Television presenter Philip Schofield has launched what is likely to be the last ILR station in the UK.
Radio Plymouth, of which Philip is an investor, launched at 10am Sunday after seven years with Bruce Hornsby and the Range – The way it is.
Radio Plymouth's station manager and mid-morning presenter Tim Manns also welcomed listeners to the new station, for the start of a special two hour welcome show which will feature the presenters who are part of the line-up.
They include Sally Reader on breakfast, Simon Jupp on drivetime, Richard Gunton on evenings and Tony Blackburn on weekends.
Listen to the launch [link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/download.php?view.79]here[/link].
Originally, five companies applied for the licence in December 2005, with Macquarie [link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.582]winning[/link] it as Diamond FM in March 2006. Less than two years later, the station failed to launch and the licence was handed back to Ofcom. On second advertisement, two companies applied, but Radio Plymouth [link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.3617]won[/link] the battle against UKRD's plans to extend Pirate FM.
Radio Plymouth was one of the last stations to be granted a licence by Ofcom during the final round of commercial licence awards. The only other station to launch from Ofcom's list, is GMG's Real Radio in North Wales, a regional station likely to be an extension of Real Radio in South Wales.