Town 102 was a radio station serving
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 ...
that was owned by Tindle Radio,
Anglian Radio Group and
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 ...
. It broadcast from 2006 to 2020.
Launched in 2006, in its later years, Town 102 carried identical content to Anglian Radio sister stations
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 ...
,
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 & ...
,
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 ...
and
The Beach, with the exception of jingles, adverts and local news and travel. All five radio stations were output from a single system at Radio Norwich 99.9's headquarters.
On 12 June 2018 Town 102's licence was not renewed when, for the first time since its inception,
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 ...
, did not award a re-advertised licence to the incumbent licensee; reasons cited as factors included Town's refusal to broadcast on DAB and the challenger's proposal to broadcast a more local service. Consequently,
Ipswich 102
Nation Radio Suffolk is an Independent Local radio station owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting. It broadcasts from Ipswich in Suffolk.
As of December 2022, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 27,000, according to RAJAR.
Histo ...
replaced Town 102 on FM on 19 October 2018.
Ahead of the transfer of the FM licence to its new holder, both stations were added to the Suffolk local DAB multiplex in August 2018. This allowed Town to continue transmitting its programming service as a digital-only station after the FM service changed hands.
On 1 September 2020, Town 102 and its sister stations were rebranded to
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 ...
, airing a regional drivetime show.
The former Town 102 then transitioned to a localised version 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 ...
service, "Hits Radio Suffolk", from 3 November, in tandem with the GHR affiliation migrating to Town's FM successor, Ipswich 102.
Programming
Programmes between 0600 and 1900 Monday to Friday and between 0800 and 1200 on Saturday and Sunday were produced in Norwich. Some programmes outside these times were shared with The Breeze network of radio stations.
References
External links
Town 102 FM website
{{Tindle
Radio stations in Suffolk
Ipswich
Radio stations established in 2006
2006 establishments in England