The Breeze (Basingstoke & North Hampshire)


The Breeze Basingstoke is a local radio station covering Basingstoke and the surrounding area of North Hampshire, UK and is part of The Breeze Network of stations.

History

Kestrel FM

The Basingstoke station launched on 18 May 1998, and is now owned by Celador. The previous owners Milestone launched a free weekly local newspaper, the Basingstoke Observer, in association with Kestrel FM in 2000.
In 2010, 107.6 Kestrel FM in Basingstoke was merged with Delta FM in Alton, Bordon, Haslemere and Petersfield. However, initially the old Delta FM frequencies had a separate Breakfast Show, hosted by Dave Trumper. Outside of weekday Breakfast the former Delta Radio frequencies shared with Kestrel FM 107.6.
By 2011, even this practice seemed to have been discontinued, with all areas receiving programming from Basingstoke.

Celador takeover

Up until 2012, Kestrel FM was run by the Tindle Radio Group. The station was latterly taken over by Celador and on 16 December 2012, rebranded as The Breeze.
The station continues to broadcast programming from its Basingstoke studios, from where regional programming for the Thames Valley and local news bulletins originate. The East Hampshire frequencies were moved to the Southampton-based Breeze station and 107.6 to the Thames Valley station.