Frequency 87.7 MHz | Owner Severnvale Media CIC | |
Broadcast area South Gloucestershire, UK Slogan Radio for the Whole Community First air date 19 April 2010 (2010-04-19) Format Talk, Music, Local Community interest | ||
GLOSS FM is a community radio station in the United Kingdom, which started broadcasting to the South Gloucestershire area on 19 April 2010. It is a member of the Community Radio Association. It originally started as Thornbury FM, a smaller station broadcasting to the market town of Thornbury in November 2005. In November 2009, the station relocated its transmitter which increased its coverage area. After an open competition GLOSS FM was chosen as the station's new name in order to be more relevant to all listeners. GLOSS FM is a legal radio station, broadcasting under the terms of Ofcom's Restricted Service Licence regime. This restricted the station to a maximum of two 28-day broadcasts per year in addition to its webcasts which were broadcast continually.
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About the station
GLOSS FM is owned by Severnvale Media CIC, a community interest company, which is similar to a UK limited company except that a profit may not be extracted and all assets are locked within the company for use in the interests of the local community. GLOSS FM's aim is to be "Radio for the Whole Community" in South Gloucestershire, linking both geographical communities and communities of interest in the area. It is run by volunteers and broadcasts on 87.7 MHz to the South Gloucestershire area from studios in Thornbury.
Programming
GLOSS FM provides a range of programmes including news, sport, interviews, chat and music. These were all produced by volunteers in South Gloucestershire. It broadcast 24 hours a day.
FM transmission
GLOSS FM transmits its signal on 87.7 MHz FM with a power of 25 watts ERP. The transmission site was moved in the Summer of 2009 from a low site in Thornbury town centre to a high site overlooking the Severn Vale. The resulting coverage area is approximately double with this move, meaning that the station covers a potential audience of over 100,000 people in South Gloucestershire from Bradley Stoke in the south, to Berkeley in the north, and from Yate in the East to Chepstow in Wales.
Webstream
As well as FM broadcasts, GLOSS FM also streams its output continuously on the Internet. This stream is global during Restricted Service Licence (RSL) broadcasts, but was not limited to UK-only between RSL broadcasts.