3TR FM

3TR FM (Three Towns Radio) was an Independent Local Radio station based in the ancient market town of Warminster, Wiltshire, United Kingdom. It broadcast on 107.5 FM to the West Wiltshire, East Somerset and surrounding area, and online via Internet streaming. It was formerly known as Pride FM until a name change took place shortly after the licence was awarded.

For the Australian radio station, see TRFM. For the later service of this licence, see The Breeze (Frome & West Wiltshire).

3TR FM
Broadcast areaWarminster, Westbury & Frome
Frequency107.5 MHz
Programming
FormatContemporary
Ownership
OwnerOne Gold Radio Ltd
History
First air date
5 November 2001

History

On 5 November 2001, after a period of test transmissions, Jonathan Fido presented the first live programme, the breakfast show at 8:30am, accompanied by key local people from the area, staff from The Local Radio Company, and the station's crew at the time.

The last song to be played before officially going live was "Sweet Surrender" by Wet Wet Wet. A specially-produced introduction was then played featuring a montage of voice-overs, clips, and other segments officially launching the station. The first official song played was "Wake Up Boo!" by The Boo Radleys.

Shortly after the main on-air launch, James Moran and David Stratton (High Sheriff of Wiltshire) unveiled a gold plaque in the reception area of the station live on air, in front of many photographers and press reporters.

The station's studio in Wiltshire included two broadcast and production studios, several offices, a "glass room" (meeting space) (dismantled in latter years), a technical equipment hub, and a garden adjacent to the River Wylye.

On 30 June 2008, TLRC announced plans to sell six of its stations, including 3TR. It was purchased by Laser Broadcasting, who later went bust, and the group was bought by South West Radio, who also went into administration. On 24 March 2010, the five YMC Ltd stations, including 3TR, were closed by administrators after multiple refusals on the part of regulator Ofcom to transfer the licences to them from SWR.[1]

Cheltenham-based TotalStar is 3TR FM's latest owner, its fifth in less than two years. The company bought all of the stations previously owned by South West Radio Ltd. The firm already runs Star 107.5, which employs former BBC Radio 1 presenter Mike Read as its mid-morning presenter. The radio station was broadcast from Boreham Mill, in Warminster, but it is believed that it will now be aired from new offices, and will be sharing programmes with the five other stations.[2]

The final schedule was as follows:

As from March 2010, when the station went into administration and the studio was dismantled, the following list of songs were the only things that could be heard when tuning into the station (arranged alphabetically; tracks were not played in this order). This was due to the silence detector at the transmitter site receiving nothing from the studio and hence activating its MiniDisc backup loop. The MiniDisc was put on eBay and raised money for charity; it was bought by Johnathan Darwin.

References
  1. Plunkett, John (25 March 2010). "Bath FM and Brunel FM among five radio stations to close". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 April 2010.
  2. "Fifth owner in two years for troubled 3TR". This is Somerset. 30 March 2010. Archived from the original on 14 September 2012. Retrieved 11 April 2010.
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