Nation Radio South
radio station
Nation Radio South is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting on 106 MHz & 106.6 MHz FM across the South Coast of England, and on DAB on the South Hampshire, Bournemouth, Sussex and Salisbury multiplexes. The station operates as three separate sub-stations (Nation Radio Hampshire, Nation Radio Sussex and Nation Radio Dorset) for news and advertising purposes but all three share common programming.
The station is owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting, and was previously run under a brand licence agreement with rival operator Bauer Radio, where the frequencies were used to broadcast Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio. In September 2022, the agreement ended and the station was rebranded to its current name.
As of December 2025, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 160,000 (119,000 in Hampshire, 21,000 in Sussex, 17,000 in Dorset and 3,000 in Somerset), according to RAJAR.
History
Original 106 & The Coast
The station was originally launched in 2006 as Original 106 (Solent), owned by Canwest, which then sold the station to Celador in August 2008. It was replaced by The Coast 106 on 30 October 2008, and while initial RAJAR results were encouraging with a healthy increase over those posted by Original, the weekly reach stagnated at around 115,000 by early 2011.
Jack FM
Celador then rebranded the station as Jack FM, to bring it in line with its sister station in Bristol, from 4 July 2011. All prior presenters except Robin Caddy were removed from the station, which switched to a format also used by Celador's other Jack stations - a presenter-led breakfast show (hosted by Bam Bam), a Saturday morning "World Of Sport" show presented by Robin Caddy and automated music interspersed with topical one-liners in between songs voiced by actor Paul Darrow at other times.
Sam FM
On 1 April 2015, the station was rebranded again as Sam FM, which runs with a strapline of We're In Charge - the station controls the music and doesn't play requests - interspersed with topical one-liners in between songs by Gareth Hale who was referred to as 'The Voice of Sam FM'. However, by end of 2019 these one-liners had been withdrawn.
“Nation Radio South” enters the record as radio station. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Nation, Radio and South can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Nation Radio South” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Nation, Radio and South provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4546659. Authority coordinates are 50.906, -1.397. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2022, 2025, 2006 and 2008.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Nation Radio South”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Nation Radio South primary sources, Nation Radio South archive and Nation research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Nation Radio South” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.