){kind=logo} | |
| City | Leeds |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Yorkshire |
| Frequency | MW: 828 kHz DAB: 12D |
| Slogan | The Good Times Sound Like This |
| Programming | |
| Format | Classic Hits |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Bauer |
| History | |
First air date | 17 July 1990 |
Last air date | 31 August 2020 |
Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire (previously Magic 828 and Radio Aire 2) was a local radio station serving Yorkshire. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.
History
Magic 828
Magic 828 was launched by Roger Kirk at 8:28am on 17 July 1990. The station was formed due to Radio Aire splitting its AM and FM frequencies, with Radio Aire rebranding as Aire FM. The station broadcast on 828 KHz AM and the first song played was "Magical Mystery Tour" by The Beatles.
The 'Magic 828' name was created by Bob Preedy who was a presenter on Radio Aire at the time.
Its first jingle package was produced by Century 21 and the voice-overs were voiced by John Myers.
The programmes between 6am and 1am were broadcast live from Studio 2 in Radio Aire's Burley Road studio complex in Leeds. The original weekday line-up was Roger Kirk (6am-9.30am), Ray Stroud (9.30am-1pm), The Magic Mix (1pm-2pm), Peter Tait (2pm-6pm), Nothing But The 60's (6pm-7pm), Mike Vitti (7pm-10pm), Alex Hall (10pm-1am) and The Superstation (1am-6am). A few months after Magic 828's launch, The Superstation closed, Andy Siddell took over evenings and Mike Vitti presented the new overnight programme, Nightflight. The Nightflight programme was simulcast on Aire FM & Magic 828 and broadcast between 1am & 6am from Studio 1 (the studio used for Aire FM). Local news during the early 1990s was also simulcast on both stations, although Aire FM only took the first two minutes of the four-minute bulletin.
After Emap bought Radio Aire and Magic 828 in 1995, they began to roll the Magic brand out across the other AM stations in they owned, creating Magic 1161 (Hull), Magic AM (Sheffield), Magic 1152 (Newcastle), Magic 1170 (Teesside), Magic 999 (Preston), Magic 1548 (Liverpool) and Magic 1152 (Manchester).
In December 2001, EMAP decided that it was more economical for the Magic network to share off-peak programmes and in line with the other Magic AM stations began networking between 10am-2pm, and 7pm-6am. During these hours it was simply known as Magic, although there were local commercial breaks, and local news on the hour.
In January 2003 after a sharp decline in listening, the station ceased networking with the London station Magic 105.4. At this point, a regional northern network was created with programmes broadcast from Magic 1152 in Newcastle. During networked hours, local adverts were aired, as well as local news on the hour.
In July 2006, more networking was introduced across the Northern Magic AM network with only the 4 hour breakfast show between 06:00 and 10:00 presented from the local studios. However the decision was taken in April 2013 to network this show across the other Yorkshire-based Magic stations.[1] Other programming was networked from Newcastle, Manchester and London.
Radio Aire 2
Following the rebrand of the Magic AM stations in northern England at the start of 2015, the station became known as Radio Aire 2 and was entirely networked with the other Bauer AM stations in the North. Local news, weather and travel continued to be broadcast as opt-outs during the day.
Greatest Hits Radio
Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire was formed on 7 January 2019, with the rebranding of Radio Aire 2, along with the rest of the stations on the Bauer City 2 Network (with their own regional identities).
References
- ^ "Bauer networks three more Magic stations". RadioToday. April 2013. Retrieved 9 October 2020.
External links
- Magic 828 Archive The History of Magic 828