Great North Radio, or G.N.R as it was sometimes called, launched in March 1989 using the AM frequencies of

Metro Radio Metro Radio is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear. As of September 2022, the ...

and

Radio Tees TFM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Teesside and surrounding areas of County Durham and North Yorkshire. As of Septem ...

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This happened after the Metro Radio group decided to split the FM and AM frequencies. The station was broadcast on both frequencies rather than as two separate stations. GNR's output consisted of mellow music from the 1950s through to the 1980s, including current hits that fitted the format. There were also specialist programmes each evening, including Country Music, Jazz, and Classical. GNR was replaced in February 1997 by

Magic 1152 Greatest Hits Radio North East is a local radio broadcasting, radio station serving North East England, as part of Bauer Radio, Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. History Great North Radio (also known as G.N.R) was formed in March 1989 ...

and

Magic 1170 Greatest Hits Radio Teesside is a local radio station serving Teesside, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. History Originally launched as Great North Radio by the Metro Radio Group in March 1989. The station broadcast on th ...

and was rebranded again in January 2015 when the stations became part of the

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer. Overview The network launched on 5 January 2015 as the "Bauer City 2 Network", and rebranded on 7 January 2019 due to the success of Ra ...

network and are known on air as

Greatest Hits North East Greatest Hits Radio North East is a local radio station serving North East England, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. History Great North Radio (also known as G.N.R) was formed in March 1989 using the AM frequencies of Met ...

and

Greatest Hits Teesside Greatest Hits Radio Teesside is a local radio station serving Teesside, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. History Originally launched as Great North Radio by the Metro Radio Group in March 1989. The station broadcast on th ...

Branding

The station used slogans "''40 Years of Hits''", "''Classic Songs, All-Time Hits''" and "''You've Got a Lifetime of Music''" within its on-air station idents. These

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually t ...

s were produced by

Alfasound Alfasound was a radio jingle production company based in Manchester from late 1970s to mid-1990s founded by Alan Fawkes and ex-Piccadilly Radio DJ Steve England. Alfasound was responsible for some of the most memorable radio jingles in the 80 ...

in Sale, Greater Manchester. The package was later re-sung for

Great Yorkshire Radio Classic Gold was a network of three "Gold" music formatted stations which broadcast on AM in Bradford, Hull and Sheffield. They were the sister stations of Pennine Radio, Viking Radio and Radio Hallam respectively and they were part of the Yor ...

, GNR's sister station.

Presenters

{{Radio stations in North East England Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations in North East England Former British radio networks