Two more radio stations ceased transmission on Friday night, as the number of station closures continues to increase. South 107.3 and Time 106.8 were sold but the new buyer could not afford to run the stations.
Time, which covers Greenwich and surrounding parts of South East London, and South London Radio targeting Lewisham and Bromley, closed at midnight Friday after operating non-stop music since Tuesday.
Both stations were sold on the 22nd February to an individual who after seven days of ownership informed staff that he could not afford to fund the stations and would need to sell one station to fund the other. At this point staff had already not been paid for the month of February.
Since the announcement staff have been working at the station free of charge in the hopes a new buyer would be found. After allot of work a potential buyer was found who was very keen to acquire the stations and take them forward. Several obstacles were put into their way which saw the sale of both stations come to a halt.
A spokesperson for the stations told RadioToday.co.uk: "We wish to thank to every single listener throughout our years of broadcasting and every single person who was involved with the stations past and present whom without would have made South, South-East London & North West Kent a much quieter place on the radio dial."
In the latest RAJAR book, Time had a Q-on-Q reach of 14,000 (3 per cent) and a share of 0.6 per cent, while South London Radio was up slightly from the previous quarter, to just 7,000 listeners (2 per cent) and a 0.6 cent share.
Both stations have had several changes in name and ownership since their respective launches. Time began as community outfit Radio Thamesmead in 1990, before becoming RTM and latterly Millennium FM, settling on the Time brand after being purchased by Litt in 2004.
South London Radio started broadcasting as urban station FLR First Love Radio, becoming Fusion shortly afterwards. It was briefly known as Time 107.3 before being spun off as South London Radio in 2007.
