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

and The Beach and became Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk and North Suffolk.

History

The station was part of Tindle Radio Group, former owners of neighbouring

and 103.4 The Beach. The station was known as Crown FM during its 28-day trial RSL broadcasts. Crown FM began broadcasting trials on 3 July 1999 using a

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 ...

on 107.3 MHz FM via a mast at Mousehold Heath. Further RSLs took place in the 28 days leading up to Christmas in 1999, 2000 and 2001, and from 26 April to 23 May 2003. The British communications regulator, Ofcom, advertised a permanent licence for the area on 8 December 2004. On the closing date of 9 March 2005, Crown FM was one of five bidders, with Lite FM Norwich (from Forward Media), Norwich 99.9 FM (from

Wireless Group 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 ...

), NRG fm (from local interests, including Archant Regional) and Today FM (from

UKRD Group 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 ...

). Ofcom announced on 9 June 2005 that Crown FM had won the licence for 12 years. The station began test transmissions on 31 May 2006 for four weeks from a transmitter at

Stoke Holy Cross Stoke Holy Cross is a village in South Norfolk which lies approximately south of Norwich. Geography Stoke sits on the River Tas. It covers an area of and had a population of 1,568 in 674 households at the 2001 census. The village is accesse ...

near

Poringland Poringland is a village in the district of South Norfolk, England. It lies south of Norwich city centre and north of Bungay. Its population has rapidly grown in the past 50 years. It covers an area of and had a population of 3,261 living in 1 ...

in Norfolk, using 500

Watt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

s ERP. It opened on 29 June 2006 under the name 99.9 Radio Norwich with the slogan ''The New Number For Norwich''. On 31 January 2017, it was confirmed that Celador had completed the purchase of

Anglian Radio Anglian Radio was a media company based in Ipswich, Suffolk. The group was created after Tindle Radio sold many of its radio stations in the East of England. To ensure that Travel, News, Events and Promotions remain local, the group was split int ...

group.

Station rebrand

On 8 February 2019, Radio Norwich 99.9 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 Radio Norwich 99.9 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 Rad ...

network. On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with Radio Norwich 99.9 retaining its own branding.Bauer starts to roll out Hits and Greatest Hits to new radio stations
Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 9 July 2020 On 1 September 2020, the station rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio and merged with its sister stations in the East. The station's local breakfast show was replaced by a regional drivetime show, which later became an afternoon show to make way for the new flagship show

Simon Mayo Drivetime ''Simon Mayo Drivetime'', is the incarnation of the drivetime show on BBC Radio 2 between 11 January 2010 and 4 May 2018, being revived briefly for Mayo's final show with the station on 21 December that year, and then fully from 15 March 2021 o ...

. 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

Programming

From 9 January 2017, all programming was shared between

, Radio Norwich 99.9 and 103.4 The Beach, although the three stations will keep separate branding (particularly for local Travel, Events, News, Adverts and Commercials) with programmes broadcast from the studio in Norwich.

References

External links

Official website

Station Owners Website

Stoke Holy Cross Transmitter
Media UK
{{Greatest Hits Radio Mass media in Norwich Radio stations in Norfolk Bauer Radio Greatest Hits Radio Radio stations established in 2006