amanda Bowman, Tony Lyman, Tim Gough, Steve Merike, Paul Robey, Jeff Cooper, Andy Marriott, Ian Chilvers, Mark Burrows, Ron Coles, Steve Orchard, Tim Rogers, David Lloyd, Ashley Franklin, Peter Quinn,

Sheila Tracy Sheila Tracy (née Lugg; 10 January 1934 – 30 September 2014) was a British broadcaster, writer, musician, and singer. She began her career as a trombone player during the 1950s. in all-female bands. Biography Sheila Lugg was born in Mullion, ...

, David Hamilton, Mike Wyer and Erica Hughes. Paul Robey was also Saga's Group Programme Director.

Programming

The station's output was aimed at an audience over the age of fifty, with the playlist covering most genres from the 1940s to the present day, along with specialist shows focussing on

Country and Western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

Big Band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

music and

Rock and Roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

Broadcasting

The main 106.6FM signal came from the Waltham transmitter (near

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a town in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester, and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, known below Melton as the Wreake. The town had a population 27,670 in 2019. The town is sometimes promo ...

), while the 101.4FM signal came from the Drum Hill transmitter near Little Eaton in

. The station was also available on DAB on the

NOW Nottingham Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquarters ...

ensemble Ensemble may refer to: Art * Architectural ensemble * ''Ensemble'' (album), Kendji Girac 2015 album * Ensemble (band), a project of Olivier Alary * Ensemble cast (drama, comedy) * Ensemble (musical theatre), also known as the chorus * ''En ...

and online.

Rebranding

Following the purchase of the Saga Radio Group stations by

GMG Radio GMG Radio, and for a short while Real and Smooth Limited, was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Rad ...

in December 2006, it was announced that Saga 106.6 would be rebranded as

106.6 Smooth Radio Smooth East Midlands is an Independent Local Radio station for the East Midlands, 107.4 MHz, 97.2 MHz, 106.8 MHz 106.0 MHz which replaced Saga 106.6 FM at 6am on Monday 26 March 2007. It is owned by Communicorp UK and operated b ...

from March 2007. This was in line with other Saga radio stations which would also be renamed. The station closed shortly after 18:00 on Friday 23 March 2007, following which there was a preview weekend for the relaunch. Smooth Radio began broadcasting on Monday 26 March 2007 at 6:00. Many of the presenters from Saga, including John Peters, Amanda Bowman and Tony Lyman, went on to host shows for Smooth.

References

External links

Media UK

Drum Hill transmitter

Waltham transmitter

{{GMG Radio

Saga is a series of science fantasy role-playing video games by Square Enix. The series originated on the Game Boy in 1989 as the creation of Akitoshi Kawazu at Square (video game company), Square. It has since continued across multiple platforms, ...