BBC Southern Counties Radio
 |
|
| City | Brighton, Guildford |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Surrey and Sussex |
| Frequency | 104.0–104.8 & 95.0–95.3 FM 1161, 1368 & 1485 AM DAB: NOW Sussex Coast |
| First air date | 1 August 1994 |
| Format | Local news, talk and music |
| Language(s) | English |
| Audience share | 4.6% (September 2008, [1]) |
| Owner |
BBC Local Radio, BBC South, BBC South East |
| Website | BBC Southern Counties Radio |
BBC Southern Counties Radio was the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of North-East Hampshire. It was the first BBC Local Radio station to introduce an all-speech format. It broadcast from its studios in Brighton and Guildford on FM, AM and on DAB on the NOW Sussex Coast multiplex.
The station was formed by the merger of BBC Radio Sussex and BBC Radio Surrey. It began on 1 August 1994.
BBC Radio Sussex had originally been founded on 14 February 1968 as BBC Radio Brighton, broadcasting from studios in Marlborough Place. Des Lynam was one of the original presenters. It expanded to cover the whole of Sussex in October 1983.
BBC Radio Surrey had a chequered history. Once planned as a stand-alone radio station, it eventually launched on 14 November 1991 as a limited opt-out service of BBC Radio Sussex, broadcasting from newly built studios on the campus of the University of Surrey in Guildford. However it was never able to build a substantial audience over its two years on air.
The two stations were merged in January 1994 and moved into the Guildford studios; a bone of contention for many Brighton residents who felt they were being deprived of the local station they had enjoyed since 1968 (their campaign to bring the station back to Brighton was to succeed twelve years later).
Initially called BBC Radio Sussex and Surrey, the station relaunched with the name BBC Southern Counties Radio on 1 August 1994. It became the first BBC Local Radio station to adopt an all-speech format, with the broadcast slogan 'all talk all the time'. Presenters included Gordon Astley, Tommy Boyd, Peter Heaton-Jones, Al Clarke, Alison Taylor and Eric Dixon; however there were to be numerous presenter and schedule changes over the next three years.
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