Isle of Wight Radio

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Isle of Wight Radio

Broadcast area	Isle of Wight
First air date	15 April 1990
Frequency	102.0 MHz and 107.0 MHz
Format	Contemporary
Owner	Local Radio Company

Isle of Wight Radio is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newport on the Isle of Wight. The station was founded and launched by Jean-Paul Hansford on 15th April 1990 on AM on Briddlesford Farm, with a purpose-built 1 kW AM transmitter pumping out 200 watts on 1242 kHz AM. It was originally independently owned for two years, and was then purchased by GWR, which is now GCap Media. Since then the station has changed hands on a number of occasions including being run by Radio Investments Ltd - with The Local Radio Company being the current owners having bought the station in 2002.

1998 saw an FM license being awarded. Isle Of Wight Radio is now broadcast from four different transmitters. Most of the Island (and sometimes beyond!) is covered by the transmitter on Chillerton Down, 208 metres high, on 107.00 mHz FM. The difficult relief of the Island means we also need to use low-power relays on 102.00 mHz FM to cover blackspots in Ventnor, Ryde and Cowes.

[edit] Awards and Shows

The station boasts shows such as the controversial Alex 'Big Al' Dyke's [Mid-Morning Boogie] it is also broadcast across the UK by the local TV station Solent TV (SKY channel 219)] and the North South Divided . It has a long history of winning awards. In January 2006, the station was named Radio Academy Station of the Year for the South & South East for the third year running (for stations with a target audience under 1 m) something never before achieved, beating dozens of other stations to the award. In February 2005 - Isle of Wight Radio's News Service won an IRN Award in the 'Best Funny Story of the Year' category. During the 2006 IRN Awards in February 2006 - the station's news team of Simon Butler and Duncan Smith were nominated for 'Best News Coverage of the Year' - beating hundreds of other entires to make the final four. The team did not win the award - losing to Capital FM for its coverage of the London bombings - but were described as 'outstanding' by judges and host, Katie Derham.

In March 2006, both Isle of Wight Radio and Alex Dyke were nominated for Sony Radio Academy Awards. On March 29th 2006, the station was selected on the final shortlist for the Sony Award Station of the Year (under 300,000 listeners) for the third time in its history, and the second year running. Alex Dyke's show was also selected on the shortlist for Best Interactive Show as was the station's network evening show 'Simon James & Hill', giving the station three final nominations in total. On May 8th 2006 - Alex Dyke's Phone-In won the Bronze in the Sony Award's Interactive Programme of the Year - beating Radio Five Live's 606. The station's evening show - The Simon James & Hill Show - won a Silver Award in the same category. Also on the night - Isle of Wight Radio missed out on the Gold Award in the Station of the Year Award - losing to North Wales' Coast 96.3. It was the second year running the station had just missed out on being named Britain's number one station (for audience under 300,000). On December 13th 2006, the station announced it had won the Radio Academy Station of the Year for the South & South East for the 4th year in a row.