Piccadilly Radio in the early days, Roger Day, Stevi Merike, Ray Teret, Pete Reeves, Andy Peebles, Tim Grundy and lots more. Great music and great fun.
Beacon 303 with Mark Williams, Tony Paul, Mike Baker etc and lots of great music.
You are right though, the 70's and 80's were the high water mark of local commercial radio, they were all local and different. I can't comment on Capital as I never heard it often, just occasionally if I was driving near London. But Radio Trent in those days was great, even the early Leicester Sound when it was part of the Trent Group. The rot set in when they became the better music mix.
For me Power FM in th early 90s had it all for me. It was bang on target for my age group at the time, sounded fresher and better than Radio One, had that FAB news at two minutes to the hour and "another five songs in a row" right on the hour. Local content wise the news and travel were as strong as any at the time.
Yup, Power FM circa 93-94 was the best radio I've heard to date. Great playlist, lively DJs and oh-so-slick imaging. :cool:
Also remember "96.4 Sound Wave" sounding very good on a rugby tour to Swansea in 96 and 97.
Allinson, Tarrant, Sharp, Brown, Jensen, Fox, Collins, Long. The combination of tremendous personalities playing hot music with memorable imaging and brilliant competitions was the best I ever heard.
Top quality music radio, plus it absolutely oozed 'London'.
Power FM in mid 90s even though I lived outside its coverage area, it was worth the struggle to pick it up.
Also The NRG when it first launched in the late 90s when David Harber and James Bromley were still running it, great shows like David and Emily's brekky show, lost the plot saturday lunchtime slot, etc etc
I'm with Mapperley Ridge and Sweaty71 on the Power FM thing. It just sounded so hot! That two-minute news read to time, up to the hour bang on, was just genius! Then five songs in a row with oh-so-slick imaging. Chris Kelly and Pete Wardman were my top jocks.
Then it just has to be Chiltern, The Hot FM. We'd never heard anything like it back then. Can't remember if it pre-dated Power's glory days or if they were contemporaneous?
Having said all that, not sure if either of them were particularly "local" but they sounded great.
I'm with Mapperley Ridge and Sweaty71 on the Power FM thing. It just sounded so hot! That two-minute news read to time, up to the hour bang on, was just genius! .
It had to be: the same newsreader then went straight on to read the news on Ocean FM!
Try Clyde One. A hell of a station that reflects the very essesence of Glasgow. Forth One also hits the mark as a very local yet interesting station to listen to.
It had to be: the same newsreader then went straight on to read the news on Ocean FM!
Yes I know! I used to love that - if Power went even a few seconds over time there would often be a deathly silence on Ocean/Southern at the top of the hour between the ad break and the news, or the news jingle and a breathless newsreader introducing themselves.
At least it proved it was all live, all the time. I don't think the RA would have even entertained the idea of pre-recorded news, nor would the management at the time.
Try Clyde One. A hell of a station that reflects the very essesence of Glasgow. Forth One also hits the mark as a very local yet interesting station to listen to.
Not no more...those days have gone as far as I can hear :-(
The HOT FM! Serving Herts Beds and bucks Chiltern radio!
Thats what I grew up with, Chiltern came on air around 1982/3 on 95.5 & 97.5 FM and of course 792 & 828 MW! They later moved 97.5 to 97.6 due to interference from LBC in the South Herts area. And in 1986, 95.5 was moved to 96.9 in the big frequency shuffle at the time. The Hot FM I think was their tag from 1988 - 1995 before they were 'GWR'ed'
Thats what I grew up with, Chiltern came on air around 1982/3 on 95.5 & 97.5 FM and of course 792 & 828 MW! They later moved 97.5 to 97.6 due to interference from LBC in the South Herts area. And in 1986, 95.5 was moved to 96.9 in the big frequency shuffle at the time. The Hot FM I think was their tag from 1988 - 1995 before they were 'GWR'ed'
97.5 and the two am's were clearly audible in North Kent.Seem to remember the North one was called Chiltern Ouse Valley for a while and the two services used to split for specialist show in the evenings.I remember Phil Holden's show continuing on 792 after 8 while 97.5 had Asian,Country,Irish and all sorts of stuff.
