Greatest Hits Radio Hull & East Yorkshire

GHR Hull & East Yorkshire, Formerly KCFM, is an Independent Local Radio station serving Kingston upon Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire. This new licence was advertised by Ofcom in 2006. It was owned by the Lincs FM Group, but in early 2019 it was sold on to Nation Broadcasting.

For former and smaller radio station owned by Bauer Radio, see Greatest Hits Radio East Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire. For the regional station where most local content comes from, see Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire. For the national station where most content comes from, see Greatest Hits Radio.

Greatest Hits Radio Hull & East Yorkshire
Broadcast areaKingston upon Hull & East Riding
FrequencyFM: 99.8 MHz
DAB: Humberside
SloganThe Greatest Hits for Hull & East Yorkshire
Programming
FormatContemporary
Network GHR Yorkshire, Greatest Hits Radio
Ownership
OwnerNation Broadcasting
OperatorBauer Radio
History
First air date
1 August 2007 (KCFM)
1 September 2020 (Greatest Hits)
Links
WebsiteGreatest Hits Radio

Background

KCFM was ran by a local consortium - under the name of Planet Broadcasting Limited. In June 2009 a share exchange was agreed with the Lincs FM Group.[1]

Tim Jibson who was a member of the team that acquired the original Ofcom licence, was the launch director and was also the Director of Programmes until May 2009, has now moved on to the role of Managing Director of Adventures in Radio Ltd. Jibson had previously worked for 96.9 Viking FM, and Viking Gold - subsequently known as Classic Gold, Great Yorkshire Gold, Great Yorkshire Radio, Magic 1161, Viking 2 and currently Greatest Hits Radio - and BBC Radio Humberside.

Launch

The station carried out a full month of test transmissions before launch at 6:00 a.m. on 1 August 2007. The first voice heard on-air was that of Steve Jordan who then introduced the Director of Programmes Tim Jibson. Jordan then played the first music track "Twist and Shout" by The Beatles. The Planet House studio building was then officially opened by the England Football Manager Steve McClaren.

Programming

KCFM plays a variety of music, ranging from the 1960s to current chart hits. Daytime presenters are Sean Gerard, Tim West and Matt Hutchinson. KCFM provides coverage of local news and sport – including Hull City and the two Super League teams - Hull Kingston Rovers and Hull F.C. - along with ice hockey, amateur rugby league and other local sports.

Technical

Transmission

The station broadcasts on 99.8 MHz FM. Its transmission area covers the City of Kingston upon Hull and the neighbouring towns of Beverley, Driffield and Goole in East Yorkshire and Barton-upon-Humber in North Lincolnshire - from a transmitter mast on top of the Humber Bridge's north pier. KCFM is also available via DAB, launching on that platform in October 2016. In early 2019 KCFM moved DAB multiplexes from Lincolnshire multiplex to Humberside multiplex.

Studios

A purpose built studio complex was constructed at "Planet House" on Hedon Road in Hull. Studio Design was carried out by Bob Corn of the Corn Tarrant Partnership[2] - Technical Installation by Radio Studio Services[3] - which is headed up by Richard Lawley. The station is now based at Parkgate House, Hesslewood Country Office Park, Hessle.

Branding

KCFM's first jingle package were re-sings of a KVIL package produced by radio ident company TM Studios in Dallas, Texas, USA.[4] A custom made news jingle was also commissioned.

In late 2010, KCFM aired new jingles made by the UK based jingle company S2Blue. The station's last jingle package was produced by Audio Sweets and matched the rest of the Lincs FM group of stations.

References
  1. radiotoday.co.uk Archived 21 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  2. corntarrant.co.uk Archived 12 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  3. radiostudios.co.uk
  4. jinglemad.com Archived 28 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.