Swindon FM (formerly Swindon 107FM) was a local

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 ...

radio station broadcasting to the English town of Swindon between 2003 and 2006, after making two trial FM broadcasts in 2001 and 2002. The station stopped broadcasting in May 2006. Towards the end of its tenure, the station's owners applied to the regulators for a local commercial licence, which was awarded to

Brunel FM Sam FM Swindon was a commercial radio station based in Swindon, England, broadcasting on the 107.7 FM frequency. The station was formed by The Local Radio Company, who wanted to create a local radio rival to GWR FM (now Heart). It started ...

, and for a community radio licence, which went to Swindon 105.5. As a result, many of its staff and presenters moved to those rival stations.

History

Swindon 107FM (2001–2002)

Swindon 107FM broadcast its first

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 ...

(RSL) transmission from a studio at Swindon's Brunel Centre shopping complex in September 2001. The station was founded by former

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

chairman Rikki Hunt and jazz musician Ray Butt, who felt a need for new station in the area where

GWR FM Wiltshire Heart Wiltshire (formerly GWR FM Wiltshire) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to north and west Wiltshire. The station was rebranded to Heart in March 2009 in line with Globa ...

had for many years been the only commercial station, along with BBC Wiltshire Sound (now

BBC Radio Wiltshire BBC Radio Wiltshire is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving the English county of Wiltshire. It broadcasts on frequency modulation, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Prospect Pla ...

). Their target audience was between 25–55 years and the station played popular artists from the 1950s to the present day that catered for their audience, including local artists with specialist music shows, which the area had been lacking, as well as a local news service. Another RSL transmission was broadcast in June and July 2002, focusing more on local talent to present the station's programming.

Swindon FM (2003–2006)

In 2003, Swindon FM began broadcasting from new studios at Old Town Court as a

-only station – the first local station of its kind in the United Kingdom. Swindon FM broadcast at first on Saturdays and Sundays between 6am and 10pm before expanding to a full seven days-a-week service later in the year – an event marked by a weekend-long countdown of one hundred songs voted for by the public. Other feature programming on the station included ''The What's On Guide'' and ''The Winning Weekend''. The launch of a DAB station (by now, run completely by volunteers) also marked a change in Swindon FM's target audience to 35-years and over, concentrating on the older range of the scale. In 2005, Swindon FM applied to

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 ...

for a local FM licence, and at this time GWR-FM's parent company, GCap, invested in a 20% share of Swindon FM. Following a successful campaign to prove there was an audience for a second commercial radio licence for Swindon, Swindon FM ultimately lost out to another group, Now FM (who began broadcasting as

and were owned by

The Local Radio Company The Local Radio Company was a British media company, based in Redruth, Cornwall, that owned ten independent local radio stations in the UK. After takeover talks with UTV Media, UKRD Group and Hallwood Financial, UKRD acquired the majority sha ...

Closure

At 2pm on Friday 12 May 2006, the station ceased transmission after running into difficulties with its premises, leaving Swindon FM homeless. At the end of the year, the team behind Swindon FM applied for a Community Radio licence but lost out to Swindon 105.5.

References

{{Reflist Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 2003 Radio stations disestablished in 2006 Radio stations in Wiltshire