Gwent Broadcasting

Gwent Broadcasting (also known on air as GB Radio) was an Independent Local Radio (ILR) station based in Newport, in south Wales. It broadcast from 13 June 1983 to 24 April 1985. The smallest ILR station in Britain during its existence,^[1] it struggled to overcome initial debts and a slowdown in the radio advertising market. Attempts to merge outright with Cardiff Broadcasting Company (CBC), the ILR station in Cardiff, failed to garner sufficient support from that station's shareholders; while these attempts dragged on, the station folded. After one month off the air, with the approval of the Independent Broadcasting Authority and unions, CBC provided an interim sustaining service for the Newport area, broadcast from the transmitters previously used by Gwent Broadcasting. Both stations, each facing their own financial difficulties, were taken over by Red Rose Radio of Lancashire and relaunched as one service, Red Dragon Radio, on 14 October 1985.