BBC North West Tonight

There were plans for Radio Cheshire which were cancelled in 2007 when the BBC didn't get the licence fee increase it was hoping for, along with stations for Dorset, Bradford, the Black Country and an expansion of Somerset into a full station (it continues to exist as an opt-out of Radio Bristol).


It was the second time plans for a Radio Dorset were cancelled, the first being in 1990. There was, however, the short-lived Dorset FM in the mid-90s, which opted out of Radio Devon for about three hours a day, which was replaced by Solent for Dorset in 1996. Talking of which...


It does - they changed Radio Solent to the Dorset feed a year or two back after new transmitters were opened extending local DAB across the county. Both the webpage for Breakfast in Dorset https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p037bgsk and the presenter's Twitter page https://twitter.com/SteveHarrisDJ note that the programme can be heard on DAB.

Ah, good, thanks for that. West Dorset is still not covered by the Dorset (aka Bournemouth) local mux,
so towns such as Bridport, Lyme Regis, and Beaminster have no coverage (except on Freeview).
In fact, if that area does ever receive a local DAB service, it'll be an extension of the Exeter/Torbay mux, and not Dorset

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/82908/coverage-exeter-torbay-dab-multiplex-mar16.pdf

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0027/83295/bournemouthdab_coverage_plan_final_report_jan15.pdf

Does BBC Radio Devon (despite its name) officially "look after" that W-SW corner of Dorset?

I'm not sure, it would sort of make sense, as that would fit nicely with TV coverage. Their FM signal is pretty usable there

It used to, BBC Dorset FM 103.8 was an opt-out of BBC Radio Devon. Back then, Dorset FM had a breakfast show from 6.30am to 9am, and a one hour midday slot. Now, it's paired with BBC Radio Solent as BBC Radio Solent for Dorset, despite the fact that Bournemouth is and always has been covered by the Southampton-based Solent, and they only have a breakfast opt-out from 6.30am to 9am.

Indeed, but then as now, 103.8 is not receivable in West Dorset. However vanilla BBC Devon on 97.5 and/or 104.3 is. Wessex FM ( who share the BBC transmitter at Bincombe Hill) soon added a second FM transmitter at Bridport. Ratings wise I suspect they clean up the local radio audience in W Dorset ?

In that case, I would suggest 999 MW. But then again, West Dorset doesn't have any major population centres, unlike where the Dorset FM frequency broadcasts to, where you have Weymouth and Portland, and Dorchester. Lyme Regis and Bridport are about as major as West Dorset gets, and that's not very large at all.

It would be great to get West Dorset added, but I see nothing from the BBC that indicates they have any interest right now in filling that coverage gap.

999 is the Fareham Tx that carries vanilla Solent, not the Dorset version. 1359 carries Dorset, though
that doesn't penetrate W Dorset very well, (the Tx is in Bournemouth) (in fact 999 is probably better !)

So that's how BBC Solent for Dorset gets in to Bournemouth, on AM.

It does (assuming 1359 now carries the Dorset '103.8' opt ?). It was only intended to provide Bournemouth and Poole with an AM fill-in of vanilla Solent. (1594 from Sept 1973, that switched to 1359 in Nov 78 )

The Beeb's initial plan for a full Radio Dorset, was to use 95.7 from Poole (mirroring ILR 2CR) and (as we have now), 103.8 from Bincombe, mirroring Wessex FM, with 1359 being reassigned from Solent..

95.7 remains unused (as does 104.7 for a Ventnor relay)

If they've never promoted the station with the old 'in Dorset? ... Yes I thoroughly recommend it' joke the they need a new marketing team

Going back to the Breakfast in Dorset homepage, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p037bgsk , it states that the Julian Clegg breakfast show can be heard on 1359, so that would be the main Solent feed. On the other hand, Wikipedia reckons that 1359 carries the Dorset version. So the situation isn't clear, but personally, I would take the BBC over Wikipedia.