Radio Broadland

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Radio Broadland

Broadcast area	Norfolk and North Suffolk
First air date	1 October 1984
Frequency	102.4 MHz
Format	Contemporary
Owner	GCap Media
Website	www.radiobroadland.co.uk

Radio Broadland (formerly Broadland 102) is part of the GCap Media national radio network. It is the Independent Local Radio station for the Broadland area of Norfolk and North Suffolk, including Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft.

[edit] Station History

On 1st October 1984 a brand new independent local radio station called "Radio Broadland" was launched by a locally-based group which already had experience in media, mainly newspapers and television, but had little experience in radio.

A number of people with radio experience from across the country were brought in to start up and run the station. Russell Stuart arrived from Gwent Broadcasting in Newport as MD, Mike Stewart from Radio West (Bristol) as Programme Controller and Robb Young moved from Radio Orwell in Ipswich as Sales Manager.

Mike Stewart put together the station's first team of presenters, all of whom had previous presenting experience. Nick Risby joined Radio Broadland from Red Rose in Preston, Tony Gillham came from Chiltern and BBC Bedfordshire, Dave Brown from Radio Tees, Rob Chandler from Radio Orwell and Adrian Finighan from Radio Gwent. Rob Chandler remains at the station after more than 20 years as breakfast show presenter. Bob Harris briefly presented on the station in the mid 80's

For the first two years of the station's existence, Radio Broadland went off air every night at 10pm and then continued broadcasting the next morning. The station simulcast on 97.6FM and 1152AM for its first three years but in 1987 due to national changes in local radio frequencies Radio Broadland moved to 102.4FM. Broadland quickly became popular establishing itself as the leading station in its area, and at the end of the 80s, was regularly achieving a 50% audience reach and weekly listening hours of up to 17, some of the best in the UK.

In 1990, Broadland took over Radio Orwell and Saxon Radio in neighbouring Suffolk. The two Suffolk stations were renamed SGR and to reflect the addition of these new stations, the group became East Anglian Radio. Later in 1993, SGR launched a sister station in Colchester after successfully applying for the licence.

Initially, Radio Broadland played both classic hit music and current chart hits, but in 1995 the decision was made by the East Anglian Radio Group to make better use of the AM slot. Amber Radio was created in Norfolk and Suffolk, playing 60's and 70's music whilst Broadland 102 focused more on current and recent chart hits. The EAR group continued to be run by the Broadland management team.

In 1996, the GWR Group, who had been acquiring large numbers of radio stations and groups for around 7 years, decided to make a bid for the entire East Anglian Radio Group which now consisted of Broadland 102, SGR, and Amber Radio. After some resistance, the GWR takeover happened and there were some major changes to the station including the addition of networked programming to the station and a new strapline "Today's Better Music Mix". Amber Radio, still in its infancy, was eventually renamed "Classic Gold Amber" and local programming was substantially cut.

Information based on the work from a now defunct fansite, created by Matthew Nuttall.