Editing Independent Local Radio (section)

===Split services===
In 1986 the [[Home Office]] sanctioned in principle the idea that different services could be broadcast on each station's FM and AM frequency and six experiments of split programming on Independent Local Radio of up to ten hours a week took place, although the first experimental part-time split service had taken place two years earlier when [[Radio Forth]] created Festival City Radio for the duration of the [[Edinburgh International Festival|Edinburgh Festival]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Murray |first1=John |title=End of radio era as transmitter that created Radio Forth legends Jay Crawford and Steve Hamilton is turned off |url=https://www.fifetoday.co.uk/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/end-of-radio-era-as-transmitter-that-created-radio-forth-legends-jay-crawford-and-steve-hamilton-is-turned-off-4457883 |website=FiFe Today |date=26 December 2023 |publisher=National World Publishing Ltd. |access-date=26 December 2023}}</ref> The first station to permanently split their frequencies was [[Guildford|Guildford's]] [[County Sound]]<ref name="countysound">[https://web.archive.org/web/20151025003440/http://www.mds975.co.uk/Content/countysnd01.html County Sound Radio] MDS975, retrieved 8 August 2007</ref> who rebranded the FM output as Premier Radio and turned the AM output into a new golden oldies station, County Sound Gold in 1988.

By 1988, the government had decided that the practice of splitting was beneficial and a quick way to increase choice for listeners. The IBA then began encouraging ILR stations to split their services and most soon complied. The usual format was to have a "gold" (oldies) service on AM and pop music on FM, although Radio City tried "City Talk" on AM before abandoning the format and replacing it with a "gold" station. By the start of the 1990s, most stations had done 'the splits' with the final stations ending waveband simulcasting by the mid-1990s.