ContactCD603, Boss 603, Cheltenham Radio etc
"The Cat..."
Cheltenham Radio
CD603, Boss 603, 603 Radio, The Cat, Cat FM, Star 107.5
The creation of what started off as CD603, 603 Radio & Boss 603 can be traced back to the beginnings of BBC Local Radio in the area which started broadcasting in October 1988.
This was in the days when most radio stations provided the same service on both FM and AM. It was around this same time that conclusions dictated that it was a wasteful use of the frequency spectrum and that the extents to which simulcasting was permitted should be at the lowest level possible. Auntie was given permission to bring on the new service for a limited period only - mostly to allow the service to become established.
The simulcasting/establishment period elapsed and Radio Gloucestershire should have continued on FM only. However, the BBC hinted that there would be little gain for the frequency to be silent now that it had started being used. In a House of Commons Hansard debate, agreement echoed from the corridors of power and therefore the simulcasting period was extended until the Radio Authority licensed an FM frequency in the commercial radio sector. The transmitter finally fell silent on 31st January 1992 following an RA request. The AM frequency of 603 was reassigned for an independent radio service. That service was Boss 603 Radio.
Test transmissions for CD603 / 603 Radio / Boss 603 commenced on AM 603 kHz in December 1992 - and launched 3rd March 1993. Whilst the AM commercial station broadcast, locals who wanted to listen to the BBC service heavily pressed the local MPs - see more in our BBC section above. The name change to 603 Radio was later followed by a successful application to the Radio Authority to move over to FM. They were awarded an FM licence by the Radio Authority in May 1998 and began transmitting on the new waveband on 7th September 1998 where they then launched as The Cat later becoming the more radio friendly Cat FM to serve approximately 103,000 people aged over 15.
Rumour has it that the name Boss 603 stands for "Bugger Off Severn Sound". Although we can't verify this, we like to think it's true.
In July 1999, members of the Radio Authority fined 107.5 Cat FM £20,000 for 'serious irregularities in the running of three competitions - this was the highest fine the Authority had ever imposed on a licensee up to that date. It stemmed from a complaint received by the RA in May 1999 about how the station had been conducting it's competitions. It alleged that that a competition to win 40 CDs was run, but that the prizes didn't exist and that a fictitious name was used as a prize winner, that in the following week, the same circumstances applied to a competition to win 20 videos, and that a competition for a cash prize had been won by a person connected to the senior station manager to ensure that the station wouldn't have to pay out an accumulation of money.
The RA's investigations showed that the CD & Video prizes weren't available when the competition was running and that they were ended by the invention of fictitious winners. Additionally, the cash prize competition proved impossible for listeners to solve and that the associated 'winner' was selected to get the end to the competition. Whilst no money was paid out to this person, the RA still considered it to be a serious breach of Programme Code, and noted that the breaches were sanctioned by the station's MD at the time. The RA's Chief Exec, Tony Stoller said that the station 'wilfully and repeatedly misled listeners, hence the severity of the fine' which 'would have been significantly higher for other than a small station. (Info Source: www.radioauthority.org.uk/newsroom/news-release/99/pr107.htm)
Cat FM was mostly owned by TLRC (The Local Radio Company). In January 2001, Westcom Media Limited, who operated Somerset commercials station 107.7 WFM for Weston-Super-Mare, purchased Cat FM for an undisclosed sum. Westcom, led by MD Jon Darch, was set up in 1998 to apply for new local radio licence for the Somerset area, but quickly started carrying out it's expansion plans. At the time of the acquisition, Cat FM was serving around 140,000 adults - RAJAR audience figures showed listening hours had risen to over 150% of the levels shown a year previously.
Subsequently, UKRD purchased Westcom Media Limited at the same time as it took over X-Cel FM in the Fens. They then began the role out of the STAR branding in all areas, and in March 2002, re-launched Cat FM as Star 107.5, whilst also similarly re-launching other recently acquired stations. Cat FM broadcast from Regent Arcade in Cheltenham - it's successor, Star 107.5 now comes from the West Suite on the 1st floor of Cheltenham Film Studios, Arle Court, Hatherley Lane in Cheltenham.
Information amended from the excellent Aircheck UK webpage
CD603, Boss 603, Cheltenham Radio etc Jingles
- Cheltenham Radio - jingles coming soon