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Plymouth Gold (formerly Classic Gold 1152) was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the city of Plymouth in Devon and surrounding areas. It was owned by GCap Media and was part of the national Classic Gold Digital Network. It broadcast on 1152 kHz AM, DAB digital radio, as well as online and on Sky Digital Channel 0189 (the latter two were the national versions of Classic Gold, lacking the local elements). Based at Earl's Acre, Plymouth, its sister station was Heart Plymouth, formerly known as Plymouth Sound until 2009.
Plymouth Gold was launched on 19 May 1975, as Plymouth Sound, broadcasting on 97.0 FM and 261 metres medium wave (1152 AM). It was one of the earliest ILRs to launch in the UK and was the first commercial radio station for the West Country.
Towards the end of the 1980s/ early 1990s, as with most other ILRs Plymouth Sound split into two stations; the FM frequency remained as Plymouth Sound and the AM service became Plymouth Sound AM. After being owned (either fully or partly) by the GWR Group, the Capital Group and The Local Radio Company, throughout the 1990s, the station was fully bought by the GWR Group around 2000. On 7 February 2000 Plymouth Sound AM was re-branded Classic Gold 1152 (Plymouth). Due to ownership rules the GWR Group had to sell off all of their Classic Gold stations. They were sold to the UBC Media Group, although the GWR Group did keep a 20% stake in the brand. The 20% stake was increased to 100% in 2007 and GCap assumed full control of both Capital Gold and the Classic Gold Digital Network, merging the two networks, and renaming it simply Gold on 3 August.
Plymouth Gold formerly had around 20 hours a day of networked programming. Only the weekday drivetime show was local and was presented by Peter Greig. Network shows still had local adverts, information and news aired at selected intervals. The station mostly played music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. According to the RAJAR results for the period ending December 2006, the station had a total of 6,000 listeners and a 1.1% market share.
Heart Northants was an Independent Local Radio station serving Northamptonshire.
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.
Heart 96.3 was an Independent Local Radio station serving Bristol and surrounding areas and broadcasting on 96.3 MHz in Bristol and Weston-super-Mare. Launched in 1981 as Radio West, it was merged with neighbouring Wiltshire Radio and relaunched under the name GWR in 1985, retaining the name through several changes of ownership until rebranding in March 2009. Heart Bristol merged with sister stations in Somerset and Bath to form Heart West Country.
Heart Wiltshire was an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to north and west Wiltshire. The station was rebranded to Heart in March 2009 in line with Global Radio's rebranding of most of the One Network, which the station was part of. Its local competitors were Sam FM, BBC Wiltshire and community radio station, Swindon 105.5.
Heart Kent was an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Kent from studios at John Wilson Business Park in Whitstable.
Pulse 2 was an Independent Local Radio station serving Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale areas from studios in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England.
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group.
Trent FM was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Nottinghamshire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Leicester Sound and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands on Monday 3 January 2011.
Marcher Radio Group Ltd, previously Marcher Sound Ltd, was a British media organisation which operated several radio stations in north Wales and northwest England. The company, now owned by Global Radio founded the independent local radio stations Marcher Sound, Coast 96.3, Buzz 97.1, Champion FM 103, and Wrexham and Chester Gold, part of the Gold Network.
Gold North Wales and Cheshire was a British Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Wrexham, Chester, Flintshire and some of the Wirral, and was part of the Gold radio network. It is the "sister" station to local FM station, Marcher Sound, launched by Marcher Radio Group in 1989. After a period of sales and takeovers which led to Gold being operated by a separate company to its FM sister station, both are now owned by Global Radio. It is broadcast from Mold Road, Gwersyllt, Wrexham, although most programming comes from London. Gold North Wales and Cheshire was replaced by Smooth Radio in March 2014.
Classic Gold 1332 was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the Peterborough area on 1332 kHz AM and DAB digital radio. It also was available around Cambridge on DAB digital radio. It was part of the Classic Gold Digital Network which was owned by GCap and was the sister station of 102.7 Hereward FM. Its studios were based in the Queensgate Centre, Peterborough.
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.
The Worlds Greatest Music Station was the AM sister station to Hereward FM. Its time on-air was short lived and restricted to approximately two years when both local ILR stations were acquired by the GWR group in the 1990s.
Chiltern Radio Network was the parent group of several Independent Local Radio stations in the 1980s and 1990s. These were divided across two networks: The Hot FM and SuperGold.
Amber Radio was originally a classic hits/gold radio station operating from studios in both Norwich and Ipswich, England. 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.
Free Radio was a regional group of Independent Local Radio stations in the West Midlands, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network.
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.
Allied Radio plc was a publicly listed radio company that operated, or held an interest in, several Independent Local Radio contractors in the UK during the 1990s.
Heart West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts in South West England. from studios in Bristol.