The Breeze (Andover)

The Breeze (formerly Andover Sound) was an independent local radio station in England, serving Andover and northwest Hampshire, and parts of east Wiltshire from studios at Eastgate House in Andover. Beginning as Andover Sound in 2008, from 2011 the station was owned and operated by Bauer Radio as part of The Breeze network. From September 2020 the station was replaced by Greatest Hits Radio.

The Breeze
Broadcast areaNorthwest Hampshire
Frequency106.4 MHz
Programming
FormatAdult Contemporary
Ownership
OwnerBauer Radio
History
First air date
May 2008

History

Originally launched in May 2008 as Andover Sound by ITV regional news presenter Ian Axton (now of ITV West Country), who owned a majority 80% stake in the station with the remaining 20% owned by Tindle Radio. Andover Sound bought out Kick FM, a station serving Newbury and West Berkshire, in June 2009; it was rebranded as Newbury Sound a month later.

Both Andover and Newbury stations were sold to Celador in August 2011. On 12 March 2012, Celador announced Newbury Sound and Andover Sound would be rebranded as The Breeze, falling in line with an existing network of stations serving South Hampshire and the West of England (Bristol, Somerset and West Wiltshire). The rebrand took place on 2 April 2012.[1] In January 2012, the Newbury station was co-located to Andover Sound's studios. However, breakfast and weekday drive-time programming was presented from Basingstoke, with networked output from Southampton during off-peak hours.

In September 2020, The Breeze in Andover and Newbury, along with other stations in the network, were rebranded to become part of the Greatest Hits Radio network as Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire and East Hampshire.[2][3]

Awards

As Andover Sound, the station won various radio industry awards, including a New York Festivals News/Documentary Special accolade in July 2009 for Remembering Jamie, a half-hour programme on the sudden death of a local teenager. Andover Sound was also named as the Radio Academy South Station of the Year in December 2009.

At the 2010 Sony Radio Academy Awards, Andover Sound won silver in the News Journalist of the Year category (for editor Ben McGrail & journalist Faye Marsh) and was nominated in the Station of the Year (300,000 or fewer listeners) category.[4][5] In June 2010, the station was named as the Arqiva Commercial Radio Station of the Year (300,000 or fewer listeners).[6][7]

References
  1. "Andover Sound and Newbury Sound to become The Breeze". Radio Today. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  2. "Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio". RadioToday. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
  3. Greatest Hits Radio Berkshire & North Hampshire on Twitter
  4. "Andover Sound Nominated". Andover Sound. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  5. "Sony Radio Academy Awards Nominees". Daily Telegraph. UK. 8 April 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2010.
  6. "UK Station of the Year". Andover Sound. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2010.
  7. "Arqiva Winners". The Independent. 18 June 2010. Retrieved 1 July 2010.

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