Greatest Hits Radio South Coast

Greatest Hits Radio South Coast
Broadcast area	Dorset, Hampshire, Isle of Wight and West Sussex
Frequency	106.0 MHz, 106.6 MHz FM DAB 11C (South Hampshire) DAB+ 7D (Trail Portsmouth)
Slogan	The Good Times Sound Like This
Programming
Format	Classic and Contemporary Hits
Ownership
Owner	Nation Broadcasting
Operator	Bauer Radio
History
First air date	1 October 2006
Former names	Original 106 ; The Coast; Jack FM ; Sam FM
Links
Website	Greatest Hits Radio South Coast

Greatest Hits Radio South Coast is a classic hits radio station broadcasting on 106 MHz & 106.6 MHz FM, on DAB on the South Hampshire multiplex across the South Coast of England and on DAB+ across a limited area on the Portsmouth small scale trial multiplex. During the week most programming is shared with the Greatest Hits radio network from studios across the UK, apart from the drivetime show which is recorded at home by former Spire FM and Breeze presenter Chris Wright between 4-7pm.[1] The station is part of the Greatest Hits Radio network, and is owned by Nation Broadcasting which is under licensing agreement with operator Bauer Radio.

History

Original 106 & The Coast

The station was originally launched in 2006 as Original 106 (Solent), owned by Canwest, which then sold the station to Celador in August 2008.[2] It was replaced by The Coast 106 on 30 October 2008, and while initial RAJAR results were encouraging with a healthy increase over those posted by Original, the weekly reach stagnated at around 115,000 by early 2011.

Jack FM

Celador then rebranded the station as Jack FM,[3] to bring it in line with its sister station in Bristol, from 4 July 2011. All prior presenters except Robin Caddy were removed from the station, which switched to a format also used by Celador's other Jack stations - a presenter-led breakfast show (hosted by Bam Bam),[4] a Saturday morning "World Of Sport" show presented by Robin Caddy and automated music interspersed with topical one-liners in between songs voiced by actor Paul Darrow at other times.

Sam FM

Sam FM South Coast logo used from 2015-2020

On 1 April 2015, the station was rebranded again as Sam FM, which runs with a strapline of We're In Charge - the station controls the music and doesn't play requests - interspersed with topical one-liners in between songs by Gareth Hale who is referred to as The Voice of Sam FM.[5] However, as of the end of 2019 these one-liners have long since been withdrawn.

In March 2019, Sam FM South Coast was taken over by Nation Broadcasting following the sale of Celador Radio to Bauer Radio.

On 1 December 2019, Sam FM no longer shared programming with its sister stations in Bristol and Swindon and took the tagline The South's Greatest Hits. This appears to have had an effect on the playlist, with less rock and more pop tracks being played than previously.