History
The station was originally conceived by an Independent Local Radio presenter, Keri Jones, who ran the first Restricted Service Licence in 1995. Following a final RSL in December 1996, a county councillor and local businessman, Phil Greatorex, created the financial structure necessary for Quay West Radio Ltd to apply for a full-time licence. At the time, it was the smallest full-time commercial Independent Local Radio station in the country. It went on air in August 1998. It was largely attributable to Greatorex's innovative financial structure and "out of the box" thinking to previously-unchallenged radio industry concepts that ensured the ongoing survival of such a small station.
In September 2008, it was suggested that parent company Laser Broadcasting were in financial trouble, and posts on forums suggested the company had failed to pay its staff for several months.
On 3 October 2008, it was announced that a petition to wind up Laser had been published.
Later that month, it was reported that Laser Broadcasting had volunteered to go into administration. Then came the revelation that the stations would be run in the interim by Bridgwater Broadcasting Services (BBS) Ltd while administrators were appointed. Both stations were then taken over, along with three other stations, by a new company, South West Radio Ltd. South West Radio Ltd went into administration in 2009, and the stations it owned were eventually bought by Your Media Group.
Communications Regulator Ofcom refused to transfer the licences to Your Media Group (YMC) in December 2009 and again in 2010. The licences remain with the original limited companies, and therefore effectively all five radio services, including the two Quaywest stations, remain in administration.
On 24 March 2010, the five YMC Ltd stations were closed by administrators after multiple refusals on the part of Ofcom to transfer the licenses, following a number of financial issues at the stations following TLRC's sale.
Read more about this topic: Quay West 102.4/100.8
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