Radio empire grows with Quay takeover (From Daily Echo)

Celador buys another Hampshire radio station in Portsmouth's The Quay

11:50am Tuesday 20th July 2010 in Hampshire Business By Gareth Lewis, Business Editor

SLUMDOG Millionaire producer Celador has bought yet another Hampshire radio station as it extends its grip on the county’s airwaves.

The entertainment giant has snapped up Portsmouth’s Quay radio after owners Portsmouth Football Club put it into administration.

The deal is the fulfilment of a plan to buy two further local radio stations first aired by Celador chairman Paul Smith in an interview with the Daily Echo in January.

Celador’s flagship station in the region is The Coast,which it bought from Canadian media giant Canwest as Original 106 in 2008 and is now in the process of revamping with a £1m investment.

Then it moved to buy up Play Radio – owner of The Saint and Winchester station Dream FM in April this year.

This latest takeover, for an undisclosed sum, will mean the end of Quay, with the station joining Celador’s new Breeze station on the 107.4fm frequency.

It means the radio stations that served Southampton and Portsmouth’s fiercely rival football teams are now effectively merged – Quay previously broadcast Pompey’s games and The Saint aired Southampton’s matches.

More importantly, the deal also creates a new radio network stretching across south Hampshire, from Winchester to Portsmouth, and signals the end for a succession of small local stations that have struggled financially.

The Saint – originally South City Fm before being bought for £1m by then Saints chairman Rupert Lowe to broadcast Saints games – always struggled to make a profit and Saints’ relegation from the Premier League saw it sold as part of spending cuts. In July 2007 it was bought by Town & Country Broadcasting for about £100,000, merged with Winchester’s Dream FM and renamed Radio Hampshire in an attempt to move it away from being a football focused broadcaster.

But it was again dogged by financial woes, collapsing into administration with debts of £70,000 just two years on, and was off the air until online and instore broadcaster Play Radio bought the licence from the liquidator.

The Breeze, which is due to launch on July 31, is aimed at upmarket 40-59-yearolds with a “slight female bias”. It will broadcast classic and contemporary easy listening music on the 107 frequency and be based in the Southampton headquarters of The Coast.