Radio station Bath FM has been saved.

The future of the city's station had been hanging in the balance, but it is now under new ownership after a former Bath resident stepped in to buy it.

Laser Broadcasting, the station's former parent company, was officially placed into administration on Friday following a High Court decision in Leeds.

Insolvency firm Begbies Traynor was called in to sell off the company's assets, including Laser Broadcasting South West, which owned Bath FM, Brunel FM, 3TR in Warminster, QuayWest in Bridgwater and QuayWest in Minehead.

The five stations owned by Laser Broadcasting South West were then bought by former Bath resident and property developer John Roberts, who is also the owner of Exeter-based South West Radio.

South West Radio spokesman Paul Roberts, the son of John Roberts, said: "We are very excited about Bath FM.

"On a personal level we have great ties and history with the city, but from a business point of view we really believe that the station can continue to be a vital part of the local community.

"We have some excellent skills already situated in the station and are working closely with the staff to help them out of the tough period that they have experienced recently under the previous arrangement.

"We aim to continue and improve on what works so well with Bath FM, maintaining quality local radio with the only truly local radio station in the city."

In a further twist, Bristol-based broadcast development company Triple Media Communications, which managed Bath FM during the collapse of Laser, has said it is still interested in buying the station, despite Mr Roberts' purchase.

Triple Media Communications chief executive officer Gary Cottier-Jansen said the firm, which operates out of offices in Bedminster, was interested in buying Bath FM as an individual station but not as a package of five loss-making stations as sold by the administrators of Laser Broadcasting.

Mr Cottier-Jansen has also confirmed that Triple Media Communications will launch a digital radio service for Bath in the next six months, even if it is not able to acquire Bath FM.

He said: "We were unwilling to buy a large group of loss-making radio stations.

"We could have turned Bath FM around into a profitable sustainable business primarily because there is a huge amount of interest from advertisers and listeners."

The Triple Media Communications boss claimed a digital service run alongside the existing FM service would be the best way forward for radio in Bath.

Radio industry ratings organisation Rajar recently released figures suggesting that digital radio audiences in Bath and north east Somerset were higher than the national average.