Quidem to buy Oak FM from Lincs FM group

Touch FM owner Quidem has increased its portfolio from 6 licences to 8 after agreeing a deal to buy Oak FM in Loughborough and Hinckley from the Lincs FM Group.

When complete it will reunite the Loughborough licence with some of its former CN Group sister stations, nearly five years after being bought by Lincs.

Quidem has four Touch FM stations in the Midlands as well as Rugby FM and Banbury Sound. The group was formed to purchase five stations from CN Group in 2009, and later acquired the Banbury licence.

Oak FM in Loughborough started life in 1999 and was bought a few years later by CN. When Lincs FM group purchased the station in autumn 2007 it became the first station they’d acquired rather than won the licence for.

The Hinckley and Nuneaton licence first went on air as Fosseway Radio in November 1998, with owners Lincs FM Group rebranding it as Oak FM in 2008 and going on to share content and studios with the Loughborough licence.

Lincs FM Group Chief Executive Michael Betton told RadioToday.co.uk: “While we’ll be sad to see the Oak FM stations leave the Lincs FM Group, we’re happy they’re joining Quidem, a group which shares our commitment to developing strong local radio stations. Given Quidem’s Touch FM base in Tamworth lies adjacent to Oak FM’s Coalville studios it seemed, to both groups, the perfect fit enabling better sharing of resources for Quidem and strengthening the Oak FM operation, something the Lincs FM Group couldn’t have easily done. The decision now enables the Lincs FM Group to concentrate on strengthening its successful footprint of stations across East, South and West Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, North Nottinghamshire and Rutland.”

Quidem Chief Executive Steve Orchard said: “Our radio stations are performing extremely well with revenues in very strong growth, and our highly localised content has won recognition across our patch and nationally at the Sony and Arqiva Awards: we are currently enjoying the status of Arqiva Commercial Radio Station of the Year at Coventry’s 96.2 Touch FM. Last month Touch FM’s Pride of Stratford awards earned plaudits in the House of Commons. Now is the perfect time for us to develop the successful Quidem model on a bigger platform. Oak FM will increase our footprint by 31% to 1.3 million adults and that will bring considerable commercial benefits.”