Sam FM was an adult hits format

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...

that broadcast on 106.5 MHz FM in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

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 European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and owned by

Bauer Radio Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of the Bauer Media Group. History In early 2008, German magazine publisher Bauer bought the radio division of British company Emap, which had been established as East Midland Allied Press in ...

. The station formed part of the

Hits Radio Hits Radio is a network of 25 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. As of October 2022, the network has a combined reach of 6.6 million weekly listeners according to RAJAR. Overv ...

network, although its entire output and playlist was locally produced and took no network programming. It ceased broadcasting on 6 September 2021 when it rebranded to Hits Radio Bristol & The South West.

History

Original 106.5

The station was awarded its original broadcast licence in September 2006 as Original 106.5, and commenced broadcasting on 20 May 2007. It was owned by a group of investors under the name Tomahawk Radio. The station originally broadcast an Adult Oriented format, with 40% of its music coming from past or present Top 20 charts.

Jack FM

106 Jack FM replaced

Original Originality is the aspect of created or invented works that distinguish them from reproductions, clones, forgeries, or substantially derivative works. The modern idea of originality is according to some scholars tied to Romanticism, by a notion t ...

, which had previously broadcast using the same frequency, on 2 December 2009 following a staged on-air argument and station hijacking the previous day. The station was acquired by Celador Radio on 7 September 2010.

Rebrand to Sam FM and merger

From 1 April 2015, the

Jack FM Jack FM is a radio network brand, licensed by Sparknet Communications, with the exception of the European Union where it is licensed by Oxis Media. It plays an adult hits format, in most cases not using DJs. Format characteristics Stations ...

name was dropped in favour of Sam FM by the station owner Celador Radio, who decided on changing the name six months beforehand. The station's topical imaging are voiced by actor and comedian

Gareth Hale Gareth Irvin Hale is an English comedian and actor, who is best known as one half of the comedy duo Hale and Pace, with his friend and comic partner Norman Pace. Biography Hale and his comedy partners were both former teachers, their come ...

(of

Hale and Pace Hale and Pace were an English comedy double-act that performed in clubs and on radio and television in the United Kingdom in the 1980s and 1990s. The duo was made up of Gareth Hale and Norman Pace, with the ''Hale and Pace'' television sho ...

). On 25 May 2016, OFCOM announced it had granted Celador permission to merge the station with its sister station in Swindon. The company said the Swindon station was not financially viable as a stand-alone service, having made a £50,000 loss in 2015. The station continued to broadcast its weekday breakfast show from Bristol - shared with the Swindon station - and retained local news bulletins, traffic updates and what's on information. Following the purchase of Celador Radio by

in 2019, Sam FM Swindon became part of the

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer. Overview The network launched on 5 January 2015 as the "Bauer City 2 Network", and rebranded on 7 January 2019 due to the success of Rad ...

network in September 2020, leaving the Bristol Sam FM as a standalone operation again.

DAB

Sam FM was removed from DAB in 2015, but three years later was re-added to Bristol's DAB Mux in a bid to increase listener reach.

Hits Radio Bristol & The South West

On 6 September 2021, Sam FM was rebranded as Hits Radio Bristol and The South West. The station takes the national networked breakfast show from

Hits Radio UK Hits Radio UK is a national digital radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the United Kingdom. As of June 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 1.2 mill ...

hosted by Fleur East, James Barr & Matt weekdays from 6am-10am. The drive-time slot is hosted by Max & Jason weekdays from 4pm-7pm.

References

External links

* {{Bauer Radio stations in Bristol Organisations based in Bristol Radio stations established in 2009