| Wave 105 | |
| City: | Fareham |
| Area: | South Hampshire, Isle of Wight, and parts of West Sussex, North Wiltshire and East Dorset |
| Frequency: | FM 105.2 MHz |
| Rds: | Wave 105 |
| Format: | Adult contemporary |
| Network: | Greatest Hits Radio |
| Owner: | Bauer Media Audio UK |
| Sister Stations: | Pirate FM |
| Website: | Wave 105 |
| Former Frequencies: | 105.8 MHz (Poole) |
Wave 105 was a regional radio station based in Fareham, England, owned and operated by Bauer. It broadcast to South Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex, Wiltshire, and Dorset.
As of December 2023, the station had 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.[1]
In February 2024, Bauer Media announced that the station would be rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio on 28 March 2024, and be merged with Greatest Hits Radio South. It will retain opt outs for breakfast and afternoon shows in the interim.[2]
Wave 105 began broadcasting on 14 June 1998. It was based in a studio complex at Segensworth East, on the outskirts of Fareham, and broadcast 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 was provided by Wave 105's in-house local newsroom in conjunction with Sky News Radio. In recent years, the station 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.[3]
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.[4]
Most of the station's local programming was replaced with networked output - including weekday shows with Ken Bruce and Simon Mayo - although Greatest Hits Radio retains 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.[5]
These shows are broadcast on the current DAB multiplexes and to match this area on FM, will also be broadcast on 105.2FM, 105.8FM (Poole), 97.2FM (Dorchester & Weymouth), 96FM (Bridport), 97.4FM (Shaftesbury) 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.[6]
The rebrand led to a number of redundancies and all presenters' freelance contracts were placed under review.[7]
Wave 105 ended regular broadcasting at 10pm on Thursday 28 March 2024, following a short tribute programme produced by the station's head of production Tim Allen. The final song played under the brand was Say Hello Wave Goodbye by Soft Cell.[8]
The station was formally relaunched as Greatest Hits Radio at 10am the following morning.
Owned by media company Bauer, Wave 105 was initially created by a group of private investors under the name of The Radio Partnership.[9] 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.[10]
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.[11]
| 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 |