Nation Broadcasting
Nation Broadcasting Limited (formerly Town and Country Broadcasting Limited and UK Sports Radio Limited) is a media company registered in Wales. It currently owns and operates twelve radio stations in Wales, Scotland and England. It is owned by Jason Bryant (formerly of Talksport and Virgin Radio).
In February 2019, Nation purchased several former Lincs FM Group and Celador Radio services from Bauer Radio, including The Breeze and Sam FM in the Solent region, and KCFM in East Yorkshire, as these stations overlap with pre-existing Bauer assets Wave 105 and Viking FM.[1]
Stations
Wales
- Radio Pembrokeshire (Pembrokeshire)
- Radio Carmarthenshire (Carmarthenshire)
- Scarlet FM (Llanelli, no longer broadcasting as Scarlet FM, this is now broadcasting as Radio Carmarthenshire )
- Bridge FM (Bridgend, purchased from Tindle Radio in 2006)
- Swansea Bay Radio (Swansea Bay area)
- Nation Radio Wales, (formerly known as XFM South Wales until purchased from GCap Media on 30 May 2008)[2][3]
- Dragon Radio (Wales, DAB only)
Scotland
- Nation Radio Scotland (West Central Scotland)
- Your Radio (Dumbarton & Helensburgh))
England
- Nation Radio London
- Sun FM (Sunderland), acquired from UKRD in April 2018.[4] Since March 2020, the former Durham FM and Alpha 103.2 were added to Sun FM, following the purchase of these licenses from Helius Media Group.
- The Breeze (Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester) (2019)
- Sam FM (South Coast)
- KCFM (Kingston-upon-Hull)
The group also owns stakes in a number of DAB Digital Radio multiplexes.
Former stations
The group had also owned Radio Hampshire – broadcasting to Southampton and Winchester but this was sold to Play Radio, and now operates under the name The Breeze. Following the purchase of Celador Radio by Bauer Radio in February 2019, the Southampton and Winchester licences, along with a Portsmouth licence subsequently added to the network, were sold to Nation due to overlapping with the existing regional Bauer station Wave 105.
On 31 May 2019, Nation closed Radio Ceredigion and its frequencies are now used to broadcast Nation Radio Wales.[5]
NME Radio
In July 2010 it was announced[6] the Town and Country Broadcasting was to take over the licence to run the NME's spin-off radio station, NME Radio, after it was reduced to an online only service following DX Media pulling out.
The new NME Radio was launched on Wednesday 1 September 2010 - with familiar group presenters providing live programming for the national NME Radio service. The station also replaced the now defunct Dabbl station on the Cardiff & Newport DAB Multiplex as well as launching a brand new iPhone app.
References
- ^ "Bauer Media continues to grow with two acquisitions", RadioToday.co.uk 2019-02-05
- ^ "XFM South Wales sold". Radio Today. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 30 May 2008.
- ^ "Xfm south Wales: GCap sells station to Town and Country Broadcasting", ''Media. The Guardian. Retrieved on 31 December 2011.
- ^ UKRD sells Sun FM to Nation Broadcasting
- ^ Radio Ceredigion withdraws format change request, Radio Today, 31 May 2019
- ^ http://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.6110