County Sound Radio was an analogue commercial radio station covering Surrey and north-east

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

in the United Kingdom. One of its closing forms in 2012-2014 formed Eagle Extra occupying 1566 MW following an internal split between older and newer music/features into two allied stations in 1988 and an incomplete takeover by

Mercury FM Mercury FM was a radio station in the Surrey and Sussex area of the United Kingdom that was founded on 20 October 1984 and closed on 25 July 2010. The station broadcast on FM 97.5 MHz in Horsham and 102.7 MHz in East Surrey and ...

then sale leaving a third station, that of Mercury, with enhanced coverage of this area and its successor Heart Sussex and Surrey. The post-1988 branch of the radio which was rooted in recent music, concerts and events in the area including for a younger audience alternated between three FM frequencies (96.6, 96.4 and 91.5); in 1996 it relaunched as 96.4 Eagle Radio.

History

County Sound Radio was launched on 4 April 1983 by

Frank Muir Frank Herbert Muir (5 February 1920 – 2 January 1998) was an English comedy writer, radio and television personality, and raconteur. His writing and performing partnership with Denis Norden endured for most of their careers. Together they wro ...

on 203 MW and 96.6 FM based at The Friary Shopping Centre in Guildford. In 1986, 96.6 changed to 96.4 FM. It mainly used an AM transmitter on the

Hog's Back The Hog's Back is a hilly ridge, part of the North Downs in Surrey, England. It runs between Farnham in the west and Guildford in the east. Name Compared with the main part of the Downs to the east of it, it is a narrow elongated ridge, hen ...

thin section of the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs): the Surrey Hills a ...

west of Guildford. The FM transmitter, was next to the Portsmouth Direct Line in

Farncombe Farncombe, historically Fernecome, is a village and peripheral settlement of Godalming in Waverley, Surrey, England and is approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) north-east of the Godalming centre, separated by common land known as the ''Lammas L ...

, near Godalming.

Programmes

County Sound first aired weekdays 6am until 9pm, then until midnight. It went to 5am and/or 1am depending on day and schedule, before 24-hour service. The original line-up included Phil Miles at Breakfast, Paul Owens, Sarah Lucas "after lunch" and Simon Cummings during the afternoon. Nigel Williams presented the evening show ''96.6''. It featured long news broadcasts, ''County World'', at lunchtime and 6pm.

Ownership and directors

Norman Cunningham was (company) Chairman. David Lucas was launch Managing Director and Mike Powell was the first Head of News. In year two, Powell became Programme Director. In year five Lucas left to become Managing Director of Ocean Sound and Powell became Managing Director. In 1991 the group merged with Radio Mercury to form the listed plc, Allied Radio plc.

Theme jingle

The County Sound Radio theme was written by board member Les Reed (writer of hits including ''Delilah'', ''The Last Waltz'') with the slogan "The One and Only One for You". The lyrics to the County Sound song were:

Here comes the morning, it's a brand new day (Alt. lyrics for afternoon and evening: We are your music, and your news each day). Turn on the sunshine. The County Sound way. Open up your heart, and you will let a little sunshine through, with County Sound, the one and only one for you. We'll always be here, each and every day. Wherever you're going, we're going your way. Come with us and ride the airwaves discover something new, on County Sound - the one and only one for you. County Sound, the one and only one for you.

Promotional mascot

A costumed mascot was Brewster the Mouse who toured local fetes, funfairs and outdoor concerts.

