The Beach was a commercial FM

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 radio ...

broadcasting to the

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

and

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

areas. It used to broadcast from studios in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

and

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 ...

. Before that it broadcast from studios at the junction of Hollingsworth Road and Oulton Road, in

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 ...

until 8 January 2017 when it was transferred to central hubs in

and

along with sister stations.

History

In 1993 and 1994, three

restricted service licence A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL), is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofc ...

s in Lowestoft were operated and run by local radio volunteers, including some freelance radio professionals, with proceeds being donated to local charities. The station was called "Lowestoft Town Radio" (LTR-fm). LTR presenters included Martyn Lee, Steve Smart and his co-presenter at the time, Matt Denny. Following 30-day trial broadcasts, along with similar efforts in Great Yarmouth, The Radio Authority (now

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

) created a new licence for the area. They granted the licence to the group behind the LTR, re-branded as "The Beach". The Beach started broadcasting on Sunday 29 September 1996.Air Check UK: Suffolk
(archived), 2 November 2005. Retrieved 8 April 2011. It has been voted The Eastern Region Radio Academy Station Of The Year three times.Radio Academy
, Awards 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2011. It formerly broadcast from studios at the junction of Hollingsworth Road and Oulton Road, in

until 8 January 2017 when it was transferred to central hubs in

and

along with sister stations. From 9 January 2017, all 103.4 The Beach's programming was shared with

North Norfolk Radio North Norfolk Radio was an Independent local radio station in North Norfolk, England, owned and operated by Bauer Radio as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It was closed on 1 September 2020 and merged with Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & ...

, Town 102,

Dream 100 Dream 100 was an independent local radio station owned and operated by Bauer. It broadcast to Tendring and Essex from studios in Colchester and Ipswich, airing the same music programming as sister station Town 102. The station was folded into ...

and

Radio Norwich 99.9 Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & North Suffolk (Norwich) (formerly Radio Norwich 99.9) is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer, broadcasting to Norwich and the surrounding area. The station was merged with North Norfolk R ...

, although the five stations kept separate branding (particularly for local travel, events, news, adverts and commercials) with programmes broadcast from the studios in

and

. On 31 January 2017, it was confirmed that

Celador CPL Productions (formerly Celador) is a British entertainment company originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as an independent television production company. It created and produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is ...

had completed the purchase of the Anglian Radio group.

Station closure

On 8 February 2019, The Beach and Celador's local radio stations were sold to Bauer. The sale was ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

. On 27 May 2020, it was announced that The Beach will join Bauer's

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 Ra ...

network. On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with The Beach retaining its own branding.Bauer starts to roll out Hits and Greatest Hits to new radio stations
Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 9 July 2020 The station was gradually rebranded, with the stations RDS being changed on 25 August 2020 to 'Grt Hits' from its original RDS. On 28 August 2020 the station broadcast its last local breakfast show and on 1 September 2020, the station rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio East. The station's local breakfast show was replaced by a regional drivetime show with its current sister stations. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising were retained.Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio
Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 27 May 2020 The station's Norwich studios were retained.

Transmission

Transmitters are located at Mobbs Way, Oulton Broad on 103.4 FM and on 97.4 FM from a transmitter located at a water tower in

Blythburgh Blythburgh is a village and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of the English county of Suffolk. It is west of Southwold and south-east of Halesworth and lies on the River Blyth. The A12 road runs through the village which is split e ...

, Suffolk. A second transmitter on 97.4 FM is located at Havenbridge House office block in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. The Beach was available on DAB through the Norfolk multiplex.The Beach
Media UK. Retrieved April 2011.

References

External links

The Beach website

MB21 Transmitter Gallery - Oulton

MB21 Transmitter Gallery - Blythburgh Water Tower

MB21 Transmitter Gallery - Great Yarmouth

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beach, The Radio stations established in 1996 Radio stations in Norfolk Radio stations in Suffolk Bauer Radio Greatest Hits Radio