From my time in the south in the late 80s, I couldn't agree more. Nick Abbott and the late Tommy Vance especially worth listening to.
From my northern roots though, definitely Piccadilly 1974 - 1980, and JFM 100.4 1994-95 (before the mutation into Jazz FM then Smooth FM, or whatever it's called this week).
Piccadilly Radio in the early days, Roger Day, Stevi Merike, Ray Teret, Pete Reeves, Andy Peebles, Tim Grundy and lots more. Great music and great fun.
Beacon 303 with Mark Williams, Tony Paul, Mike Baker etc and lots of great music.
Agree with every single word you typed there!
Piccadilly Radio was a great sounding station in its infancy and certainly up until the early 1980's was a great listen.
Beacon was great when it started and seems to have gone through peaks and troughs throughout its life. Its worst period was obviously through the dark days of GWR ownership but I think it is sounding good right now.
Current favourites also include Radio Maldwyn, Sunshine 855 and L107.
97.5 and the two am's were clearly audible in North Kent.Seem to remember the North one was called Chiltern Ouse Valley for a while and the two services used to split for specialist show in the evenings.I remember Phil Holden's show continuing on 792 after 8 while 97.5 had Asian,Country,Irish and all sorts of stuff.
I can remember 95.5 (now 96.9) being the Ouse valley service and Huntingdon & Cambridgeshire were part of the TSA.
Fox FM were also a very good service for Oxfordshire & West Buckinghamshire when they launched back in 1989.
But for me, one of the best stations I've heard for localness, music and personality presenters is Lincs FM 102.2 and still is today. I can remember the ILR's back in the 80's and Lincs FM that launched in 1992 used to be like time stood still, especially with the sung jingles!
I first heard Lincs when I lived in Milton Keynes and picked them up after I had an aerial & rotator installed. At the time all I had around me were the 'Better Music Mix' stations, so after hearing Lincs it was like a breath of fresh air at the time.
I actually really liked Capital Gold South Wales in the period immediately after it was re-branded from Touch Radio in the late 90s.
We has the excellent Tony Wright on breakfast, and still had local programming during daytime (I didn't particularly mind when they started networking during dayime). There was Tony Blackburn on drive as well.
I especially liked the tone of the sports coverage during this period. We had local sports coverage from Gary Weaver and the late Phil Suarez, while on big European nights there was networked coverage from Jonathan Pearce and Tony Gale, with otehrs like Billy Bonds being involved. Incidentally, we DIDN'T take the Thursday night networked sports phone-in 'Gale with Pace'. Instead, Gary Weaver intercepted music with local sports news.
It went downhill in 2000 when Capital Gold dropped sport around here when Real Radio took over commentary rights. I only listened for Tony Wright and later Alex Belfield at nights after that.
I can remember 95.5 (now 96.9) being the Ouse valley service and Huntingdon & Cambridgeshire were part of the TSA.
Fox FM were also a very good service for Oxfordshire & West Buckinghamshire when they launched back in 1989.
But for me, one of the best stations I've heard for localness, music and personality presenters is Lincs FM 102.2 and still is today. I can remember the ILR's back in the 80's and Lincs FM that launched in 1992 used to be like time stood still, especially with the sung jingles!
I first heard Lincs when I lived in Milton Keynes and picked them up after I had an aerial & rotator installed. At the time all I had around me were the 'Better Music Mix' stations, so after hearing Lincs it was like a breath of fresh air at the time.
Well the boss has always been enthusiastic about truly local radio-the old boss of Ocean Fm Michael Betton who introduced four different services on the South Coast before departing for Lincs.Contrast that with those groups who just seem to be into just putting out the bare minimum in terms of local content and variety.
Early BRMB. It's launch, with Kevin Morrison on breakfast, was really exciting. It's early days saw George Ferguson take over on breakfast. Also there were Ed Doolan, Peter Windows, Brian Sheppard (news editor), Tony Butler on sport. Les Ross came along after a couple of years to make the breakfast show his own. Great stuff.
