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 licences 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,

Town 102 Town 102 was a radio station serving Ipswich that was owned by Tindle Radio, Anglian Radio Group and Bauer Radio. It broadcast from 2006 to 2020. Launched in 2006, in its later years, Town 102 carried identical content to Anglian Radio sister ...

, Dream 100 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 Bauer is a German surname meaning "peasant" or "farmer". For notable people sharing the surname, see Bauer (surname). Bauer may also refer to: Education and literature * Bauer's Lexicon, a dictionary of Biblical Greek * Bauer College of Busin ...

. The sale was ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority. On 27 May 2020, it was announced that The Beach will join Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio 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 Greatest Hits Radio East is a regional radio network serving the East of England, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. Stations After acquiring several businesses in early 2019, in May 2020, Bauer announced many of their radio st ...

. 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, 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 DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dąb, ...

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