26 17 w 50.71377 n 2.43806 w 50.71377 ; 2.43806 wessex fm broadcast area weymouth dorchester & bridport frequency fm 96.0 97.2 mhz first air date 4 september 1993 format contemporary audience share 19.2 % september 2015 rajar owner ukrd group website www.wessexfm.com wessex fm is a local radio station for the weymouth dorchester and bridport areas of dorset . all content is broadcast from its studios in dorchester . it broadcasts on 97.2 fm in weymouth and dorchester from bincombe hill transmitter and on 96.0 fm in bridport from bridport transmitter . contents 1 early days 2 wessex fm now 3 external links 4 references early days edit a group of local radio enthusiasts had been campaigning to have an independent local radio ilr station in dorset for some time and eventually the radio authority issued the licence early in 1993 this was probably one of the last totally independent commercial radio stations in the country . stephen oates was appointed as managing director with roger kennedy as programme manager . having found a suitable premises in the centre of dorchester studio construction began while roger started recruiting the on air team and deciding on the programme format . roger also suggested the station s on air name wessex fm and the original strapline from the heart of dorset the station went on the air at 10am on 4 september 1993 roger kennedy presenting the first programme with several special guests including veteran presenter tony blackburn . wessex fm now edit with its very wide range of music as well as lots of local feature content and regular outside broadcasts the station proved very popular from the outset becoming the number 1 station in the area . current managing director steve bulley joined the station in 2006 as regional programme controller covering 8 stations in the south west . following the ukrd takeover he became md and in october 2014 successfully moved the radio station after 21 years in trinity street to new purpose built premises on the outskirts of dorchester . poundbury house poundbury west ind estate dorchester dt1 2pg . it currently has the equal best radio reach percentage in england at 45 % with yorkshire coast radio both stations are owned by ukrd . external links edit official website the local radio company ukrd radio group the evening show presenter s website references edit v t e ukrd group radio 96.4 eagle radio eagle3 eagle extra kl.fm 96.7 pirate fm pirate 2 star radio cambridge and ely former tlrc stations 2br minster fm mix 96 spire fm spirit fm star radio north east stray fm sun fm wessex fm yorkshire coast radio dab multiplexes muxco north yorkshire muxco surrey & sussex south west digital radio other ukrd support & development first radio sales heart south devon itsmymarket.com savebuckets.com former assets 107 the bee merged with 2br arrow fm central 103.1 fm dune fm isle of wight radio ivel fm nova radio pennine fm 106.9 silk fm sovereign fm the quay vale fm 107.3 abbey fm closed mix 107 closed this article about a radio station in the united kingdom is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wessex fm & oldid 729880831 categories radio stations in dorsetthe local radio companyradio stations established in 1993west dorsetweymouth and portlandwessex1993 establishments in englandunited kingdom radio station stubshidden categories use dmy dates from august 2012use british english from august 2012coordinates on wikidataall stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 july 2016 at 06 08 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view