Greatest Hits Radio Bolton & Bury (formerly Tower FM) is 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, ...

station serving the

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

and

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

areas of

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

. Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with 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 Ra ...

network in September 2020.

Overview

The radio station was given the name ''Tower'' as a local link to both towns in the station's coverage area;

Turton Tower Turton Tower is a manor house in Chapeltown in North Turton, Borough of Blackburn with Darwen, Lancashire, England. It is a scheduled ancient monument and a grade I listed building. It was built in the late Middle Ages as a two-storey stone p ...

near to Bolton and

Peel Tower Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standin ...

on Holcombe Hill at

Ramsbottom Ramsbottom is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. The population at the 2011 census was 17,872. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the River Irwell in the West Pennine Moors, northwest of Bury, a ...

near Bury. Originally an RSL (restricted service licence) radio station, the team behind the project won the full-time licence and the station began broadcasting on 20 March 1999. As an RSL, Tower FM broadcast from Bury via a link to the transmitter on Peel Tower. The station later moved to Bolton once the main base was established on Gaskell Street. Both towns served as the main target service area for the station, although it could also be heard in most of Greater Manchester and even parts of Cheshire. In early 2007, the station's then-owners approached UK media regulator OFCOM to ask permission to move the station's base from Bolton to the Haydock or Newton Le Willows area of Merseyside as part of a plan to co-locate Tower with two other stations from the

UTV Media Wireless Group Limited is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and with radio operations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and ...

group -

Wish FM Wish FM was a local radio station serving Wigan in Greater Manchester and the St Helens area of Merseyside from studios in the Orrell area of Wigan. Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the Greatest Hits ...

in Wigan and

Wire FM Wire FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving the Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn areas of Cheshire. Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the Greatest Hits Radio network in September 2020. History ...

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. The original plan was abandoned but from the autumn of 2009, all three stations were based at studios in the

Orrell Orrell may refer to: *Orrell, Greater Manchester, a district of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan **Orrell (ward), an electoral ward of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council *Orrell, Merseyside, an urban area east of Bootle, in the Metropolitan Bo ...

area of Wigan.

Station rebrand

On 8 February 2019, Tower FM and the Wireless Group's local radio stations were sold to

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 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 Tower FM will join Bauer's

network. On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with Tower FM retaining its own branding. In September 2020, Tower FM merged with several local stations in the North West of England and North Wales, as

Greatest Hits Radio North West Greatest Hits Radio North West is a regional radio network serving North West England and North Wales, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. Stations Under relaxed OFCOM requirements for local content on commercial radio, GHR North ...

. The station's local breakfast show was replaced by a regional drivetime show. 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 Orrell studios were closed.

References

{{coord, 53.5384, -2.6949, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Mass media in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton

Tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

Radio stations established in 1999 Bauer Radio Greatest Hits Radio 1999 establishments in England Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom