Greatest Hits Radio Liverpool, North West & North Wales

Greatest Hits Radio Liverpool, the North West & North Wales is an Independent Local Radio station, based in Liverpool and serving Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales on 105.9 FM. It is owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of the Greatest Hits Radio network. It is a sister station to Radio City and sharing studios atop Radio City Tower in Liverpool city centre.

Greatest Hits Radio Liverpool, North West & North Wales
CityLiverpool
Broadcast areaLiverpool, North West and North Wales
SloganThe Good Times Sound Like This
FrequencyFM: 105.9 MHz
DAB: 10C
RDS: GRT_HITS
First air date1991
FormatOldies
OwnerBauer
Sister stationsRadio City
Websiteplanetradio.co.uk/greatest-hits/liverpool-north-west-north-wales/

Coverage

Although intended mostly for Merseyside, like its sister station, it serves Flintshire, northern Denbighshire, Greater Wrexham and eastern Greater Conwy in Wales; northern Cheshire, some parts of Greater Manchester and south-western Lancashire in England via signal overspill.[1] In the past, the station has been telephoned from the island of Anglesey.

History

Originally it was known as "1548 City Talk", this service existed between 1989 and 1991 originally between 0700 and 1900 on weekdays. It was not a success, and a "Gold" format of music was introduced as the station initially became "Radio City Gold", and then "City Gold".

Radio City Tower. Also home to Radio City.

Radio City was purchased by EMAP in 1998, and City Gold was rebranded Magic 1548 as part of the network of Magic stations on AM. 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, 7pm-10am, and then 2am-6am (because of Pete Price's phone-in, which switched stations in January 2006). This resulted in Magic 1548 having more local programming on weekdays. During these hours it was simply known as Magic, although there were local commercial breaks, and local news on the hour.

In January 2003, the station ceased networking with the London station, Magic 105.4, and a regional network was created with Piccadilly Magic 1152 in Manchester at the hub at the weekend and Magic 1152 in Newcastle during the week. During networked hours, local adverts are aired, as well as a local news summary on the hour.

From July 2006, more networking was introduced across the Northern Magic AM network which meant only 4 hours a day was to be presented from the local studios, between 06:00 and 10:00am. In April 2012 Magic 1548, inline with the majority of other Magic North stations, dropped local weekend breakfast shows.

Between March 2013 and December 2014, weekday breakfast was syndicated from Piccadilly Magic 1152 in Manchester. Local news and traffic bulletins were reintroduced in January 2015, when the station rebranded as Radio City 2, as part of the launch of the Bauer City 2 network.[2]

In July 2015, Bauer submitted a formal request to OFCOM to swap Radio City 2's format and frequencies with that of Radio City Talk. The company proposed to reintroduce local breakfast and drive time programming to the station and an enhanced local news service, alongside programming provided by the City 2 network.[3] The request was approved three months later and the switchover took place on Monday 7 December 2015.[4][5]

On 7 January 2019, Radio City 2 rebranded as Greatest Hits Liverpool, North West & North Wales.[6]

Programming

Bauer’s Liverpool studio produces a mix of local and networked programming from its studios at the Radio City Tower.

On weekdays, the station's breakfast and evening shows are networked to Greatest Hits Radio's stations in northern England and the West Midlands.

The station also produced a networked Saturday afternoon show and a local late night show, presented by Pete Price, on Sunday nights (simulcast with Radio City Talk).[7]

The rest of the stations output originates from the Bauer’s Birmingham, Glasgow and Manchester studios, plus their Golden Square headquarters in Soho.

News

Bauer’s Liverpool newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 06:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and from 07:00 to 13:00 at weekends. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside traffic bulletins. National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried at other times.

References

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