Time 106.8 (now defunct)
Broadcast area	Thamesmead
Frequency	106.8 MHz
First air date	March 18, 1990
Format	Adult Contemporary
Audience share	1.6% (March 2009, [1])
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.

Contents 1 Background 2 History 3 Performance and subsequent closure 4 Presenters 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Background

The station operated out of studios on Basildon Road on the outskirts of Plumstead, sharing its premises with sister station South London Radio 107.3.^[1]

Time 106.8 was, in the final five years of its life, owned by the Sunrise Radio Group.

[edit] 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 1996, having successfully amended its minority-orientated programming obligations with the Radio Authority. The station was put up for sale in June that year, and was purchased by the Milestone Group in 2000. Fusion Radio Holdings later took reigns 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 Meridian Line. 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 - two of which (Time 106.6 in Slough and Time 107.5 in Romford) continue to use the moniker.^[2]

[edit] Performance and subsequent closure

The station consistently struggled to perform in a ferociously 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 an market share of 1%.^[3]

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 4th April 2009.

[edit] Presenters

The presenter line-up prior to the station's closure:

• Tara Jay - Interim Breakfast Presenter
• Martin Gray - Daytime and Evenings
• Trevor Smith - Drivetime
• Eddie Matthews - Weekend Mid-Mornings
• Alex Stevanovic - Saturday Afternoons
• Nathan Cooper - Weekend Evenings
• John Varnham - Sunday mid-mornings
• Richard Linton - Sunday Afternoons
• Dan Davis - Charlton Chat (a weekly football phone-in for supporters of Charlton Athletic FC)
• Pete Flynn - Cover Presenter

At the Time 106.8 relaunch in March 2003, the presenter line-up was as follows:

• Mike Russell - BreakfastTIME
• Sam Gudger - DayTIME
• Richard Price - DriveTIME
• Martyn Jordan - The TIME Machine
• Sarah Kerr - DriveTIME (now with NME Radio)

Other past presenters include:

• Tom Bushell
• Jenny McConnell (now with 96.4FM The Eagle)
• Neil Andrews (now with Time 107.5)
• Dave Moses (went to 2-Ten FM)
• Gary Mulligan (now programme controller at Dream 100 FM)
• Paul Stutch
• Dave Lockwood
• John Lucas
• Mark Fox
• John Leech (now with Time 107.5)
• Jonathan Miles (now with BBC Radio Newcastle)
• Jason Rosam (now with BBC London 94.9)
• Lee Johnson
• Ben Hartley (now with BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey)
• Paul Ellen
• Amy Casey - Breakfast
• Simon Beale (now with Heart London)
• Jamie Wisdom
• Jenny Costello (briefly moved to BBC Radio 1)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Time FM Group website
• Time 106.8 station website

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