Suffolk Group Radio was the parent company for two Independent Local Radio stations serving the county of Suffolk in England.[1][2]
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Radio Orwell began transmissions in Ipswich on 28 October 1975. It was one of the original group of ILR stations set up by the Independent Broadcasting Authority following a relaxation of the rules governing broadcasting in Britain. Other stations that were included in the original 15 or so were LBC, Capital Radio and BRMB.
The western side of Suffolk got its own radio station in the form of Saxon Radio, which began broadcasting in Bury St Edmunds on 6 November 1982.[3]
The two stations operated separate breakfast shows, and then programmes were networked from either site to both transmitters. Most of the programmes came from Ipswich, and a few came from Bury St Edmunds.
In 1984-85, the stations experimented with a drive-time news and current affairs programme ("The Home Run") which had presenters in both studios - Allan Lee in Ipswich and Adrienne Rosen in Bury. This proved too expensive to continue for long, and the programme was cut back to one presenter in the Ipswich studio.
In 1990 The Broadland Group took over Radio Orwell and Saxon. The stations were renamed SGR FM in 1992 and to reflect the addition of these new stations to the group, The Broadland Group became East Anglian Radio.
The new group re-launched Orwell and Saxon as one station under the name SGR fm in 1992, they also launched a sister station in 1993 named SGR Colchester after successfully applying for the licence.
In 1995, the decision was made by the East Anglian Radio Group to make better use of the AM slot and Amber Radio was created to play 60s and 70s music from its studios in Ipswich and Norwich. Amber operated on the AM transmitters previously used by the SGR stations to simulcast.[4]
Then in 1996, the East Anglian Radio group was bought by the GWR Group, which later became GCAP and then Global Radio.[5][6]