Launch Dates: Independent Local Radio 

19 December 2006 tbs.pm/3205

Only original IBA-awarded contracts are listed here.

Station Area Official launch
Radio 210 Thames Valley Reading 8-Mar-76
2CR – Two Counties Radio Bournemouth 15-Sep-80
Radio Aire Leeds 1-Sep-81
Beacon Radio Wolverhampton 12-Apr-76
BRMB Birmingham 19-Feb-74
Radio Broadland Norwich 1-Oct-84
Capital Radio London 16-Oct-73
CBC Radio Cardiff 11-Apr-80
Centre Radio Leicester 7-Sep-81
Chiltern Radio Luton 15-Oct-81
Chiltern Radio Bedford 1-Mar-82
Radio City Liverpool 21-Oct-74
Radio Clyde Glasgow 31-Dec-73
Radio County Sound Guildford 4-Apr-83
DevonAir Radio Exeter 7-Nov-80
DevonAir Radio Torbay 12-Dec-80
Downtown Radio Belfast 16-Mar-76
Essex Radio Southend-on-Sea 12-Sep-81
Essex Radio Chelmsford 10-Dec-81
Radio Forth Edinburgh 22-Jan-75
GB Radio Newport 13-Jun-83
Radio Hallam Sheffield 1-Oct-74
Hereward Radio Peterborough 10-Jul-80
Hereward Radio Northampton 1-Oct-84
Invicta Sound Kent 1984
LBC London 8-Oct-73
Marcher Sound/Sain-Y-Gororau Wrexham 5-Sep-83
Mercia Sound Coventry 23-May-80
Radio Mercury Crawley 20-Oct-84
Metro Radio Newcastle-upon-Tyne 15-Jul-74
Moray Firth Radio Inverness 23-Feb-82
Northsound Radio Aberdeen 27-Jul-81
Radio Orwell Ipswich 28-Oct-75
Pennine Radio Bradford 16-Sep-75
Pennine Radio Huddersfield 1984
Piccadilly Radio Manchester 2-Apr-74
Plymouth Sound Plymouth 19-May-75
Red Rose Radio Preston 5-Oct-82
Sain-Y-Gororau/ Marcher Sound Wrecsam 5-Sep-83
Saxon Radio Bury St Edmunds 6-Nov-82
Severn Sound Gloucester 23-Oct-80
Signal Radio Stoke-on-Trent 5-Sep-83
Southern Sound Radio Brighton 29-Aug-83
Swansea Sound Swansea 30-Sep-74
Radio Tay Dundee 17-Oct-80
Radio Tay Perth 14-Nov-80
Radio Tees Stockton-on-Tees 24-Jun-75
Radio Trent Nottingham 3-Jul-75
Radio Victory Portsmouth 14-Oct-75
Viking Radio Hull 17-Apr-84
Radio West Bristol 27-Oct-81
Westsound Radio Ayr 4-Dec-81
Westsound Radio Girvan 4-Dec-81
Wiltshire Radio Swindon 12-Oct-82
Radio Wyvern Worcester 4-Oct-82

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3 responses to this article

Boggenstrovia 18 April 2014 at 12:05 am

No Ocean Sound in this list?

Radio Victory is there, but surely the company who took over from Victory should be on the list as well.

Oak Wood 28 January 2023 at 11:37 pm

– No CNFM 103 ?? I’m sure they launched under the IBA, on February 12th, 1989, and became the first station in the UK to be licensed to broadcast on a single waveband (VHF).

– Invicta Sound launched the same day as Radio Broadland – 1st October 1984

Russ J Graham 3 February 2023 at 4:57 pm

Strictly speaking, CNFM wasn’t an ILR station – it was a SALLIE (small scale local licence), a category soon replaced by “incremental” stations.

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