Radio in Southend-on-Sea

This page contains information on radio broadcasting in Southend-on-Sea.

Southend Radio Stations:

Below, you'll find a list of the radio stations broadcasting to the town of Southend, or from the town of Southend:

Essex FM - The commercial radio station serving Southend is Essex FM. Martin Day hosts the station's breakfast show ("Martin, Su and the Morning Crew") from 6 'til 10am. Between September 1981 and October 2004, the radio station broadcast from studios underneath Clifftown Road. Essex FM now broadcasts from studios in Glebe Road, Chelmsford.

Launched in September 1981 as Essex Radio, the station was originally owned by local businesses, including Keddies, HW Stone, Garons and nightclub TOTS. The station was taken over by the Daily Mail newspaper group in the 90's, and is now owned by large UK radio group GCap (GWR & Capital Radio).
Many will remember the days when Essex Radio was "somewhere special", with presenters including Jon Scragg, Terry Davis, Dave Gregory, Keith Rogers, and local legend Tim "Timbo" Lloyd.

Listen on: 97.5FM (Southend relay) and 96.3FM (South Essex), Internet, DAB digital radio
Other links: Essex Radio Remembered ; Contact details

BBC Essex - BBC local radio for the county of Essex started in November 1986. Based in studios in New London Road in Chelmsford, the station has a satellite studio for Southend close to the Palace Theatre in Westcliff.

Past and present presenters: Ray Clark, Dave Monk, Etholle George, Steve Scruton, John Hayes, Roger Buxton, Tim 'Timbo' Lloyd, Etholle Pegrum, Simon Baldock and Liz Mullen.

Listen on: 95.3FM (Southend), DAB digital radio
Website: www.bbc.co.uk/england/essex/

Southend Radio - Launched in March 2008 , this local station broadcasts on 105.1FM from studios next to Adventure Island on Southend Seafront.

Presenters include: Mike Porter, Tracie Young, James O'Neill, Ben Payne, Tracy Cooper, Nick Hull and Adrian Fox. More on Southend Radio below.

Listen on: 105.1FM (Southend)

Southend Hospital Radio. From its launch in 1997 up until 2005, the station was known as Thameside Hospital Radio, but has now changed its name. The station broadcasts from Southend General Hospital via an internal cable system, and provides music, news and entertainment weekday evenings and at weekends. The station is a registered charity, and is staffed by volunteers.

How to listen: From the wards at Southend General Hospital

Links: Thameside Radio info

Other stations

Southend Podcast - Details coming soon
Safe Radio - Internet station broadcasting from the old Essex Radio studios in Clifftown Road.

Run a Southend-based Internet radio station or podcast? Let us know

More radio choice for Essex

If you like your radio, maybe it's time to consider DAB - In Southend, you should be able to receive around sixty channels of digital radio, including stations such as: BBC 7 (comedy), ourkindofmusic (nostalgia), Fun Radio (for the under 10s), 1Xtra, Talk Sport, BBC Radio 5 Live, Breeze, Saga and BBC World Service.

DAB radios start from around £40 (more). To see what's available in Essex, see the Essex DAB page. There's also a stack of digital radio channels available in Southend on Freeview.

A radio station for Southend:

Southend-on-Sea got its own radio station on 28th March 2008, and the process started back in 2005... Here's a summary of the story so far:

March 2008 - Station Launch: Southend Radio launched on 28th March 2008 at 8am, from custom-built studios close to the Three Shells Restaurant on the sea-front. Southend Radio site. The Programme Manager is James O’Neill (formerly from Kick FM in Berkshire). Southend Radio started test transmitting on the 5th of March with wave sound effects.

Southend Radio's Studio Complex - As of August 2007

April 2006 - Licence awarded: The Southend FM licence was awarded to 'Southend Radio Ltd'. See the Ofcom announcement. Here's what was public about the winning bid:

Southend Radio Ltd - Philip Miller, Chief Executive of Adventure Island is behind this station, with locally-known radio presenter Peter Holmes as a Director. The station plans to offer music from the 60's to today, broadcasting from studios at Southend's Adventure Island theme park. Major shareholder is Stockvale Group (Adventure Island, Sealife Centre and Mercury FM Watford). The Tindle Radio Group (with a number of stations including Dream 100) withdrew their support for the station.

Four applications were received when applications closed on the 12th January 2006. Here's some information on the unsuccessful applicants:

Estuary FM - Backed by LMC (London Media Company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sunrise Radio), the station has former Southend East MP Sir Teddy Taylor as the chairman. Estuary FM has conducted a number of special event stations in the area in previous years. They wanted to offer news, information, entertainment and a mix of classic and contemporary music. Sunrise Radio Group also operates TimeFM in Romford. Estuary FM site
Radio Futures Limited (Seacoast Sound) - The station planned to target the over-45 age group, and would have been based in the former Essex Radio studio complex in Clifftown Road, Southend. Behind the station are John Massey (Chairman), Gary Dingwall (formerly of Essex Radio and Classic FM), as well as veteran ex-BBC Radio 2 broadcaster David Hamilton. Radio Futures Site
Radio UK Holdings Ltd. (Diamond 105 FM) - Aimed to provide a rock station aimed at 18-54 year olds. Names behind this bid include Tim Schoonmaker (founder of the EMAP radio group) and Paul Chantler (former Programme Director for the Essex Radio Group). Radio Uk Holdings Ltd is owned by global investment bank Macquarie Bank Ltd

October 2005 - Licence Advertised: On 6th October 2005, Ofcom, the government body in charge of UK radio, opened submissions for parties interested in running a Southend-based radio station. Potential bidders had three months to prepare their bid for a 12 year licence to broadcast. The station will cover Southend, and may include parts of Canvey Island, South Benfleet, Rochford, Rayleigh and Shoeburyness. The Southend FM station will broadcast on 105.1 MHz, with an ERP of 500 watts. The announcement can be found on the Ofcom site

To discuss Southend Radio, or radio in Southend-on-Sea, please visit our forum - we'd welcome your views!

Other local radio info:

Southend Radio Course: South East Essex College has an on-site radio studio and runs a three-week 'Introduction to Radio' course on a Saturday morning - ideal for anyone looking to learn a little more about what goes on behind the scenes at a radio station. More details
Information on receiving DAB digital radio in Essex: Essex DAB
More on radio in the county: Radio stations in Essex
Live outside Essex? Listen in to Essex radio stations on the Internet
More on Southend-on-Sea? See our Southend Info or Visiting Southend pages.

Got a question about Southend? Post a message in our Southend forum