Isle of Wight Radio

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Isle of Wight Radio

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

Isle of Wight Radio is an independent local radio station based in Newport on the Isle of Wight. The station began transmitting from Briddlesford Farm with a purpose-built AM transmitter on April 15, 1990. It was originally independently-owned for two years, and was then purchased by GWR (now GCap Media). The station is currently owned by The Local Radio Company. Isle of Wight Radio has broadcast on FM since 1998.

1 Ownership
2 Awards and Shows
3 Presenters
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Ownership

It is currently controlled through a joint venture between TLRC and the Portsmouth FC.^[1] The joint venture also controls Spirit FM in Chichester and 107.4 The Quay in Portsmouth.

[edit] Awards and Shows

The station boasts shows such as the controversial Alex 'Big Al' Dyke's "Mid-Morning Boogie". It was briefly broadcast across the UK by the local TV station Solent TV until Solent TV's insolvency in May 2007.

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 million) something never before achieved, beating dozens of other stations to the award.

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 for night-time shows, 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 (with an 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. In March 2007, the station was nominated again for the Sony Award Station of the Year (in the category for stations with under 300,000 listeners).^[2]^[3]

[edit] Presenters

The current list of Isle of Wight Radio's Presenters can be seen here: Isle of Wight Radio's Presenters List. Previous DJs have included Gavin Harris, Duncan Smith, Simon Butler, Chris Mew, Paul Seed and Allan Lake.