Amber Radio

Last updated

Amber Radio
Broadcast area Norfolk and Suffolk
Frequency 1152, 1170, 1251 KHz
Programming
Format Classic hits
Ownership
Owner East Anglian Radio Group
History
First air date
24 September 1995
Last air date
3 August 2007

Amber Radio was originally a classic hits/gold radio station operating from studios in both Norwich and Ipswich, England. [1] [2] It was the AM sister station of Radio Broadland and SGR and served Norfolk and Suffolk, covering a population of over a million for several years.

Contents

Amber Radio returned to the airwaves in Norwich and Norfolk and parts of north Suffolk in September 2023. It broadcast on the Norfolk local DAB multiplex, as well as on smart speaker and online. [3] The station was operated on a voluntary basis by mainly former Amber and Broadland staff members as a not-for-profit business.

History

The station was launched after East Anglian Radio decided to make better use of the group's medium wave frequencies. On 24 September 1995, the AM frequencies of Broadland and SGR fm became Amber Radio, playing mainly music from the 1960s and 1970s, allowing the FM stations to focus more on current and recent chart hits. All the stations were programmed by EAR group programme director Mike Stewart, with Dave Brown in Norwich and Mark Pryke at Ipswich as local heads of presentation. Programmes emanated from the two broadcast centres for both group and separate areas.

The station continued for some time in the same format and under the same management after a takeover of the East Anglian Radio group by GWR about a year later. Amber Radio was eventually renamed Classic Gold Amber and it joined GWR's Classic Gold Digital Network of stations in 1998. [4]

1998 saw GWR begin to pressurise the Radio Authority to allow them to 'network' Classic Gold for up to 20 hours a day. This meant that all of the stations in the Classic Gold network would receive the same programmes for most of the day, including the stations in Norwich and Ipswich. GWR's argument was that the use of higher profile presenters would give listeners a better quality of service. The Radio Authority agreed to the change and all the stations began sharing the programmes produced in Dunstable in Bedfordshire, more than 100 miles from the Norwich studios. [5] At this stage, the only local programme remaining on Classic Gold Amber was the Breakfast Show, this was later changed to Drivetime to allow Mike Read and later Dave Lee Travis to present a networked breakfast show.

Due to GWR exceeding the ownership limit of stations, the Classic Gold stations were sold to UBC Media, although GWR kept hold of a 20 per cent stake. On 3 August 2007 the stations were re-branded as Gold . This followed the GCap Media purchase of the Classic Gold network and the merging of the Capital Gold and Classic Gold stations. [6] [7]

Branding

Prior to being taken over by GWR, Amber Radio's station idents were specially written by American jingles specialist, Bruce Upchurch and produced by UK-based David Arnold Music with Mike Stewart at Thompson Creative in Dallas, Texas. [8]

From the start, Amber Radio, along with its sister stations, Broadland 102 (Norfolk) and SGR FM / SGR Colchester (Suffolk / Essex), broadcast jingles made at TM Studios (previously Century 21), also in Dallas, Texas.

Revival

In August 2023, it was announced that Amber Radio would shortly return to the airwaves in Norwich and around Norfolk and parts of north Suffolk on the Now Digital Norfolk local DAB multiplex, as well as on smart speaker and online. [9] The launch date was set for 4 September 2023, with some of the presenters who originally broadcast on Amber and Broadland returning to broadcast on the new station. The revival was the idea of the station's original Programme Director, Mike Stewart, supported by Bob Norman, formerly Finance Director and later Managing Director of Broadland. The station has an Adult Contemporary/Gold music format, playing classic hits, and also features local information and news. [10] In late August 2024, it was announced that Amber Radio would be closing after a year on-air, although a music service continued on-line.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Northants</span> Radio station in Northampton

Heart Northants was an Independent Local Radio station serving Northamptonshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Norwich</span> Radio station in Norwich

Heart Norwich was an Independent Local Radio station for Norfolk and North Suffolk, including Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft, until early 2009. The station, now part of the national Heart Network, is owned and operated by Global Radio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Ipswich</span> Radio station in Ipswich & Bury St Edmunds

Heart Ipswich was an Independent Local Radio station that evolved from Suffolk Group Radio, which was the parent company for two Independent radio stations serving the county of Suffolk in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold (British radio network)</span> United Kingdom oldies radio network

Gold Radio is a network of oldies radio stations in the United Kingdom, which was formed by the merger of the Capital Gold network and the Classic Gold network in August 2007. The station relaunched in March 2014 as a partly-automated service, broadcasting in fewer areas, after many of Gold's local AM/DAB frequencies were transferred to Smooth Radio. Most programming is broadcast from the Global Radio studios in Leicester Square, London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Colchester</span> Radio station in Colchester