I moved to Manchester soon after BRMB launched, and used to drive across the Pennines to hear early Radio Hallam. What a line-up: Johnny Moran, Roger Moffat, Keith Skues, Ray Stuart, Colin Slade, Bill Crozier, Brenda Ellison, Bruce Wyndham, Mike Lindsay. Bill McDonald was MD, Ian Rufus was news editor, Stuart Linnell sports editor.
I was back in Birmingham by the time my all-time favourite launched - Mercia Sound in Coventry:
Gordon Astley, Dave Jamieson, Stuart Linnell (afternoons & also sports editor), Tony Gillham (also Head of Music), John Warwick, Andy Lloyd. John Bradford was MD, Ian Rufus PD, Mike Henfield news editor. Great listen, truly Coventry and it got a 60%+ reach in those good old days with little local competition.
Glad to see i'm not the only one who noticed how good Power FM was! I was living in Bournemouth in the early 90s and I could only pick it up clearly in mono, but it still beat 2CR (and anything else i've listened to before or since then)any day. I was sharing a house with 3 work colleagues and we all listened to Power FM. I loved the breakfast show especially because the guy often used to play clips of Basil Fawlty on the phone to Cybil in hospital.:D
Other than that, I grew up with Mercia and Xtra AM so have to give those a vote, but I did dabble in Beacon Radio and 96.6 Northants Radio... Heart of England... Especially liked listening to their live broadcast from Zazoo nightclub in Northampton- was it Friday or Saturday night? Think I have some of that on cassette somewhere. Oh and there was a DJ who got his 3 year old son to do the jingle for "The Sixties Swingers" always made me larf! Genius. What's happened to local radio nowadays?:(
Ahhh nostalgia. Is there a website like Youtube but for radio clips and jingles?
Oh yes nearly forgot, if I had to choose one today, it would be Splash FM.
Comments
Beacon 303 with Mark Williams, Tony Paul, Mike Baker etc and lots of great music.
I totally agree !!
Yup, Power FM circa 93-94 was the best radio I've heard to date. Great playlist, lively DJs and oh-so-slick imaging. :cool:
Also remember "96.4 Sound Wave" sounding very good on a rugby tour to Swansea in 96 and 97.
Allinson, Tarrant, Sharp, Brown, Jensen, Fox, Collins, Long. The combination of tremendous personalities playing hot music with memorable imaging and brilliant competitions was the best I ever heard.
Top quality music radio, plus it absolutely oozed 'London'.
WAVA Washington 1989-90
Z104 Washington 1997-2001
In the UK
Beacon Radio Early 90's
Xtra AM 89-93
Pirate FM up to 98
BRMB upto 89 then 92-2005
And Capital FM with the line up PhilH mentions
Also The NRG when it first launched in the late 90s when David Harber and James Bromley were still running it, great shows like David and Emily's brekky show, lost the plot saturday lunchtime slot, etc etc
Then it just has to be Chiltern, The Hot FM. We'd never heard anything like it back then. Can't remember if it pre-dated Power's glory days or if they were contemporaneous?
Having said all that, not sure if either of them were particularly "local" but they sounded great.
Grab a little piece of heaven with Roger Scott from 3 to 7 on Capital - 194!
It had to be: the same newsreader then went straight on to read the news on Ocean FM!
Yes I know! I used to love that - if Power went even a few seconds over time there would often be a deathly silence on Ocean/Southern at the top of the hour between the ad break and the news, or the news jingle and a breathless newsreader introducing themselves.
At least it proved it was all live, all the time. I don't think the RA would have even entertained the idea of pre-recorded news, nor would the management at the time.
Not no more...those days have gone as far as I can hear :-(
Nice tidbit. I didn't know that!
Thats what I grew up with, Chiltern came on air around 1982/3 on 95.5 & 97.5 FM and of course 792 & 828 MW! They later moved 97.5 to 97.6 due to interference from LBC in the South Herts area. And in 1986, 95.5 was moved to 96.9 in the big frequency shuffle at the time. The Hot FM I think was their tag from 1988 - 1995 before they were 'GWR'ed'
The Hot FM ran on Chiltern, Northants and Severn Sound, so no.
