Leicester Sound was an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2003, ...

station which broadcast to

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations,

Trent FM Trent FM was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Nottinghamshire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Leicester Sound and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's Capital FM Network) on M ...

and

Ram FM Ram FM was an Independent Local Radio station, which broadcast to central and southern parts of Derbyshire on 102.8 FM. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Leicester Sound to form Capital FM East Midlands (p ...

to form

Capital FM East Midlands Capital East Midlands was a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network, broadcasting to the East Midlands from studios in Nottingham. It launched on 3 January 2011 following the merger of Tren ...

(part of Global's

Capital FM Network Capital is a network of twelve independent contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Nine of the stations are owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, while the oth ...

) on Monday, 3 January 2011.Capital FM to replace Galaxy
, RadioToday, 13 September 2010

Background

Leicester Sound was launched by the owners of Radio Trent on 7 September 1984, eleven months after Leicestershire's first ILR station,

Centre Radio Centre Radio (officially known as Leicester and Leicestershire Local Radio plc) was the first independent local radio station to serve Leicestershire. It was based at Granville House, Leicester, England. History Centre Radio was launched on ...

, went into receivership and ceased broadcasting. The new station broadcast from Centre's Granville House studios and on Centre's frequencies of 1260 MW and 97.1 FM. The FM frequency was moved to 103.2MHz in 1986 with medium wave broadcasts continuing until October 1988. In the same year, the station was renamed as Sound FM, before reverting to its original branding in 1991. In January 1992, Leicester Sound was bought out by

Midlands Radio plc Midlands Radio plc was an independent radio operator, which operated seven radio licences in Birmingham, Coventry, Leicester, Nottingham and surrounding areas in the United Kingdom. Stations owned FM *BRMB * Leicester Sound *Radio Trent *Merci ...

. Within a year, the group was taken over by Capital Radio who sold the station, along with Trent FM and Mercia Sound to the GWR Group. In January 1997, Leicester Sound's frequency changed from 103.2 to 105.4FM, offering a stronger signal, which could be heard in most of

from a transmitter near Billesdon. In February 2002, the station moved to new studios at the Meridian Business Park in Leicester. Leicester Sound broadcast its very last local programme on Friday 31 December 2010 ahead of the station's merger with Trent FM and Ram FM to form

as part of Global Radio's plans to launch

The Capital FM Network Capital is a network of twelve independent contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Nine of the stations are owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, while the oth ...

. The new station began broadcasting at 10am on Monday 3 January 2011.

Notable past presenters

Robin Banks Robin Banks is a TV presenter, narrator and radio DJ originally from Kilkenny, Ireland. Career He was the narrator of the British/European version of the popular Discovery Channel show '' MythBusters'', from season 2 to the present day. He ...

* Rae Earl *

Sara Blizzard Sara Louise Blizzard (born 17 August 1970 in Coventry, Warwickshire) is a weather presenter for East Midlands Today. She regularly presents the weather forecasts for Midlands Today and BBC North West Tonight. She grew up in Coventry and trained ...

(now with BBC

East Midlands Today ''East Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news programme for the East Midlands. The programme is broadcast on BBC One from studios at the BBC's East Midlands broadcasting centre in Nottingham, also home to Radio Nottingham. The ...

) *

Jeremy Kyle Jeremy Kyle (born 7 July 1965) is an English broadcaster and writer. He is known for hosting the tabloid talk show ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' on ITV from 2005 to 2019. He also hosted a US version of his eponymous show, which ran for two seas ...

(presenter

The Jeremy Kyle Show ''The Jeremy Kyle Show'' is a British tabloid talk show presented by Jeremy Kyle and produced by ITV Studios. It premiered on the ITV network on 4 July 2005, and ran for seventeen series until its cancellation on 10 May 2019. It was the most ...

) *

Graham Torrington Graham Torrington (born 1960) is a British radio presenter and broadcaster. Radio work Romantica After starting out as a hospital radio presenter, Torrington joined Birmingham's BRMB in the 1980s to cover an overnight programme for Steve Denn ...

(later with

BBC Radio Bristol BBC Radio Bristol is the BBC's local radio station serving Bristol, Bath and North & North East Somerset. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Bristol. According to RAJAR, the stati ...

, Smooth Radio, now at

Boom Radio Boom Radio (also Boom Radio UK) is an independent, commercial, national radio station in the United Kingdom. Owned by Boom Radio Ltd, the station is aimed at baby boomers, the generation of people born between 1946 and 1964, and is the first rad ...

) * David Lloyd (now a Radio Historian) * John Peters (now at Boom Radio) * Matt Faulkner (now with BBC Somerset)

References

External links

Leicester Sound jingles

{{coord missing, Leicestershire Leicester Radio stations established in 1984 Radio stations in Leicestershire Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom The Hit Music Network