Our History
Our unique story and journey from our inception to the present day forms the very fabric of what makes local radio, and Outreach Radio in particular, so special.
How it all Started
Our story began in March 2020, when we began broadcasting as Lockdown FM, on 100.7 FM, one of eight temporary COVID-19 Short-Term Restricted Service Licences (SRSL’s) granted by Ofcom to radio stations across the UK seeking to support their local areas during the pandemic which ensued.
When the UK entered its first national lockdown in March 2020, Founder & Managing Director, Osman Sen-Chadun, also known as “DJ Oz”, began to wonder whether others were experiencing the same sense of uncertainty and isolation brought about by the relentless stream of dismal news on radio and television. Drawing on his background as a former pirate radio operator, and with the help of his then 15-year-old son, Onur Sen-Chadun, best known for hosting The Groovy Pelican show, he set about establishing a radio station from his home in Chandler’s Ford. Using his existing studio, together with FM transmitter equipment, they began broadcasting from home.
Within just a few months of the station launching, Lockdown FM had attracted a dedicated team of nearly 30 volunteer radio presenters, all broadcasting from their own homes to provide uplifting music, information and entertainment to communities across Romsey, Eastleigh, Chandler’s Ford and North Baddesley, our original broadcast area.
When the first nationwide lockdown came to an end in September 2020, Lockdown FM was rebranded as Outreach Radio, in the belief that restrictions were behind us and that life would soon return to normal.
How wrong we were!
After being informed by Ofcom that the temporary FM licence was going to end in September 2020, on the basis that the lockdown was over, Outreach Radio received a deluge of emails and letters of support asking if we could stay on the air. Unfortunately, permanent FM licences were no longer being issued. However, in October 2020, Ofcom granted a permanent DAB licence to Outreach Radio, which officially marked our transition into a commercial station. This licence allowed us to broadcast on the local commercial DAB network serving South Hampshire & the Isle of White, reaching Romsey, Eastleigh, Chandler’s Ford, Hedge End, Southampton, Portsmouth, Fareham, Gosport, Havant, Waterlooville.
In November 2020, the second nationwide Coronavirus lockdown took effect, and Ofcom offered a further extension to our temporary Covid-19 FM licence, allowing Outreach Radio to broadcast simultaneously on FM and DAB.
Outreach Radio was one of three radio services in the UK (the other two locations were Leicester and Wales), that maintained a 24/7 radio service throughout the time of the pandemic. The service continued until August 2021, when the temporary FM licence came to its official end, leaving the 100.7 FM frequency silent once again.
The Story Behind the New Name
OUTREACH RADIO: a superb collective of local radio stations founded in the Romsey, Eastleigh, Chandlers Ford and Hedge End area during the pandemic of 2020, and operated by a wonderful team Reaching Out to serve Hampshire & surrounding areas with great music music, information and entertainment.
The R–EA–C-H in the name OUTREACH represents the communities from which we emerged.
The Evolution of Outreach Radio’s Services
September 2022
Following the success of “Club Lockdown” and dance music radio shows, Outreach Radio spun off a sister station in September 2022 called Outreach Dance after recognising that Outreach Radio had created two disparate audiences. A new SS-DAB (Small-scale Digital Audio Broadcasting) transmitter had just launched, providing coverage across Winchester and the surrounding areas. Recognising an opportunity to expand its reach, Outreach sought to utilise the new SS-DAB+ service, where Outreach Dance began broadcasting across.
Meanwhile, due to the high operating costs of operating Outreach Radio on the commercial local DAB network, and the extremely low advertising revenues experienced as businesses recovered from the impact of the pandemic, it had become financially unsustainable to remain on the local DAB network. Outreach Radio therefore joined Outreach Dance and transitioned to the new small-scale DAB (SS-DAB) network serving Winchester and surrounding areas.
Bringing the finest dance music to the South Coast and beyond
Outreach Dance brings listeners the very best electronic dance music, from House, Techno & Trance, to Old Skool Rave, Jungle, Drum & Bass & Garage. The station also features home-grown and international DJ’s such as Alison Wonderland, Dave Pearce, deadmau5, Judge Jules, Nicky Romero, Paul Oakenfold, Paul van Dyk, Roger Sanchez, Stephani B & Tiesto, bringing the best DJ’s and dance music to our local area, whilst showcasing local music & talent externally.
October 2022
In our next phase of SS-DAB expansion across Hampshire, a new transmitter covering Basingstoke and surrounding areas took to the air in October 2022.
This new network provided Outreach Radio & Outreach Dance the opportunity to extend coverage into this area of North Hampshire, which is a key residential and business area that forms a crucial part of our local, social and commuter route.
January 2023
In January 2023, Outreach Radio and Outreach Dance also joined the Portsmouth SS-DAB network, extending coverage across Portsmouth, and broadening Outreach Radio’s reach to listeners across another major population centre in Hampshire.