97.5 and the two am's were clearly audible in North Kent.Seem to remember the North one was called Chiltern Ouse Valley for a while and the two services used to split for specialist show in the evenings.I remember Phil Holden's show continuing on 792 after 8 while 97.5 had Asian,Country,Irish and all sorts of stuff.
From my time in the south in the late 80s, I couldn't agree more. Nick Abbott and the late Tommy Vance especially worth listening to.
From my northern roots though, definitely Piccadilly 1974 - 1980, and JFM 100.4 1994-95 (before the mutation into Jazz FM then Smooth FM, or whatever it's called this week).
and now....... The Coast 106
Agree with every single word you typed there!
Piccadilly Radio was a great sounding station in its infancy and certainly up until the early 1980's was a great listen.
Beacon was great when it started and seems to have gone through peaks and troughs throughout its life. Its worst period was obviously through the dark days of GWR ownership but I think it is sounding good right now.
Current favourites also include Radio Maldwyn, Sunshine 855 and L107.
I can remember 95.5 (now 96.9) being the Ouse valley service and Huntingdon & Cambridgeshire were part of the TSA.
Fox FM were also a very good service for Oxfordshire & West Buckinghamshire when they launched back in 1989.
But for me, one of the best stations I've heard for localness, music and personality presenters is Lincs FM 102.2 and still is today. I can remember the ILR's back in the 80's and Lincs FM that launched in 1992 used to be like time stood still, especially with the sung jingles!
I first heard Lincs when I lived in Milton Keynes and picked them up after I had an aerial & rotator installed. At the time all I had around me were the 'Better Music Mix' stations, so after hearing Lincs it was like a breath of fresh air at the time.
We has the excellent Tony Wright on breakfast, and still had local programming during daytime (I didn't particularly mind when they started networking during dayime). There was Tony Blackburn on drive as well.
I especially liked the tone of the sports coverage during this period. We had local sports coverage from Gary Weaver and the late Phil Suarez, while on big European nights there was networked coverage from Jonathan Pearce and Tony Gale, with otehrs like Billy Bonds being involved. Incidentally, we DIDN'T take the Thursday night networked sports phone-in 'Gale with Pace'. Instead, Gary Weaver intercepted music with local sports news.
It went downhill in 2000 when Capital Gold dropped sport around here when Real Radio took over commentary rights. I only listened for Tony Wright and later Alex Belfield at nights after that.
Early BRMB. It's launch, with Kevin Morrison on breakfast, was really exciting. It's early days saw George Ferguson take over on breakfast. Also there were Ed Doolan, Peter Windows, Brian Sheppard (news editor), Tony Butler on sport. Les Ross came along after a couple of years to make the breakfast show his own. Great stuff.
I moved to Manchester soon after BRMB launched, and used to drive across the Pennines to hear early Radio Hallam. What a line-up: Johnny Moran, Roger Moffat, Keith Skues, Ray Stuart, Colin Slade, Bill Crozier, Brenda Ellison, Bruce Wyndham, Mike Lindsay. Bill McDonald was MD, Ian Rufus was news editor, Stuart Linnell sports editor.
I was back in Birmingham by the time my all-time favourite launched - Mercia Sound in Coventry:
Gordon Astley, Dave Jamieson, Stuart Linnell (afternoons & also sports editor), Tony Gillham (also Head of Music), John Warwick, Andy Lloyd. John Bradford was MD, Ian Rufus PD, Mike Henfield news editor. Great listen, truly Coventry and it got a 60%+ reach in those good old days with little local competition.
Absolutely,
X-T-R-A....Xtra AMmmmmm..
Great music radio, the imaging was so good, you didn't even notice the adds!
Other than that, I grew up with Mercia and Xtra AM so have to give those a vote, but I did dabble in Beacon Radio and 96.6 Northants Radio... Heart of England... Especially liked listening to their live broadcast from Zazoo nightclub in Northampton- was it Friday or Saturday night? Think I have some of that on cassette somewhere. Oh and there was a DJ who got his 3 year old son to do the jingle for "The Sixties Swingers" always made me larf! Genius. What's happened to local radio nowadays?:(
Ahhh nostalgia. Is there a website like Youtube but for radio clips and jingles?
Oh yes nearly forgot, if I had to choose one today, it would be Splash FM.