History
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 12 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.
The next revamp occurred on 1 September 1997, when the station reverted to a more traditional mix of talk and music, and introduced new presenters such as Chris Ashley, John Radford (wine) Giles Dilnot, Bill Buckley and Simon Bates, who presented the Sunday morning show.
Further changes followed, including the departure in 2005 of Brighton Breakfast Show Presenter JoAnne Good who left to work at BBC London 94.9 and was replaced by Sarah Gorrell. Good also left her Saturday morning show and was replaced by Brighton comedian Stephen Grant. Tommy Boyd was recruited, initially to present an adult-style programme on Saturday evenings.
The station was relaunched in April 2006. Its headquarters were relocated from Guildford to Brighton, and the station was referred to on air as "The New Sound of Sussex and Surrey". Four of the presenters, Bill Buckley, John Radford, Ed Douglas and Dominic Busby left the station shortly before the relaunch of 2006. Three presenters were recruited and started broadcasting on the station on 3 April 2006, the day of the relaunch: Gordon Astley was taken on to present daily shows, just as he had done in the 1990s; Fred Marden was recruited to present the Surrey breakfast show; and one-time Radio Sussex sports reporter Richard Lindfield also rejoined. By early February 2009 all three had left the station and the designation "The New Sound of Sussex and Surrey" was no longer being used on air by presenters.
Read more about this topic: BBC Southern Counties Radio
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