Radio City studios tower by night
Radio City 96.7 (also previously known as City FM and Radio City) is an Independent Local Radio station, based in Liverpool, UK, and broadcasting to Merseyside and surrounding counties. It is owned by Bauer Radio and is part of the Big City Network.
History
Launched in 1974 with Stevie Wonder's You Are the Sunshine of My Life, the station primarily broadcasts pop and dance music at a frequency of 96.7 MHz on the FM band from Allerton Park. It is owned by Bauer Radio and is part of their Big City Network of stations.
Until 1989 it was also on 1548 kHz medium wave from a transmitter at Rainford, until it split its frequencies and launched a now-defunct talk station on medium wave called City Talk - unusually it initially chose not to launch a Gold service on medium wave, despite the first generation of British Gold stations featuring many Liverpudlian bands and artists on their playlists. The medium wave frequency now carries its current sister station Magic 1548, from a transmitter at the former Bebington/Bromborough Power Station site. In the early days of Marcher Sound, the evening programmes of the station were simulcasted to the fledgling station, so for a period in the Eighties, Radio City had in theory, four frequencies (Marcher Sound occupied 95.4 MHz and 1260 kHz). The station is also webcast on its website. Originally based in Stanley Street in Liverpool city centre, in 2000 the station moved atop St. John's Beacon, which in the past was a revolving restaurant and viewing platform.
The 96.7 FM signal comes from the Allerton Park transmitter in south-east Liverpool, which also transmits Radio Merseyside on 95.8FM. There is also a transmitter in the Mersey (Queensway) Tunnel. There are also digital transmitters at St John's Beacon, Billinge Hill (in St Helens, which also carries Wish FM), and Hope Mountain (near Wrexham). The Billinge Hill site has the strongest digital signal.
Presenters who broadcast in the early days were Roger Blyth, Dave Lincoln, Norman Thomas, Rob Jones, Arthur Murphy, Bill Bingham, Keith Chegwin, Phil Easton, Dave Eastwood, Brian Cullen and Chris Jones.
1980s presenters include, Jeff Cooper, Nicky Campbell, Paul Jordan, Norman Thomas, Richard Jardine,John Storey, Paul Leckie, Jon Jessop, Roy Kelly, Nigel Williams, Laura Penn, Mark Jones and Phil Easton and Johnny Kennedy.
1990s presenters included Tony Snell, Rick Houghton, Terry Lennaine, John O Hara, Dave Collins and Tony McKenzie.
The "Bride of the Week" spoof phone calls were notably notorious during the late-1980s.
On 9 November 2006, it was announced by Ofcom that Radio City had beaten competition from rival broadcasters to win a new FM licence for the Liverpool area. The new station, a 24-hour speech radio format named CityTalk, launched on 28 January 2008 and broadcasts on 105.9FM. [2]
In April 2007, networked content was introduced to the station Mon-Thurs 7-10pm in the form of Rich & Luce - In Demand. This was quickly followed by a networked programme on Friday 7-10pm, Feel Good Friday with Luce.
Further networking has followed, with 'Early Morning Nicksy' introduced in late 2007 from 2am - 6am. From May 2008, local content has been further reduced with more networked content in the form of Dominic Walker - Weekend Breakfast.
All networked content is broadcast from Key 103's Manchester studio.
As of February 2008, current presenters include Kev Seed, Simon Ross, Glen Hunt, Scott Hughes, Matt Wilkins and Nicksy.
Weekend presenters and stand in DJs can be found at www.radiocity.co.uk
External links
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