BBC Radio Solent


BBC Radio Solent is the BBC Local Radio service for the Isle of Wight and the English counties of Hampshire and Dorset. Its studios are located in Southampton, in the same purpose-built office block in Havelock Road as the BBC South Today news studios, and there are district offices in Portsmouth, Newport, Bournemouth, Poole and Dorchester. It was based until 1991 in South Western House, the former railway hotel at the old Southampton Terminus station.

Overview

The station, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1970, is named after the Solent, the area of sea between Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight. In 1996 Radio Solent expanded its coverage into West Dorset and South Dorset by taking over neighbouring BBC Dorset FM, which was formerly an opt-out of BBC Radio Devon. In 2013 a new programme targeted specifically for Dorset listeners on 103.8FM was launched under the name Breakfast in Dorset, after campaigns for a more locally focused service. The programme comes from a studio complex based in Dorchester and the programme is also broadcast county wide on DAB.
According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 218,000 listeners and a 5.3% share as of December 2018.

Transmitters

The service is broadcast on 96.1 FM for Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and eastern Dorset; and on 103.8 FM for western Dorset; on DAB ; and via its website using Flash and Windows Media streaming formats.

North and north-east Hampshire

The signal for Hampshire on 96.1 FM from Rowridge on the Isle of Wight is less clearly audible north of Winchester than the transmissions from other BBC Local Radio stations, so that the north Hampshire town of Basingstoke is officially looked after by BBC Radio Berkshire, while towns such as Aldershot, Farnborough and Fleet in the north-east of the county are served by BBC Radio Surrey via their Guildford transmitter on 104.6 FM.

Programming

The majority of BBC Radio Solent's programming is produced and broadcast from its Southampton studios. During off-peak hours, BBC Radio Solent also produces some regional programming for the South and South East regions. During the station's downtime, BBC Radio Solent simulcasts BBC Radio 5 Live overnight.
Notable presenters include Alex Dyke and Paul Miller.

Notable past presenters