Greatest Hits Radio North West is a regional radio network serving North West England and

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

, as part of Bauer’s

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 Rad ...

network.

Stations

Under relaxed OFCOM requirements for local content on commercial radio, GHR North West is permitted to share all programmes between seven licences located in the ITV Granada broadcast region. Previously, these licences broadcast as separate stations: *

Piccadilly Radio Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West Eng ...

began broadcasting to

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...

on 2 April 1974. * Radio City began broadcasting to

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

and parts of Cheshire and

on 21 October 1974. *

Red Rose Radio Red Rose Radio was the first UK Independent Local Radio station to be licensed for Lancashire by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). Although a company of that name was incorporated in 1978 (as Red Rose Radio Limited), the licence was awa ...

began broadcasting to Central

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

on 5 October 1982. * Radio Wave began broadcasting to Blackpool and

The Fylde The Fylde () is a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England. It is roughly a square-shaped peninsula, bounded by Morecambe Bay to the north, the Ribble estuary to the south, the Irish Sea to the west, and the foot of the Bowland hills ...

on 25 May 1992. *

Wish FM Wish FM was a local radio station serving Wigan in Greater Manchester and the St Helens area of Merseyside from studios in the Orrell area of Wigan. Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the Greatest Hits ...

began broadcasting to the

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

and St Helens areas on 1 April 1997. *

Wire FM Wire FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving the Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn areas of Cheshire. Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the Greatest Hits Radio network in September 2020. History ...

began broadcasting to the

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the northern bank of the River Mersey where the estuary narrows to form th ...

and

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

areas on 1 September 1998. * Tower FM began broadcasting to the

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

and

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

areas on 20 March 1999. * The Revolution began broadcasting to the

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham ...

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

and

Tameside The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in England. It is named after the River Tame, which flows through the borough, and includes the towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, ...

areas on 30 August 1999.

History

Radio City initially ran a single service on AM and FM, but by 1989, it launched a separate daytime talk service on AM, City Talk. However, poor ratings saw the station revert to a

classic hits Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes songs from the top 40 music charts from the late 1960s to the early 2000s, with music from the 1980s serving as the core of the format. Music that was popularized by MTV in the early 1980 ...

format, ''Radio City Gold'', two years later. By 1998, Radio City Gold fell into the ownership of Emap, who rebranded the station as Magic 1548, which would adopt an increasing amount of networked programming until its local breakfast show was axed in March 2013. Tower FM, Wish FM and Wire FM would become part of The

Wireless Group Wireless Group Limited is a radio and digital broadcasting network with headquarters in Belfast, Northern Ireland and with radio operations in the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. It currently operates five stations in Ireland and ...

, which was brought in 2005 by UTV Media, before being sold again to News Corp in 2016. These three stations co-located to studios in the Orrell area of

in 2009, while maintaining separate identities and local programming. In 2008, the Magic stations in the North West were sold to Bauer, who would launch the Greatest Hits ('Bauer City 2') network under local branding in January 2015. The following December, Radio City 2 swapped frequencies with sister station

Radio City Talk Radio City Talk (previously City Talk 105.9) was an Independent Local Radio station in Liverpool, England. In May 2020, it was announced by Bauer that Radio City Talk would cease broadcasting, after concluding that the station was no longer fi ...

on 105.9 FM and reintroduced local programming at peak times. In January 2019, Greatest Hits Radio replaced the localised Bauer City 2 branding. The following month, the Wireless Group's network of local radio stations - including Tower, Wish and Wire - were sold to Bauer Radio, although this sale was only ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

. In May 2020, Bauer announced the Wireless Group stations would rebrand and join the Greatest Hits Radio network. Two months later, Tower, Wish and Wire entered a transition period - carrying local breakfast shows and voicetracked programming ahead of the full relaunch on 1 September 2020. The former Wireless Group studios in Orrell, Wigan were closed, although local newsgathering and sales staff were retained. As of November 2020, following Bauer's purchase of The Revolution, GHR is also broadcast on 96.2 FM from a transmitter in

which serves much of East and Central Greater Manchester. In February 2021, Bauer announced it would close GHR's medium-wave frequencies in Manchester (1152 kHz) and Lancashire (999 kHz) by the end of April 2021. On 29 November 2022, Bauer announced that CFM which broadcasts to Cumbria and South West Scotland will be rebranding and joining the Greatest Hits Radio network in April 2023. It will have a local afternoon show between 1pm-4pm and will take the networked shows for the remainder of the time.

Programming

Greatest Hits Radio produces and broadcasts networked programming from Bauer's Manchester and Liverpool studios, including breakfast and evening shows on weekdays. Other output originates from Bauer's studios in Birmingham, Glasgow and London. On weekdays, the station airs a regional three-hour afternoon show from 1-4pm presented by Debbie Mac.
RadioToday, 27 August 2020 However, the show also airs in London, Greatest Hits Radio North East, the North East and

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

and on the national DAB station.

News

Bauer’s Manchester and Liverpool newsrooms broadcast local news bulletins hourly from 6am to 7pm on weekdays and from 7am to 1pm at weekends. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside traffic bulletins. Separate local news and traffic bulletins air for Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and the Wigan & St Helens area. National bulletins from

Sky News Radio Sky News Radio is the radio arm of Sky News, owned by Sky UK. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations aro ...

are carried at other times.

References

External links

Greatest Hits Radio
{{Greatest Hits Radio Bauer Radio Greatest Hits Radio Radio stations established in 2020