The radio station was given the name "Tower" as a local link to both towns in the station's coverage area; Turton Tower in Bolton and Peel Tower on Holcombe Hill at Ramsbottom near Bury. Originally an RSL radio station, the team behind the project won the full-time licence and the station began broadcasting on 20 March 1999. As an RSL, Tower FM broadcast from Bury via a link to the transmitter on Peel Tower. The radio station only broadcast from Bolton once the main base was established on Gaskell Street, Bolton. Since that time, the station has changed ownership twice and is now owned by Bauer Radio. The target area for the station are the towns of Bolton and Bury although most of Greater Manchester and even parts of Cheshire can receive the station. In early 2007, the station's owners approached UK media regulator OFCOM to ask permission to move the station's base from Bolton to the Haydock or Newton Le Willows area of Merseyside as part of a plan to house it in a single building with two other stations from the UTV Radio group - Wish FM in Wigan and Wire FM in Warrington. Latterly a decision was made to colocate the three stations at Wish's current site in Orrell, and Tower moved premises in early autumn 2009.
Station rebrand
On 8 February 2019, Tower FM and the Wireless Group's local radio stations were sold to Bauer Radio. The sale was ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority. On 27 May 2020, it was announced that Tower FM will join Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio network. On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with Tower FM retaining its own branding. In September 2020, the station will rebrand as Greatest Hits Radio and merge with six stations in the North West of England and North Wales. The station's local breakfast show will be replaced by a regional drivetime show. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising will be retained. The station's Orrell studios will close.
Programming
Local programming is produced and broadcast from studios in Orrell from 6am–10am on weekdays. Networked programming originates from the Greatest Hits Network's Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow studios and from Bauer's Golden Square headquarters in Soho.
News
Tower FM broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6 am to 6 pm on weekdays, from 8 am to 1 pm on Saturdays and from 8 am to 12 pm on Sundays. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows. The station also simulcasts hourly Sky News Radio bulletins at all other times.
