| Broadcast area | Southampton, Winchester, Portsmouth |
|---|---|
| Slogan | The Smoothest Sounds in The South |
| Frequency | 107.2 MHz (Winchester) 107.4 MHz (Portsmouth) 107.8 MHz (Southampton) |
| First air date | 1999 (as individual stations) 4 July 2010 (current format) |
| Format | Hot AC |
| Audience share | 1.3% (March 2009, [1]) |
| Owner | Celador |
| Website | http://www.thebreeze107.com |
The Breeze 107 is an independent local radio station broadcasting to the Southampton, Portsmouth and Winchester areas of Hampshire, England. It is owned by Celador Radio and is part of The Breeze network of stations. The station has a 'contemporary easy listening' format, playing classic and recent melodic popular music aimed principally at listeners over 40.
The station is operated by media firm Celador and operates on three FM frequencies; the three were previously separate stations centred on each of the broadcast areas, which have over time combined into a single regional service. The station is also available on DAB (on NOW South Hampshire) and online.
The station launched under its current identity and format on 4 July 2010; it has operated under various owners, formats and identities previously, with the three services having launched independently of each other in 1999 as a series of local stations each focused on a specified broadcast area. All programming is now identical across the three licence areas.
The Breeze is based at Roman Landing in the Kingsway area of Southampton, sharing facilities with another Celador-owned station in the region, 106 Jack FM.
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The 107.8 FM service launched under the name SouthCity FM on 5 September 1999.
In 2004, the licence was acquired by Southampton Football Club, who renamed the station as The Saint, effectively making it an FM version of their existing club station of the same name (which was broadcasting on digital TV and online). The service was at this point based at studios within Southampton FC's ground, St Mary's Stadium.
On 26 July 2007, Southampton FC confirmed it had sold the station to South Wales-based radio group Town & Country Broadcasting - a firm headed by lifelong Southampton FC fan Jason Bryant (formerly of Talksport and Virgin Radio). The sale led to a rebranding of the station as 107.8 Radio Hampshire from 6 August 2007. As Radio Hampshire, the station combined adult contemporary music with information and breaking news from Southampton FC; match coverage also continued, and the station continued to be operated from the studio at St. Mary's.
Radio Hampshire joined Nation Radio, 102.1 Bay Radio, 102.5 Radio Pembrokeshire, 97.1 Radio Carmarthenshire, 97.5 Scarlet FM and 106.3 Bridge FM in the T&CB portfolio.
See also Dream 107.2
In 1999, Win 107.2 (later 107.2 Win FM) was launched as a new local station serving the Winchester and Eastleigh area. Owned by Radio Investments Ltd, the station broadcast from a studio at the Brooks Shopping Centre in Winchester town centre. RIL was later bought by The Local Radio Company.
TLRC sold Win FM to the Tindle Radio Group in September 2006, and the new owner rebranded the station as Dream 107.2 in October 2007, adopting a soft adult contemporary music policy.
With extensive competition in the South Hampshire marketplace from numerous regional rivals - including Ocean (now Heart), Wave 105 and Original 106 (now 106 Jack FM) - Dream 107.2 struggled to build an audience, and Tindle Group subsequently decided the station was not viable as a business and should be sold off.
In November 2008, Tindle Radio Group sold Dream 107.2 to Town & Country Broadcasting, who sought and received permission to largely absorb the Winchester service into their existing Radio Hampshire service at Southampton. The Winchester studios were closed and the 107.2 FM Winchester frequency switched to sharing content with Southampton's service 20 hours a day. A separate local daily breakfast programme for the Winchester licence area was maintained, though this was broadcast from the Southampton base.
See also Radio Victory
The local FM service for Portsmouth went on air on 19 September 1999 as a revived version of Radio Victory; this was acquired soon after launch by The Local Radio Company (TLRC) and later relaunched as 107.4 The Quay (also known as Quay Radio). The Quay broadcast from studios on Twyford Avenue in Portsmouth.
Portsmouth FC subsequently entered into a joint-venture with TLRC to run the station (along with Spirit FM in Chichester and Isle of Wight Radio), with the club taking full control of The Quay when the partnership was dissolved in August 2009 (TLRC retained Spirit FM).[1]
In the summer of 2010, Portsmouth FC went into administration; Quay Radio was shut down at noon on Friday July 30, 2010 as a result. The station was sold to Celador Radio Broadcasting, who announced that following their purchase of the frequency, 107.4 FM would broadcast as part of The Breeze 107.
The rights to broadcast Portsmouth FC matches were not taken on as part of the deal, meaning that the club's matches would no longer be broadcast on 107.4 FM.
On 28 May 2009, Radio Hampshire ceased broadcasting due to Town & Country Broadcasting deciding to sell the station.[2] On 5 June 2009, the two licences for Radio Hampshire in Southampton and Winchester were acquired by internet station Play Radio UK.[3]
The new station for Southampton and Winchester, named Play Radio, launched on the 107.2 and 107.8 FM frequencies at 10am on 4 July 2009.[4] As under Radio Hampshire, the station operated a split breakfast programme (one for Southampton and one for Winchester), with all other programming shared across the two frequencies.
In April 2010, the licences were purchased by Celador Radio Broadcasting for an undisclosed sum.
It was announced on June 21, 2010 that the service would be relaunched as The Breeze 107.[5] The new station would be aimed at upmarket 40-59 year olds and broadcast classic and contemporary easy listening music with a slight female bias. It was also announced that the station would relocate, leaving its longtime base at St. Mary's Stadium to share facilities with sister regional station Jack FM in the Kingsway area of Southampton.
Celador subsequently sought and received permission from Ofcom to end the split breakfast programme, meaning that as of the Breeze relaunch, listeners in Southampton and Winchester were receiving identical programming at all times.
The Breeze 107 launched on-air to Southampton and Winchester on 4 July 2010, exactly a year after its predecessor Play Radio had officially replaced Radio Hampshire.
In late July 2010, following Celador's purchase of the Portsmouth licence, the broadcast area of The Breeze expanded.
In February 2011, Celador relaunched their Bristol station Star 107.2 as The Breeze; following this, programmes broadcast to Bristol (outside of localised daily Breakfast and weekday Drivetime shows) are sourced from the Southampton-based station.
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