Ofcom has awarded the new local commercial radio licence for Bristol to Original 106 — a station which will run a 24-hour newsroom and employ six news journalists.
The station, part-owned by Canadian media giant Canwest, follows a similar format to the group's new station in the Solent region — also called Original 106 — which will begin broadcasting on 1 October.
Richard Johnson, director of Seven Broadcasting, which owns a stake in the station, told Press Gazette: "The format is broadly similar to Solent, although there are some slight tweaks and some slight differences. It's a properly resourced, standalone station."
Instead of using one of the standard satellite news feeds such as IRN or Sky News Radio during off-peak, the Original 106 newsroom will be staffed around the clock.
Johnson said: "News is one of these key differentiators. No one has a monopoly on the music that one plays, so the bits that really make the difference are the self-created bits like news. We regard local news as a real reason to tune in."
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