November 2023
Outreach Radio and Outreach Dance, together with a number of community and hospital radio stations, suffered a major setback as the local company operating Winchester and Basingstoke SS-DAB networks entered administration, resulting in the shutdown of the local SS-DAB transmitters. Despite the impact on our business, we were devastated by this news, as the SS-DAB company was operated by a wonderful person who had worked very hard for many years to support community and charity radio stations.
In an urgent attempt to recover the situation, the management of Outreach Radio rapidly formulated a plan…
Osman, the MD of Outreach Radio, led the efforts in setting up a new company and consortium who were able to take on the SS-DAB licences and purchase the transmitter equipment for Winchester & Basingstoke. With his experience as a former pirate radio operator, Osman was accustomed to setting up transmitters in unusual places, and his 25 years of experience in Arqiva, a broadcasting & communications critical infrastructure organisation that operates the core transmission network for terrestrial TV and radio broadcasting in the UK, meant that he was well-equipped to develop complex technical plans and work to tight deadlines whilst meeting Ofcom regulatory requirements. With support from friends who had also transitioned from ex-pirates into the legal broadcasting industry, a highly experienced team was assembled.
Osman was joined by Alan Beech from local broadcast installation services company Commtronix, Chief Engineer for Radio Caroline’s current AM service, and Rashid Mustafa MBE from digris who worked tirelessly as new engineering and transmission plans were developed, pioneering the concept and development of SS-DAB whilst working for Ofcom.
February 2024
Winchester SS-DAB returned to the airwaves in February 2024, a record 3 months after it’s shutdown, bringing Outreach Radio, Outreach Dance, Winchester Radio (based at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital), and some Southampton community radio stations back to the airwaves of Winchester.
July 2024
Skyline Gold, the long-standing and well-respected community radio station serving the southern parishes of South Hampshire for 19 years, sadly decided to close down their service, also citing financial difficulties.
Outreach Radio was passed the baton to continue the operation of the FM service on 102.5 FM, bringing us back onto the local FM band. Securing the FM licence officially marked the Outreach network’s transition into a hybrid broadcaster, combining both commercial and community broadcasting. To date, Outreach remains unusual in achieving this hybrid status, successfully bringing both models together in this way. Although we hold a commercial licence, we remain deeply committed to our community values and to delivering a service that reflects, supports and engages with the communities we serve.
A number of former Skyline Gold radio presenters have since joined the Outreach Radio family, and in recognition of the Gold music service that warmed the Hampshire airwaves for nearly two decades, Outreach Radio has created “Super Retro Sundays”, playing music strictly from the 1950s to the 1980s from 6am to 6pm.
August 2024
The long-awaited SS-DAB network for Southampton took to the airwaves.
The licence for this area was awarded to a consortium made up of a larger commercial radio broadcaster as majority shareholder, partnered with several community radio stations from Southampton. With a short time remaining in which to bring Southampton SS-DAB on-air, the commercial radio stakeholder decided to exit, citing financial non-viability, thus leaving the community radio stations stranded with what was deemed not enough time to construct a new plan for approval by Ofcom, let alone carry out the complex installation works.
Once again, Osman and Alan stepped up to the challenge, producing new plans, and completing the installation a few days shy of the licence deadline, bringing Outreach Radio, Outreach Dance, and the Southampton community radio stations to SS-DAB in Southampton.
October 2024
Building on the success of Outreach Radio’s classical music programmes and drawing on the area’s rich heritage of classical music, Outreach Classical was spun off in October 2024. Initially available online, on smart speakers and on mobile devices, the station supported local classical music and broadcasting performances from local ensembles.
The Finest Classical Music to Hampshire & Surrounding Areas
Outreach Classical became Outreach Radio’s third station, featuring local musicians, ensembles and choirs, and live services from a rotation of local churches every Sunday morning.
November 2024
Basingstoke SS-DAB returned to the airwaves exactly one year after its closure in November 2023, after the original operating company fell into administration.
The team comprising Osman, Alan & Rashid created a new plan that would ultimately lead to the installation of a brand-new transmitter site for Basingstoke. The complex legal work required took most of the year to ratify, and the end of November 2024 saw the re-launch of Basingstoke SS-DAB, carrying Outreach Radio, Outreach Dance, Basingstoke Hospital Radio and other ultra local community radio stations.
June – November 2025
Building works commenced at The Hilt, Hiltingbury Community Centre in Chandlers Ford to deliver purpose-designed office and studio accommodation for Outreach.
February 2026
Outreach Radio officially opened its brand-new studio at The Hilt in Chandler’s Ford, with the opening carried out by the Mayor of Eastleigh, Councillor Janice Asman. The studio represented a significant investment in the station, providing a dedicated workplace for presenters to collaborate, conduct interviews and engage with the local community, while also serving as a vital space for training, youth development and mentoring.
