The Breeze (Bristol) was a local radio station serving

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 ...

. The station was folded into

Greatest Hits Radio South West Greatest Hits Radio South West is a regional radio station serving the South West of England, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. Coverage The ten local stations broadcast to the areas of Bath, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Glouceste ...

, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.

History

It started out as Kute FM on 105.8 MHz FM in February 1998, being partly owned by Western Newspapers. Then on 26 November 1999, it became 107.3 The Eagle, a name similar to two other of

UKRD The UKRD Group Ltd was a British media company that owned 15 commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. The name originates from UK Radio Developments. Since its acquisition in March 2019, it has been run as a subsidiary of Bauer Radio. H ...

's stations in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

and

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. It rebranded in 2001 to Star 107.3 and in January 2004, the frequency moved to 107.2 MHz FM. The station played pop hits mainly from the 1980s and 1990s with a target audience aiming towards female adults between 25–35. It is currently the only Bristol station playing

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

music 24 hours a day. The studios were originally in the ''

Bristol Evening Post The ''Bristol Post'' is a city/regional five-day-a-week (formerly appearing six days per week) newspaper covering news in the city of Bristol, including stories from the whole of Greater Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. It was ...

'' building on Temple Way in Bristol. On 7 September 2010, Southampton based Celador Radio acquired Tomahawk Radio Limited, the owners of 106.5 Jack FM and Star 107.2 FM, and in February 2011 the station's name was changed to The Breeze 107.2.

Licence applications

In its pre-launch guise, Kute FM was a

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

station, broadcasting in an under-served radio landscape in Bristol – with only Radio Bristol and

GWR FM GWR FM was a network of three radio stations in the south west of England broadcasting to Bristol, Bath, Wiltshire and surrounding areas. All three stations were rebranded and joined the Heart Network on 23 March 2009. The stations in the network ...

being well established as well as other pirates. Kute broadcast legally as a training facility in 1995, with a further trail in February 1998 in a joint arrangement with the ''

'' newspaper group and radio group

with a view to gaining a permanent licence. The Radio Authority were formally advertising licence applications for several areas in the UK – including Bristol. A total of six applied for the City of Bristol licence. * Cabot FM (City of Bristol Broadcasting Company Ltd.) * Future Radio Ltd. * Respec Radio (Respec Radio Ltd) * Kute FM (Bristol Community Radio Ltd) * Powerjam Rad, io * Republic Radio Powerjam Radio, Respec Radio and Future Radio applied with an urban music format, and these applicants felt that broadcasting legitimately would create a radio format that would be a truly local service that would serve the city's Afro-Caribbean community- which they would say are consistently ignored by the mass media. However the eight-year licence was awarded to Kute FM, in recognition of the support from UKRD and the ''Bristol Evening Post''. It proposed a soft rock and classic soul format, with ten hours dedicated to specialist music genres including R 'n' B and jazz. A speech minimum of 30% was also put forward with shows geared towards the Afro-Caribbean and other minority communities.

On-air

On 26 November 1999, Kute FM changed name launched as 107.3 The Eagle. The station was designed by UKRD CEO, Mike Powell and fashioned on the existing

96.4 The Eagle Eagle Radio was a local radio station in the Surrey and North East Hampshire area of England. Based in Guildford in the Guildford College campus, Eagle Radio was part of the UKRD Group of radio stations. Launch Peter Gordon launched 96.4 The Ea ...

in Guildford, complete with logo, also owned by

. Its advertising campaign was carried out by advertising agency "The Creative Department" and posters featuring well-known lyrics from pop songs were splashed out on the back of First buses and newspaper ads. ironically in the ''Bristol Evening Post'' and ''

Western Daily Press The ''Western Daily Press'' is a regional newspaper covering parts of South West England, mainly Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset as well as the metropolitan areas of Bath and North East Somerset and the Bristol area. It is published Mon ...

'', its pre-launch partners. On-air The Eagle featured a fairly lively sound complete with jingles to reinforce the new name in listener's minds. In 2000 The Eagle changed name to Star 107.3 with a new slogan different playlist, integrating the licence remit into an

music format. In 2004, Star underwent a slight frequency change to 107.2

MHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one he ...

FM and a power increase to better cover Bristol. On 2 March 2009, the station was taken over by Tomahawk Radio, the owners of Bristol's Original 106.5. Star now shares studios with its sister station in the County Gates building on Ashton Road, Bristol.

Re-brand

On 20 January 2011, Star 107.2 owners Celador Radio, announced that the station will re-brand to The Breeze 107.2 on 14 February 2011, following OFCOM agreeing to a format change.

Licence awarded for Bath

On 24 May 2011, Celador Radio won the re-advertised local radio licence for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. More FM then began broadcasting as The Breeze on the 107.9 FM frequency on 25 September 2011.

In Somerset

In August 2011, The Breeze acquired three frequencies in Somerset previously operated as Total Star Somerset. These frequencies have begun operating as The Breeze on Sunday, 7 August 2011.''Radio Today'': "The Breeze to replace Total Star Somerset".
/ref>

Slogans

* 1999- Bristol's Newest Radio Station, Bristol's Fastest Growing Radio Station * 2000- Bristol's Best Music / More Hits From More Years * 2001- Better Music and More of it * 2004- Real Music Variety * 2005- Music to make you feel good! * 2005–6- Playing great songs others don't * 2008- More Music Variety * 2009- Your Station, Your Music * 2011- The Smoothest Sounds in the South West * 2013- Tune In, Feel Good * 2019- Your Easy Place To Relax * 2020- The Good Times Sound Like This

References

External links

History of local radio in Avon & Somerset

Pur Down Transmitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breeze Bristol Radio stations in Bristol Bath and North East Somerset South Gloucestershire District Radio stations established in 1999 Former pirate radio stations Radio stations disestablished in 2020 Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom