Plymouth Gold (formerly ''Classic Gold 1152'') was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the city of

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 ...

in Devon and surrounding areas. It was owned by GCap Media and was part of the national Classic Gold Digital Network. It broadcasts on 1152

kHz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that on ...

AM, DAB digital radio, as well as onlin

and on Sky Digital Channel 0189 (the latter two were the national versions of Classic Gold, lacking the local elements). Based at Earl's Acre,

, its sister station is

Heart Plymouth Heart Plymouth (formerly Plymouth Sound) was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Plymouth in Devon, England. History The heritage name Plymouth Sound was a pun on the popular meaning of ''sound'' (in the audio sense) and the bay ...

, formerly known as Plymouth Sound until 2009.

History

Plymouth Gold was launched on 19 May 1975, as Plymouth Sound, broadcasting on 97.0 FM and 261 metres

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 ...

(1152 AM). It was one of the earliest ILRs to launch in the UK and was the first commercial radio station for the West Country. Towards the end of the 1980s/ early 1990s, as with most other ILRs Plymouth Sound split into two stations; the FM frequency remained as Plymouth Sound and the AM service became ''Plymouth Sound AM''. After being owned (either fully or partly) by the GWR Group, the

Capital Group Capital Group is an American financial services company. It ranks among the world's oldest and largest investment management organizations, with over $2.6 trillion in assets under management. Founded in Los Angeles, California in 1931, it is pri ...

and The Local Radio Company, throughout the 1990s, the station was fully bought by the GWR Group around 2000. On 7 February 2000 ''Plymouth Sound AM'' was re-branded ''Classic Gold 1152'' (Plymouth). Due to ownership rules the GWR Group had to sell off all of their Classic Gold stations. They were sold to the UBC Media Group, although the GWR Group did keep a 20% stake in the brand. The 20% stake was increased to 100% in 2007 and GCap assumed full control of both Capital Gold and the Classic Gold Digital Network, merging the two networks, and renaming it simply Gold on 3 August.

Later years

Plymouth Gold formerly had around 20 hours a day of networked programming. Only the weekday drivetime show was local and was presented by Peter Greig. Network shows still had local adverts, information and news aired at selected intervals. The station mostly played music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. According to the RAJAR results for the period ending December 2006, the station had a total of 6,000 listeners and a 1.1% market share.

Network programmes under Classic Gold

* ''The Even Tastier Breakfast'' * ''The Graham Rogers Morning Show'' * ''Classic Gold Drivetime'' (local programme) * ''Paul Baker's Evening Show'' * ''Classic Gold Late Night'' * ''The Retro Countdown'' * ''Classic Gold Albums''

Notable Network presenters

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 ...

Paul Burnett Paul Burnett (born 26 November 1943) is an English radio disc jockey. Early career Burnett began his radio career while in the Royal Air Force in the Persian Gulf in 1964. In 1966 he joined offshore radio station, Radio 270, broadcasting off S ...

Gary Crowley Gary Crowley (born 8 October 1961), is an English broadcaster, TV presenter and DJ.Burrell, Ian (2009), ''The Independent'', 9 November 2009, retrieved 2 November 2010 While still at school (Rutherford School, Marylebone, London) in the late 1970s ...

* Trevor Dann *

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 ...

* Graham Rogers *

Sandy Warr Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters * Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people * Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) *(Sandy) ...

Past network presenters

* Simon Bates * David Hamilton * Noddy Holder * Dave Lee Travis * Mike Read * Emperor Rosko *

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 ...

* Johnnie Walker

References

Aircheck UK

Classic Gold 1152 (Plymouth) Media UK entry

External links

*
Classic Gold 1152 (Plymouth) Media UK entry
{{coord missing, Devon Radio stations in Devon Mass media in Plymouth, Devon GCap Media Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations disestablished in 2007