Heart Hampshire - History

History

Ocean Sound's predecessor, Radio Victory provided the first local commercial radio service in the South of England in 1975, with its small transmission area around Portsmouth. The station was disliked by the then regulator and when it Independent Broadcasting Authority re-advertised the Portsmouth licence to include Southampton and Winchester, Victory lost out to a new consortium called Ocean Sound Ltd. Ocean Sound proposed an expanded coverage area taking in Southampton. Radio Victory ceased operations in June 1986, three months earlier than the expiry date of its franchise, with a test transmission informing listeners of the unprecedented situation. Ocean Sound took over programme provision that October from a new purpose-built broadcast unit in a business park at Segensworth West on the western outskirts of Fareham, Hampshire.

Ocean Sound debuted on 12 October 1986, initially with two services - Ocean Sound (West), covering Southampton, Winchester and much of the Isle of Wight, and Ocean Sound (East) serving Portsmouth and the surrounding area. Ocean Sound (West) used 103.2 MHz FM and 1557 kHz AM. Ocean Sound (East) used 97.5 MHz FM and 1170 kHz AM. The East service underwent a change of frequency from that inherited from Radio Victory (from 95.0 MHz to 97.5 MHz FM). Both services shared breakfast and evening programmes with daytime output and specialist programmes broadcasting uniquely on each service - for instance on Saturday evenings, an Isle of Wight programme with Jean-Paul Hansford would air on Ocean Sound (West)'s FM frequency, while an alternative, Guy Hornsby's Saturday Soul Club would air on Ocean Sound (East) and the AM transmitter of Ocean Sound (West). This was prior to the termination of simulcasting programmes on FM and AM, which would see both services transformed.

The reason that two stations launched, rather than an expanded solo station is that then Managing Director David Lucas identified two potential audiences: one familiar with commercial radio (in the East area), and one largely acquainted with the BBC (the West area, of which the majority of local listening was to BBC Radio Solent). Ocean Sound (East) therefore sounded livelier than its West counterpart, which took on a softer sound.