Broadcast area Thamesmead First air date 18 March 1990 Audience share 1.6% (March 2009, [1]) | Frequency 106.8 MHz Format Adult Contemporary Owner Sunrise Radio Group | |
106.8 Time FM was a local commercial radio station located in the south-east London and north-west Kent area of England, which broadcast to Greenwich and Bexleyheath in London and Dartford and Gravesend in Kent on 106.8 FM, and ceased transmission in April 2009.
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Background
Following its cable radio contract with Rediffusion, the station commenced broadcasts from studios on Tavy Bridge, Thamesmead, as RTM Radio transmitting on 103.8 F.M. where they stayed until moving to the Thamesmead Town offices in Harrow Manor Way during April 1994. The new studios and production facilities were designed and built in house by Frank de Pellette and Jon Lucas.
The station then moved to Basildon Road on the outskirts of Plumstead, sharing its premises with sister station South London Radio 107.3.
Time 106.8 was, in the final five years of its life, owned by the Sunrise Radio Group.
History
The station launched on the FM radio band as RTM Radio on 18 March 1990, having previously exclusively broadcast on the area's local cable television service as Radio Thamesmead, and intended to fulfil a community-style remit, with any profits generated being invested in local regeneration projects. RTM changed its name to Millennium 106.8 in 1997, to link in with the upcoming celebrations at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, having successfully amended its minority-orientated programming obligations with the Radio Authority. The station was put up for sale in June 1999, and was purchased by the Milestone Group in 2000. Fusion Radio Holdings later took reins of the station.
Millennium was rebranded as Time 106.8 at the beginning of 2003, in a move to associate the station with local town Greenwich's connection with the Greenwich Meridian. Avtar Lit's Sunrise Radio Group purchased the station in March 2004. A later decision was taken to rebrand other stations in the group under the same banner - of which only Time 107.5 in Romford continues to use the moniker.
Performance and subsequent closure
The station consistently struggled to perform in a highly competitive London market in terms of audience figures, with its market share steadily declining in RAJAR performance since the middle of 2005. In its final survey at the end of 2008, Time recorded an audience of 13,000 listeners, representing a market share of 1%.
In an unusual move, the Sunrise Radio Group put the station up for sale via a message on its website in mid-October 2008, and following disputed claims a buyer had been found, Time 106.8 ceased broadcasting at midnight on Saturday 4 April 2009.
Presenters
Original RTM / Millennium presenters include:
At the Time 106.8 relaunch in March 2003, the presenter line-up was as follows:
Alex Skinner
The presenter line-up prior to the station's closure: