ContactRadio Orwell, SGR FM
"Radio Orwell - listen to the music..."
Radio Orwell, SGR FM
Radio Orwell, SGR FM
Launched for Ipswich on 28th October 1975 broadcasting on 97.1FM & 1170AM. Owned by the same company which ran Ipswich commercial station Saxon Radio (97.1) SGR - Suffolk Group Road.
During the 1985-1986 football season, the station were shirt sponsors for Ipswich Town FC.
Radio Orwell (97.1) and nearby Saxon Radio, under the SGR (Suffolk Group Radio) brand was considered a good move, and many believed it would provide a firmer financial base to the local commercial radio scene.
Allan Lee, (a former presenter on Orwell, and now an ex-pat in New Zealand working as a radio journalist for a national network), recalls working at the station from 1982-1988: 'Orwell and Saxon had always been owned by the same parent company, and, indeed, carried the same programmes for large parts of the day. Both stations were owned by Suffolk Group Radio, and our engineering team, led by the nothing-short-of-miraculous Nigel Hunt, devised an ingenious scheme to run two radio stations from one studio. All the commercials were recorded in exactly multiples of 10", and all the station jingles were paired to match exactly. The presenter was faced with two cart stack machines, which automatically fired commercials in sequence (though the presenter could override if necessary). The presenter pressed the split button on the desk, and heard the output for Saxon Radio in one ear and Radio Orwell in the other. More experienced presenters were able to judge when commercial breaks were drifting apart, and could take control manually to make sure that when the jingles fired at the end of the break, they fired together to ensure a seamless mix back into the main programme (which, of course, went out on both stations simultaneously).
This was in the days before computers, so it was all done using relays, cart machines and nimble-fingered technical operators and presenters. It must have worked, because few people seem to realise that the two stations were one and the same for most of the time! Of course, there were the days when the system would drop out of split (which would end up with commercials for both stations going out on both stations on top of each other at the same time); and also those lovely moments when the advertised 30" commercial turned out to be 20" and you had to fling in a trailer to make up the time - which was 10" too long and so left you short on the other station... and so on and so on.
I left the station in 1988 (I went to work for the BBC for eight years, being one of the original presenters for BBC Hereford and Worcester), then emigrated to New Zealand in 1996. There was a huge number of names who were part of the local area's furniture at Orwell and Saxon during the six years I was there. I was initially on drive (The Home Run, with Adrienne Rosen, which was the first ILR news and current affairs programme in the network to be presented from two sites, with me in Ipswich and Adrienne in Bury St Edmunds). I then moved to mid morning, and finally back to drive for a year or so before I left. As well as the people you mention, I bet many remember Melvyn Prior (who did the kids' show 'Boomerang' and then Saxon Breakfast for years before he went to join the BBC in Lincolnshire), Graham Bannerman (who went on to Radio 1), Norman Lloyd (who recently had a small local station going in Ipswich on a limited licence), Kevin Stewart (who went on to run an ILR station in the Channel Islands), Annette Vernon (whom I married and is now living with me in New Zealand!). Nigel Rennie must have been one of the longest serving presenters, with a variety of shows including 'Country Express', his daily afternoon show, and later duties as station manager for Saxon. As you mention in your piece, many of the staff there transferred on to BBC Radio Suffolk, where I know people like Peggy Cole, Rachel Sloane, Steve Foster and Chris Opperman have become stalwarts. Orwell/Saxon was a great station - one of the happiest I ever worked for.
I think it's significant that just before we left for New Zealand, in October 1995 they held a 20th anniversary reunion, and just about everybody turned up, from all over the country. It was a true community station, with a desire to do the best it could for the community it served. It's a shame that independent local radio seems to have lost that "public service" feel, which worked brilliantly with smaller stations in a way that bigger, county-wide BBC stations could not emulate. From a personal point of view, I learned a tremendous amount about the business of making good radio programmes, which has stood me in good stead at different radio stations both in the UK and here in NZ. Anyway, thanks for your well-researched site. We've really enjoyed looking through it and dallying down memory lane, especially from here on the other side of the world. Cheers - Allan Lee
All in all, Radio Orwell was the first independent local radio station to open in East Anglia, but over the years, it was taken over twice, changed its name to SGR and is now part of the GWR group, operating from the West side of Ipswich. So, about those three little letters then...
In 1997, GWR were well into their acquisitions, and, after a shareholder (& other interested parties ) battle, East Anglian Radio's four stations fell into GWR control, taking the company close to the maximum ownership levels then of 35 stations. The usual re-branding to 'today's better music mix' and later 'today's best mix', plus a change of staff followed.
The current SGR licence refers that the station is a contemporary/chart music and information station for the under 40s in the Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds area,. Musically, the station plays current chart hits, new releases or hits up to ten years old. Up to 25% may be hits over 10 years old. Specialist music programmes for a target audience, which fit in with the main musical content of the station can be aired for up to 30 hours in a week, in off-peak programming hours.
The station is music-led, but information and/or features of particular local relevance should be prominent in programming and as drop-in items where programming is not locally originated, except when the Network Chart is aired on Sundays. Hourly news run weekdays and on Saturdays at peak time - national news is carried from IRN outside of these periods. Speech content should be at least 15% of daytime output.
The station broadcasts from the Alpha Business Park, 6-12 White House Road, in Ipswich, broadcasting on 96.4 for Bury and 97.1 for Ipswich. Local programming runs for 16 hours a day during the week, 12 hours on Saturdays and 8 hours on Sundays. Other programming comes from a an alternative location but you're not supposed to really know that! (It's Bristol or Swindon by the way!)
The station is part of the GCap Media plc group of companies.
Information amended from the excellent Aircheck UK webpage
Radio Orwell and SGR Jingles
- Radio Orwell - jingles coming soon