would become The Gold AM The Gold AM launched on its mediumwave transmitters, effectively permanently separating from its FM counterpart. An all-oldies format playing 1960s and 1970s pop music, it won the right to use the name after a court battle with County Sound, a station originating from Guildford, Surrey, selected County Sound GOLD, later resulting in the Surrey station adopting its First Gold Radio moniker. Ocean Sound and The Light FM continued as before on 97.5 and 96.7 MHz FM, whilst Ocean Sound (West) relaunched as a music-intensive youth pop station – 103.2 Power FM on 4 December 1988. Power FM was designed as a direct competitor to BBC Radio 1 in the area, with a heavy rotation of chart and Top 40 pop and mainstream dance, with quick hourly news and information. It aimed to win over Radio 1 listeners who were frustrated by the fact that the BBC station would remain on mediumwave only in the area until May 1990, despite the fact that in the autumn of 1988 it was regularly plugging its new FM transmitters, sometimes giving the impression that it could already be heard on FM throughout the UK. The services were, however, 24 hours a day and overnights were a single programme with the DJ not identifying the service and separate jingles playing to the correct transmitter to give the impression that the listener was still tuned to the service for that frequency. Mergers, takeovers and relaunches Sussex radio station Southern Sound looked upon Ocean Sound as a potential takeover target, citing its location in a prosperous and commercially attractive area of England. So in 1992 a merger was agreed forming Southern Radio Holdings plc, which would see the following further changes to Ocean Sound: Ocean Sound and The Light FM would unite as Ocean Sound – Classic Hits (later abbreviated just to Ocean FM) Power FM would continue as before The Gold AM would merge with Southern Sound's AM frequencies to create South Coast Radio. Ocean FM was reduced to an opt-out service from the main Sussex station, sharing output for most of the day with local news every half-hour at breakfast and drivetime. South Coast Radio would take on a much more relaxed sound with the slogan "Light and Easy", playing mostly Easy Listening and soft Gold hits. In 1994 Capital Radio, looking for expansion possibilities, opted to purchase Southern Radio