Greatest Hits Radio North West
Broadcast area | North West England North Wales |
---|---|
Frequency | FM: 96.2 MHz (Greater Manchester) 96.4 MHz (Congleton and Macclesfield) 96.5 MHz (Blackpool) 102.4 MHz (Wigan and St Helens) 104.9 MHz (Stockport) 105.9 MHz (Liverpool, The North West and North Wales) 107.2 MHz (Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn) 107.4 MHz (Bolton and Bury) DAB: 10C (Liverpool, Wigan, Rhyl and Wrexham), 11B (Cumbria), 12A (Lancashire), 12C (Manchester) |
RDS | GRT_HITS |
Branding | The Good Times Sound Like This Across TSA |
Programming | |
Format | Classic Hits |
Network | Greatest Hits Radio |
Ownership | |
Owner | Bauer Media Audio UK |
History | |
First air date | 1 September 2020 |
Links | |
Website | GHR Manchester & The North West GHR Liverpool & The North West GHR Lancashire GHR Cumbria & South West Scotland GHR Wigan & St Helens |
Greatest Hits Radio North West is a regional radio network serving
Stations
Under relaxed OFCOM requirements for local content on commercial radio, GHR North West is permitted to share all programmes between seven licences located in the ITV Granada broadcast region.[1]
Previously, these licences broadcast as separate stations:
- Piccadilly Radio began broadcasting to Greater Manchesteron 2 April 1974.
- Radio City began broadcasting to Merseyside and parts of Cheshire and North Wales on 21 October 1974.
- Red Rose Radio began broadcasting to Central Lancashire on 5 October 1982.
- Radio Wave began broadcasting to Blackpool and The Fylde on 25 May 1992.
- Wish FM began broadcasting to the Wigan and St Helens areas on 1 April 1997.
- Wire FM began broadcasting to the Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn areas on 1 September 1998.
- Tower FM began broadcasting to the Bolton and Bury areas on 20 March 1999.
- The Revolution began broadcasting to the Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside areas on 30 August 1999.
- CFM began broadcasting to Cumbria and South West Scotlandon 14 April 1993.
History
Radio City initially ran a single service on AM and FM, but by 1989, it launched a separate daytime talk service on AM, City Talk. However, poor ratings saw the station revert to a classic hits format, Radio City Gold, two years later.
By 1998, Radio City Gold fell into the ownership of
Tower FM, Wish FM and Wire FM would become part of The
in 2009, while maintaining separate identities and local programming.In 2008, the Magic stations in the North West were sold to
In January 2019, Greatest Hits Radio replaced the localised Bauer City 2 branding. The following month, the Wireless Group's network of local radio stations - including Tower, Wish and Wire - were sold to Bauer Radio, although this sale was only ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority.[2]
In May 2020, Bauer announced the Wireless Group stations would rebrand and join the Greatest Hits Radio network.[3] Two months later, Tower, Wish and Wire entered a transition period - carrying local breakfast shows and voicetracked programming ahead of the full relaunch on 1 September 2020.[4] The former Wireless Group studios in Orrell, Wigan were closed, although local newsgathering and sales staff were retained.
As of November 2020, following Bauer's purchase of The Revolution, GHR is also broadcast on 96.2 FM from a transmitter in Oldham which serves much of East and Central Greater Manchester.[5]
In February 2021, Bauer announced it would close GHR's medium-wave frequencies in Manchester (1152 kHz) and Lancashire (999 kHz) by the end of April 2021.[6]
On 29 November 2022, Bauer announced that
Programming
Greatest Hits Radio produces and broadcasts networked programming from Bauer's Manchester and Liverpool studios, including breakfast and evening shows on weekdays. Other output originates from Bauer's studios in Birmingham, Glasgow and London.
On weekdays, the station airs a regional three-hour afternoon show from 1-4pm presented by Debbie Mac.[8] However, the show also airs in London, the North East and Teesside and on the national DAB station.
News
Bauer’s Manchester newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am to 7pm on weekdays and from 7am to 1pm at weekends. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside traffic bulletins.
Separate local news and traffic bulletins air for Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and the Wigan & St Helens area.
National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried at other times.
References
- ^ Wire FM - format change request, OFCOM, 4 December 2018
- ^ https://www.bauermedia.co.uk/newsroom/press-releases/cma-today-clears-the-acquisitions-of-lincs-fm-celador-radio-ukrd-and-wireless-local-stations CMA today clears the acquisitions of Lincs FM, Celador Radio, UKRD and Wireless local stations, Bauer Media, 12 March 2020
- ^ Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 27 May 2020
- ^ Bauer starts to roll out Hits and Greatest Hits to new radio stations Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 9 July 2020
- ^ "Revolution 96.2 sold to Bauer for Greatest Hits Radio". RadioToday. 22 October 2020. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
- ^ Bauer to turn off four AM transmitters in the North, RadioToday, 25 February 2021
- ^ Martin, Roy (2022-11-29). "Bauer's Cumbria station CFM to rebrand as Greatest Hits Radio". RadioToday. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
- ^ [1], RadioToday, 27 August 2020