Wave 105

Wave 105

Fareham
Broadcast area	South Hampshire, Isle of Wight, and parts of West Sussex, Wiltshire and Dorset
Frequency	FM: 105.2 MHz DAB: 11B (Bournemouth) DAB: 11C (South Hampshire)
RDS	Wave 105
Programming
Format	Adult contemporary
Network	Greatest Hits Radio
Ownership
Owner	Bauer Media Audio UK
Sister stations	Pirate FM
History
First air date	14 June 1998 (1998-06-14) (25 years ago)
Former frequencies	105.8 MHz (Poole)
Links
Website	Wave 105

Wave 105 is a regional radio station based in Fareham, England, owned and operated by Bauer. It broadcasts to South Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, Wiltshire, and Dorset.

As of December 2023, the station has a weekly audience of 405,000 listeners according to RAJAR and over 5 million listening hours, making it one of the most listened to regional radio stations in the UK and the most popular station in its transmission area.

In February 2024, Bauer Media announced the station will be rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio South Coast on 29 March 2024.

History

Wave 105 began broadcasting on 14 June 1998. It is based in a studio complex at Segensworth East, on the outskirts of Fareham, and broadcasts on 105.2 MHz (South Hampshire, Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Dorset and Wiltshire), as well as on DAB digital radio via the South Hampshire and Dorset multiplexes, and online.

News is provided by Wave 105's in-house local newsroom in conjunction with Sky News Radio. In recent years, the station has shared a music playlist and many features with Cornwall-based sister station Pirate FM.

On 19 September 2022, the Bournemouth and Poole relay of Wave 105 on 105.8 FM was replaced by a relay of Greatest Hits Radio Dorset, following approval from the broadcast regular OFCOM.

Greatest Hits Radio rebrand

On 27 February 2024, station owners Bauer announced Wave 105 would be rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio South Coast from March 2024, as part of a wider relaunch involving 17 local radio stations in England and Wales.

Most of the station's local programming will be replaced with networked output - including weekday shows with Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo - although Greatest Hits Radio will retain regional breakfast and afternoon shows hosted by Rick Jackson and Mark Collins, alongside hourly local news bulletins throughout the day - and travel updates, provided on breakfast and drivetime shows by INRIX.

These shows will be broadcast on the current DAB multiplexes and to match this area on FM, will also be broadcast on 105.2FM, 105.8FM (Poole), 97.4FM (Dorchester & Weymouth), 96FM (Bridport), 97.4FM (Shaftsbury) and 96.6FM (Blandford Forum).

Under the current licence conditions, revised in August 2022, the station is required to produce a minimum of three hours of local programming on weekdays and can share all programming with sister stations in the South of England.

The rebrand, taking place on Friday 29 March 2024, is expected to lead to a number of redundancies from Wave 105 and freelance contracts being placed under review.

Ownership

Owned by media company Bauer, Wave 105 was initially created by a group of private investors under the name of The Radio Partnership. The station was then sold to Kelvin MacKenzie's Wireless Group. The Wireless Group eventually sold Wave 105 to Scottish Radio Holdings (SRH) who were acquired by EMAP in 2005.

Awards

In 2023, Wave 105 was nominated for "Station of the Year" at the ARIAS, the leading radio industry awards in the UK. In 2004, Wave 105 won the NTL Commercial Radio Station of the Year award in the category for stations with a potential audience of over one million listeners.

Transmitters

Analogue (FM)

Transmitter Site	Frequency	Power	RDS Name	PI Code	Area
Chillerton Down	105.2 MHz	10,000W	Wave_105	C3AD	South Hampshire, Isle of Wight, West Sussex, East Dorset and Wiltshire

Digital (DAB)

Multiplex Name	Bitrate	Short Label	Long Label	Sld
NOW South Hampshire	128kbit/s	Wave 105	Wave 105	C3AD
NOW Bournemouth	128kbit/s	Wave 105	Wave 105	C3AD

External links

• Official website