History
The station was launched on the morning of 4 April 1989, as a response to government disapproval of the simulcasting of programming on FM and medium wave. Xtra AM became a 'gold' station and targeted listeners in the 35 to 50 age range, while BRMB and Mercia both began to cater for a younger audience. The new AM service was launched to much fanfare with its inaugural host, Les Ross, conducting a spoof interview with Elvis Presley as part of its publicity.
Xtra AM quickly became popular with its audience and was soon rivalling its FM counterparts. Despite this, however, BRMB maintained the larger proportion of the audience share. One of the key ingredients in this success was the appointment of Les Ross as the station's breakfast host: a well liked and respected broadcaster in the region, when Ross left BRMB to move to Xtra AM, he took many of his listeners with him. He remained with the station for four years, before making a return to BRMB following a programming shake-up in 1993.
As well as playing what it termed 'classic hits', Xtra AM also carried a mini playlist of 12 songs from the current Top 40 which were deemed to fit with its music profile. Regional news, weather, events and community information, as well as local advertising were separate for the Birmingham and Coventry areas, but programming was simulcast in both areas. BRMB's well respected sports coverage was moved over to the new station, where Tom Ross continued to cover the region's sports events.
Presenters on the station included many who were already established personalities in the West Midlands region. During Xtra AM's nine years on air, besides Ross, these included Annie Othen, Ted Elliott, Tony Butler, Adrian Stewart, Dave Hickman, Mick Wright, Guy Jogoo and Noddy Holder (who hosted a popular Sunday afternoon show playing music from the 1970s). Jimmy Savile was also heard on the station, presenting a syndicated oldies show (also taken by a number of other commercial stations) based on his previous BBC Radio 1 show. Mike Hollis had been on BRMB before going to Radio Luxembourg and returned to Xtra AM after Luxembourg's English service closed.
Closure
Capital Radio acquired Midlands Radio plc in 1993, and then decided to sell off the majority of the stations that belonged to the group. Capital retained BRMB, but Mercia FM was included in those to be sold. Consequently, the two Xtra AM frequencies experienced a parting of the ways. GWR Group purchased the Coventry station and as a result it was announced that Xtra AM in Coventry was to close, with the 1359 kHz frequency joining the Classic Gold Network. Xtra AM continued in Birmingham, however, on 1152 kHz, and the presenters urged Coventry listeners to retune to that frequency; this contributed to GWR pulling the plug on Xtra AM using 1359, earlier than provisionally agreed.
With the 1994 launch of 100.7 Heart FM, listeners were given greater choice, while the quality of broadcasting on the FM services was preferable to the poor reception often experienced on the mediumwave band. Ratings for Xtra AM gradually fell throughout the mid-1990s before the end finally came in April 1998. The majority of the Xtra AM team were made redundant, the station renamed Capital Gold Birmingham, and the bulk of programming was switched to London and simulcast from Capital Gold. The only local programming to remain was a four-hour afternoon show and Tom Ross's sports coverage.
On 3 August 2007, the station, along with the rest of the Capital Gold network, was replaced by a new network called simply Gold, the result of the merger of the Classic Gold and Capital Gold networks under one owner, GCap Media.
BBC Radio WM is the BBC's local radio station serving the West Midlands.
BBC CWR is the BBC's local radio station serving Coventry and Warwickshire.
Heart Northants was an Independent Local Radio station serving Northamptonshire.
Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Coventry and Warwickshire.
Free Radio Herefordshire & Worcestershire is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
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.
Gold 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.
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.
Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands.
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed on 9 May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by Global Radio for £375 million. This was completed on 6 June 2008, and the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Global Radio.
BRMB is a British radio station based in Aston, Birmingham, which is owned and operated by Murfin Music International. It broadcasts on 89.1FM in Aston and surrounding areas, on DAB throughout Birmingham, and online via the station's website and mobile apps.
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.
Classic Gold WABC was a United Kingdom radio station, broadcasting to much of Wolverhampton and Shropshire from studios in Dunstable. Regional news, weather, events and community information, local advertising and a four-hour live weekday regional programme came from a studio centre in Wolverhampton, home also to Beacon Radio.
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.
Midlands Radio plc was an independent radio operator, which operated seven radio licences in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham and surrounding areas in the United Kingdom.
Free Radio Black Country & Shropshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Shropshire, Wolverhampton and the Black Country.
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.
Greatest Hits Radio Birmingham & The West Midlands is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the West Midlands. The station forms part of Greatest Hits Radio Midlands.
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.