Heart Colchester was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Colchester and the surrounding areas. The station was launched in 1993 as SGR Colchester by the East Anglian Radio group, which also operated the Ipswich-based SGR-FM, Radio Broadland in Norwich, and Amber Radio across Suffolk and Norfolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Beach (UK radio station)</span> Radio station in Lowestoft, Suffolk

The Beach was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft areas. It used to broadcast from studios in Norwich and Ipswich. Before that it broadcast from studios at the junction of Hollingsworth Road and Oulton Road, in Lowestoft, Suffolk until 8 January 2017 when it was transferred to central hubs in Norwich and Ipswich along with sister stations.

North Norfolk Radio was an Independent Local Radio station in North Norfolk, England, owned and operated by Bauer Radio as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It was closed on 1 September 2020 and merged with Greatest Hits Radio Norfolk & North Suffolk.

Solid Gold GEM AM was an Independent Local Radio station, broadcasting to much of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland and East Staffordshire from studios in Nottingham, and later Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

Classic Gold was a network of three "Gold" music formatted stations which broadcast on AM in Bradford, Hull and Sheffield. They were the sister stations of Pennine Radio, Viking Radio and Radio Hallam respectively and they were part of the Yorkshire Radio Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCap Media</span> British radio broadcasting company

GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group.

Classic Gold Digital Network was one of the biggest 'gold' (oldies) formatted radio networks in the United Kingdom, with a potential audience of 47 million. Classic Gold was broadcast on analogue and DAB digital platforms, as well as Sky channel 0189. The first stations were launched in 1988; the network grew to 18 stations and was merged into what became the Gold network in 2007.

The Capital Gold radio station started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, after the Independent Broadcasting Authority had urged stations to end simulcasting and threatened to remove one of their frequencies if simulcasting continued. The original DJs on the early incarnation of Capital Gold included Tony Blackburn, Kenny Everett and David Hamilton. The hiring of radio personalities to host networked shows continued to be a feature of the Capital Gold network as it grew.

Suffolk Group Radio was the parent company for two Independent Local Radio stations serving the county of Suffolk in England.

East Anglian Radio was a company based in Norwich that operated 3 Independent Local Radio stations in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex in the UK.

Supergold (Europe) was an oldies radio sustaining service originally operated by the Telstar Satellite Music Network (TSMN) and later by Chiltern Radio Network in the United Kingdom. Originally devised by entrepreneur and DJ Graham Kentsley, it was one of Europe's first satellite delivered radio stations, receiving a Satellite Television Technology International (STTI) award for satellite communication innovation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart East Anglia</span> Radio station in Norwich

Heart East Anglia was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Norfolk and Suffolk from studios in Norwich.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smooth Wales</span> Radio station in Wrexham

Smooth Wales is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the Cardiff area of South Wales and to the Wrexham area of North Wales, as well as parts of Cheshire in England. All programming content is now shared to both areas. It is the only AM station in the Smooth radio network to have its own content, a local four-hour weekday show, as all other Smooth AM stations, as added to the network in 2014, carry the London network FM content, opting out only for local news and advertising breaks. The local show on Smooth Wales was carried over from the station's previous incarnation as Gold.

A timeline of notable events relating to Heart, a 22-strong network of hot adult contemporary commercial radio stations operated by Global.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nation Radio Suffolk</span> Radio station in Ipswich

Nation Radio Suffolk is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Nation Broadcasting. It broadcasts from Ipswich in Suffolk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart East</span> Regional radio station in Milton Keynes, England

Heart East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to the East of England from studios in Milton Keynes.

References

  1. ↑ "Company address". Archived from the original on 25 September 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  2. ↑ "List of old station names" . Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  3. ↑ Rob Chandler to host Breakfast on new Norfolk station Amber Radio
  4. ↑ "List of frequencies, old station names and launch dates" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 August 2010. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  5. ↑ "Distance from Norwich to Dunstable" . Retrieved 1 October 2010.
  6. ↑ "References to Worlds Greatest Music Station" . Retrieved 27 December 2009.
  7. ↑ "References to Amber Radio". Archived from the original on 23 August 2010. Retrieved 27 December 2009.
  8. ↑ "References to Amber Radio jingles by Thompson Creative". Archived from the original on 2 October 2008. Retrieved 31 January 2010.
  9. ↑ Rob Chandler to host Breakfast on new Norfolk station Amber Radio
  10. ↑ Rob Chandler to host Breakfast on new Norfolk station Amber Radio
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.