1988 to 1995

On 1 June 1988 County Sound Radio used its FM and MW frequencies to create two stations, the first #96.4 became "County Sound Premier", "Premier Radio" and then on 4 May 1992 a 102.7 Reigate and Crawley shared edition of "Radio Mercury" #203 MW became "County Sound Gold", later renamed "First Gold Radio" and then from 4 May 1992 a different County Sound originating from Crawley, West Sussex. In 1989, the station moved most of its departments from its purpose-built studios on top of Guildford's "Friary Shopping Centre" to a new building in Chertsey Road, Woking. A small facility remained in the Centre's food court where shoppers could look directly into the on-air studio. The FM frequences carried the West Surrey variant of Radio Mercury mainly programmed from the Friary Shopping Centre studio (Monday to Friday, 6am until 6.30pm). Weekend and overnight broadcasting came from Mercury's Crawley HQ in Sussex. The Haslemere area received additional frequency 97.1FM, enabling its own show 7am-11am, interspersing the main hours of broadcast. Since 1986 Mercury's FM frequency changed from 103.6 to 102.7 as part of the UK-wide re-organisation of the VHF/FM band. 1989 saw a relay of the station added for the town of Horsham on 97.5. In 1991 the CountySound Radio Network was merged by owners Allied Radio in Guildford to form two brands Allied Radio plc."What's the history behind Mercury FM?"
FAQs about Mercury FM Mercury then, having played a broad mix of music, became a mainly

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or "cont ...

hits station. County Sound's AM frequency was later renamed "Extra AM" and then again was shortly renamed to "Mercury Extra AM" to make the connection between the two AM frequencies of both stations better known. It also joined with Southend based Essex Radio and became known as

Breeze Breeze often refers to: * A gentle to moderate wind * Sea breeze, an onshore afternoon wind, caused by warm air rising over the land in sunny weather Breeze or The Breeze may also refer to: * Breeze block a concrete masonry unit made from recovere ...

under DMGT owned Essex Radio Group. In 2000, the GWR owned Classic Gold Network took over the AM licence of 1521 kHz. On 102.7, Mercury was renamed "Mercury FM" after the takeover of the group by IRG who had also rebranded medium wave, Fame 1521, in 1995. Before that Mercury had lost County Sound and Eagle Radio took the Surrey 96.4 FM transmitter, and County Sound returned to 1476 AM. From 1992, news magazine ''The South Tonight'' broadcast on weekdays at 6.30pm on Mercury and County Sound. The programme was presented from Crawley; the Guildford news team gathered and pre-edited news for the areas north-west of Sussex.

1995 to 2011

In 1995 the link between the Guildford and Crawley stations was broken, as Allied lost the Guildford licence. UKRD won the franchise - set to go on air in April 1996 - brought forward by seven months by agreement. UKRD, led by Mike Powell, wanted to revive the station - and from 1 September 1995 it resumed broadcasting, as a skeleton service, on 96.4FM and 1476 AM to assist in a full launch. On 29 December 1995 the station moved into Dolphin House, North Street, Guildford – ending twelve years at the Friary – and on 4 January 1996 the new UKRD stations launched, splitting frequencies: #1476 MW became County Sound in its original style #96.4 became

Eagle Radio Eagle Radio was a local radio station in the Surrey and North East Hampshire area of England. Based in Guildford in the Guildford College campus, Eagle Radio was part of the UKRD Group of radio stations. Launch Peter Gordon launched 96.4 The Eag ...

appealing more to a younger audience. In 1999 County Sound moved to its last frequency of 1566 MW. In its last years, the MW station became increasingly a jukebox with 'Steve Dean' on a Sunday morning, and the main live presenter 'Dave Johns' who both left before Christmas of 2011. Original presenter Simon Cummings died in December 1996 after suffering a long illness. For 20 months from 2 April 2012 the older-track focus of station continued as "Eagle Extra" which relayed 'The Peter Gordon Breakfast show' from Eagle Radio. In December 2014, its 1566 MW licence/bandwidth was sold to

Premier Christian Radio Premier Christian Radio is a British Christian radio station, part of Premier (a Christian communications organisation), owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust. Premier Christian Radio broadcasts Christian programming, including ne ...

which has become one of three relays of its London-HQ broadcasts.

Further advertising

County Sound Radio also advertised with

Matchbox Phillumeny (also known as phillumenism) is the hobby of collecting different match-related items: matchboxes, matchbox labels, matchbooks, matchcovers, matchsafes, etc. Matchbox A matchbox is a box made of cardboard or thin wood and designe ...

toys, a van in the station's livery being released as part of Matchbox's Super Kings line.