Classic Gold Digital Network was one of the biggest 'gold' ( oldies) formatted radio networks in the United Kingdom, with a potential audience of 47 million. Classic Gold was broadcast on analogue and

DAB DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to: Dictionaries * ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies * ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949 Places * Dąb, ...

digital platforms, as well as Sky channel 0189. The first stations were launched in 1988; the network grew to 18 stations and was merged into what became the Gold network in 2007.

History

Most of the stations were originally the

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

services of Independent Local Radio stations. For example, "Classic Gold 1359" in Coventry was originally part of Mercia Sound and was a full local service. In the 1980s, FM/AM stations split (in this case to

Mercia FM Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Coventry and Warwickshire. As of September 2022, the stati ...

and Xtra AM), before the station was bought by GWR radio in 1993, and the AM station rebranded to "Classic Gold". In 1998, Classic Gold in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

legally rebranded to Classic Gold 1557 Northamptonshire. The stations were sold to UBC in two tranches in 2000 and 2002; however, in 2007 they came back under the control of GCap (formerly GWR & Capital). Most stations in the network carried the same programming, except for a local 4-hour afternoon programme from 3pm to 7pm. Additionally, the AM service operated by UTV Radio in West Yorkshire,

Pulse Classic Gold Pulse 2 was a local radio station serving Bradford, Kirklees and Calderdale areas from studios in Bradford. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. Background The station was prev ...

, carried programming supplied by the Classic Gold network (with additional localisation and programmes), although it was not owned by UBC. In summer 2007, GCap Media agreed to acquire the 18 AM Classic Gold radio stations owned by Classic Gold Digital for a cash consideration of £3.95 million. GCap merged the network with its own Capital Gold network of stations to form one classic hits network. The acquisition, which included relevant DAB digital licences held by Classic Gold, was approved by

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

. The new network rebranded as 'Gold' launched at 7pm on Friday 3 August 2007.

Programmes

Weekdays * ''Classic Gold's Even Tastier Breakfast'' with

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...

and Laura Frey * ''The Morning Show'' with Graham Rogers * ''The Afternoon Show'' with Paul Burnett * ''Classic Gold Drivetime'' (local opt-out programme) * ''Classic Gold Evening Show'' with Paul Baker * ''Classic Gold Late Night'' with Tim Allen * ''The Overnight Express'' with Matthew Hardy Weekends included * ''The Retro Countdown'' with Mark Dennison * ''Classic Gold Albums'' with Trevor Dann * ''Neil Sean's Star People'' * ''Saturday Night At The Movies'' with Steve Springett * ''The Essential

Presenters

* Laura Frey * Paul Burnett * Gary Crowley * Trevor Dann

Past presenters

Jimmy Savile Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile (; 31 October 1926 – 29 October 2011) was an English DJ, television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including ''Top of the Pops'' and ''Jim'll Fix It''. During his lifetime, he was well known ...

(deceased) * Dave Lee Travis * Johnnie Walker * Mike Read * Noddy Holder (from Slade) * David Hamilton * Simon Bates * Emperor Rosko *

Chris Hawkins Christopher Charles Hawkins (born 23 September 1975) is a British radio presenter, DJ, and music pundit. Hawkins is a regular early morning presenter on BBC Radio 6 Music. He can also be heard presenting documentary programmes on BBC Radio ...

* John Suchet

Regional stations

These were the 20 stations in the Classic Gold Digital Network on 3 August 2007: *

Classic Gold 1152 Plymouth Gold (formerly ''Classic Gold 1152'') was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the city of Plymouth in Devon and surrounding areas. It was owned by GCap Media and was part of the national Classic Gold Digital Network. It ...

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

* Classic Gold 1260, Bristol and

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

* Classic Gold 1332, Peterborough * Classic Gold 1359, Coventry and Warwickshire * Classic Gold 1359/1431, Essex * Classic Gold 1431/1485, Reading * Classic Gold 1521, Reigate and

Crawley Crawley () is a large town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a population of 106,597 at the time of th ...

* Classic Gold 1557,

* Classic Gold 666/954,

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

and Torbay * Classic Gold 774, Gloucester * Classic Gold 828,

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the Southern ...

* Classic Gold 828/792,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, Bedfordshire,

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

and Cambridgeshire * Classic Gold 936/1161,

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

and West Wiltshire * Classic Gold 990/1017, Wolverhampton,

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

and Telford *

Classic Gold Amber Amber Radio was a classic hits/gold radio station operating from studios in both Norwich and Ipswich, in the region of East Anglia in the United Kingdom. It was the AM sister station of Radio Broadland and SGR and served Norfolk and Suffolk, ...

, Norfolk and north

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

, Ipswich and

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as Bury, is a historic market town, market, cathedral town and civil parish in Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – ...

* Classic Gold Digital: Humberside, Lancashire, Leeds, London, Merseyside, Sheffield, Teesside, & Tyne & Wear on DAB; it also broadcast on Sky Digital Channel 0189 * Classic Gold GEM, Nottingham and Derby * Classic Gold Marcher, Wrexham and

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

In addition, until 1 December 2008, the UTV Radio-owned

in West Yorkshire broadcast programming supplied by the network, with additional localisation and programmes specific to West Yorkshire. This station relaunched as Pulse 2, a completely local station before closing in August 2020 to become Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
archived on 2 January 2007 GCap Media Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Former British radio networks Radio stations established in 1989 Radio_stations_disestablished_in_2007