City | Southampton (with smaller offices in Bournemouth, Dorchester, Newport, Poole and Portsmouth) |
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Broadcast area | Hampshire, Dorset, Isle of Wight |
Slogan | Loving life in the South |
Frequency | 96.1 FM, 999 MW DAB (NOW South Hampshire) Freeview: 722 Dorset version: 103.8 FM, 1359 MW Dorset DAB, Freeview: 734 |
First air date | 31 December 1970 |
Format | Local news, talk and music |
Language(s) | English |
Owner |
BBC Local Radio, BBC South |
Website | BBC Radio Solent |
BBC Radio Solent is the BBC Local Radio service for the Isle of Wight and the English counties of Hampshire and Dorset. Its studios are located in Southampton, in the same purpose-built office block in Havelock Road as the BBC South Today news studios, and there are district offices in Portsmouth, Newport, Bournemouth, Poole and Dorchester. It was based until 1991 in South Western House, the former railway hotel at the old Southampton Terminus station.
The station, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1970, is named after the Solent, the area of sea between Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. In 1996 Radio Solent expanded its coverage into West Dorset by taking over neighbouring BBC Dorset FM, which was formerly an opt-out of BBC Radio Devon. In 2013 a new programme targeted specifically for Dorset listeners on 103.8FM was launched under the name Breakfast in Dorset, after campaigns for a more locally focused service. The programme comes from a studio complex based in Dorchester and the programme is also broadcast county wide on DAB.
The service is broadcast on 96.1 FM and 999 AM for Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and eastern Dorset; and on 103.8 FM and 1359 AM for western Dorset; on DAB (NOW South Hampshire and NOW Bournemouth); and via its website using Flash and Windows Media streaming formats.