March 2026
Research had shown that the success and audience growth of Outreach Radio had created two audience groups, which overlapped in musical tastes in 80s music. However, due to the generational differences, these audiences have different needs and requirements from their local radio service. To better fit the needs of our local audience, Outreach Gold was launched on DAB+, online, on smart speakers and on mobile to focus on content from the 60’s to 80’s, allowing Outreach Radio to focus on 80’s to 00’s & present. Outreach Gold became Outreach Radio’s third sister station.
Your Truly Local Classic Hits Station
Now licenced to Outreach Gold, 1557 kHz AM has been active for over 40 years and was the former commercial radio frequency of Ocean Sound and Capital Gold.
March 2026
A second studio was opened in West End, Southampton, in March 2026, shortly after launching our Chandler’s Ford studio. This second studio was established primarily as the hub also plays a central role in the network’s efforts to keep old-school radio alive.
May 2026
Following the closure of local radio services across Hampshire, Outreach Extra was built for young listeners seeking training, long-term work experience and mentoring in media & broadcast. Outreach supports a high volume of work experience placements each year from young people in schools, colleges, university and employment across our region, and it was considered an ideal opportunity to create a station dedicated to them, which was subsequently launched online, on smart speakers and on mobile devices. Through long-term technical training and mentorship in a safe, professional studio environment, we help young people build the skills, confidence, and experience to thrive.
Your Truly Local Sound of Young Hampshire
At Outreach Extra we are passionate about championing and supporting the next generation, and through a dedicated platform, we empower young voices across the South to create, connect, and be heard.
Our Company Ethos & Values
With all the local & regional commercial radio stations across our region now taken over by major media corporations, re-branded, and “converted” to national services from centralised locations in other parts of the country, Outreach Radio is now the only locally-based independent radio station serving all of Hampshire.
This is an important responsibility, as we know first-hand the value that local radio can bring to an area, and the social benefits that we can provide.
Our mission is to provide listeners across our local area with a source of great music, reliable local information and a voice of friendliness & positivity, while remaining focused and dedicated to the towns and villages in our local area, ensuring we are a consistent, undiluted and genuine voice of local people.
We focus our efforts on lowering the barrier to entry for airtime & advertising to local businesses by offering competitive, smart and affordable advertising solutions with great listener reach, supporting local communities, people of all ages, businesses, charities & councils across our region.
Whilst we are a not-for-profit company, we depend entirely on revenues from advertising and sponsorship to sustain our service. If you are interested in advertising or supporting Outreach Radio, please do not hesitate to contact us.
The Brains Behind the Machine!
Industry expert, Founder and Managing Director for the Outreach network, Osmen Sen-Chadun, best known as Oz or DJ Oz, spent his corporate career engineering the mass-scale digital future for the UK’s biggest TV channels as Head of Technical Development at the leading broadcast infrastructure provider (Arqiva, originally the IBA, later ntl).
Long before starting Outreach, Osman was deeply immersed in the world of broadcasting, technology, and electronic engineering. He is a self-taught electronic engineer, having custom-designed and built FM transmitters for pirate radio stations in the late ’80s and ’90s. For nearly a decade, he operated his own pirate community radio station, until he was caught late at night installing an antenna on a multi-storey car park roof.
Thankfully, a friendly DTI Radiocommunications Agency Investigation Officer by the name of John Garlick recognised his technical brilliance and suggested he use his talents to pursue a university education and seek a “proper” career in broadcasting, a pivotal moment that shaped his future, and to which he remains grateful to Mr Garlick for planting the seed that changed his life.
He has advised community radio stations across the UK & Ireland over the last 20 years, guiding them through licence applications, business planning, and technical setup. He manufactured FM transmitters to legal standards, helping many former pirate radio colleagues transition into legitimate broadcasting. Oz became a vocal advocate for licenced community radio, lobbying the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) to support local communities and local radio stations.
Professional Career
Drawing on this wealth of experience and knowledge, Oz made the transition from his early career in banking, following his studies in Business & Finance, into the world of broadcasting. He became a broadcast engineer in London, looking after FM & TV transmitters for the UK’s biggest broadcasters, where he rose to become Head of Technology Development, leading an award-winning team that spearheaded ground-breaking innovations for major global broadcasters. Further developing his career, he went on to serve as Executive Director for an international technology standards body in Berlin, working with broadcasters and regulatory bodies in shaping the future of streaming services. Alongside his professional roles, he also holds qualifications as a Chartered IT Professional and Fellow of the Royal Chartered Institute for IT (FBCS CITP).
Osman is a tech-head who understands radio from every single angle, enabling Outreach Radio to be so technically advanced.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, Osman drew on his extensive background in studio engineering and operations to launch Outreach Radio, formerly known as Lockdown FM, to keep the local community connected. Oz’s career reflects a unique blend of technical expertise, community service, and dedication to mentoring young people in media, broadcasting and technology.