Tower FM
Radio station in Wigan
First air date
Greatest Hits Radio Bolton & Bury (formerly Tower FM) is an Independent Local Radio station serving the Bolton and Bury areas of Greater Manchester.
Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the Greatest Hits Radio network in September 2020.
Overview
The radio station was given the name Tower as a local link to both towns in the station's coverage area; Turton Tower near to Bolton and Peel Tower on Holcombe Hill at Ramsbottom near Bury.
Originally an RSL (restricted service licence) radio station, the team behind the project won the full-time licence and the station began broadcasting on 20 March 1999.
As an RSL, Tower FM broadcast from Bury via a link to the transmitter on Peel Tower. The station later moved to Bolton once the main base was established on Gaskell Street.
Both towns served as the main target service area for the station, although it could also be heard in most of Greater Manchester and even parts of Cheshire.
In early 2007, the station's then-owners approached UK media regulator OFCOM to ask permission to move the station's base from Bolton to the Haydock or Newton Le Willows area of Merseyside as part of a plan to co-locate Tower with two other stations from the UTV Media group - Wish FM in Wigan and Wire FM in Warrington.
The original plan was abandoned but from the autumn of 2009, all three stations were based at studios in the Orrell area of Wigan.
Station rebrand
On 8 February 2019, Tower FM and the Wireless Group's local radio stations were sold to Bauer Radio. The sale was ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority.[1]
On 27 May 2020, it was announced that Tower FM will join Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio network.[2]
On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with Tower FM retaining its own branding.[3]
In September 2020, Tower FM merged with several local stations in the North West of England and North Wales, as Greatest Hits Radio North West. The station's local breakfast show was replaced by a regional drivetime show. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising were retained.[4] The station's Orrell studios were closed.
References
- ^ https://www.bauermedia.co.uk/newsroom/press-releases/cma-today-clears-the-acquisitions-of-lincs-fm-celador-radio-ukrd-and-wireless-local-stations CMA today clears the acquisitions of Lincs FM, Celador Radio, UKRD and Wireless local stations, Bauer Media, 12 March 2020
- ^ Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 27 May 2020
- ^ Bauer starts to roll out Hits and Greatest Hits to new radio stations Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 9 July 2020
- ^ Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 27 May 2020
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Radio stations in Greater Manchester, England
| LW |
|
|---|---|
| MW |
|
- Gaydio 88.4
- BBC Radio 2 89.3, 89.8
- Legacy FM 90.1
- Heritage Radio 90.6
- BBC Radio 3 91.5, 91.9
- Unity Radio 92.8
- BBC Radio 4 93.7, 94.1
- Salford City Radio 94.4
- BBC Radio Manchester 95.1, 104.6
- Greatest Hits Radio 96.2
- Bolton FM 96.5
- ALL FM 96.9
- Crescent Radio 97.0
- Wythenshawe FM 97.2
- Radio X 97.7
- BBC Radio 1 98.9, 99.3
- Oldham Community Radio 99.7
- Smooth North West 100.4
- Classic FM 101.1
- Capital 102.0
- Greatest Hits Radio 102.4
- Hits Radio Manchester 103.0
- Tameside Radio 103.6
- Greatest Hits Radio 104.9
- Heart 105.4
- XS Manchester 106.1
- North Manchester FM 106.6
- Greatest Hits Radio 107.4
- Your FM 107.8
| CE Manchester (12C) | |
|---|---|
| Manchester small-scale trial (10B) |
|
- Imagine FM
- Kiss 102
- Revolution 96.2
- Sunset 102
- Tower FM
- Wish FM
- Notes
- The FM BBC Radio stations are broadcast from two transmitters, Holme Moss and Saddleworth.
53°32′18″N 2°41′42″W / 53.5384°N 2.6949°W / 53.5384; -2.6949
