Ridings FM was a local radio station serving the

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

District of

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

. The station was folded into

Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire is a radio station regional sub-network serving Yorkshire, Lincolnshire & the North Midlands as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. Whilst all programming is shared either across the region, or nationall ...

, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.

Studios

The station was originally based at Thornes Office Park in Wakefield before co-locating with sister station

Dearne FM Dearne FM was a local radio station serving Barnsley. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. History The station was based at Zenith Park on Whaley Road, Barugh Green, in the north ...

at Zenith Park on Whaley Road,

Barugh Green Barugh Green (locally pronounced as Bark Green or occasionally mis-pronounced as Bart Green) is a semi-rural commuter village in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The village falls within the Barnsley Metropolita ...

, in the north-west of

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

in 2009. Following
memorandum
sent to

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

, which stated that the station had never made a profit although being a technical success, Ridings FM was moved to

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

where it shared a building with

Trax FM Trax FM was a local radio station serving Doncaster in South Yorkshire and the Bassetlaw District, Bassetlaw district of north Nottinghamshire. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. ...

and

Rother FM Rother FM was a local radio station serving Rotherham. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020. Studios and coverage Rother FM was originally based in Rotherham but later moved to Don ...

Transmission

The station's transmitter was located at Wakefield House in Wakefield city centre. Ridings FM broadcast on 106.8 FM on 500 watts of power. From July 2001, it was made available on the Bauer Leeds DAB multiplex. This service was discontinued in 2013 as it was a significant cost and covered areas outside of

with an uneconomically small potential audience.

FM licence

Prior to being awarded the

licence, the station ran a trial service which ran from 11 October 1997 on 87.7 FM. By the closing date of 8 September 1998, WF 107 Ltd (based in

), Henna FM Ltd (based in

Batley Batley is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees, in West Yorkshire, England. Batley lies south-west of Leeds, north-west of Wakefield and Dewsbury, south-east of Bradford and north-east of Huddersfield. Batley is part of the ...

providing Asian music) and Ridings FM had applied to the

Radio Authority Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

for the licence.ofcom.org.uk
/ref> Ridings FM was later awarded the licence on 7 January 1999.

Programming

The station's output included a weekday breakfast show. The station's news team won a Sony Bronze award in May 2000. At off peak times the station used the feed from

Independent Radio News Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom and beyond. The managing director, Tim Molloy, succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009. Perkins had been ...

. As well as news, Ridings FM covered local sports teams from the

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England, that plays in the Super League. One of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in 1895, between 1999 and 2016 the c ...

Castleford Tigers The Castleford Tigers are a professional rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England, that compete in the Super League, the top-level professional rugby league club competition in the Northern Hemisphere. The club have competed i ...

and

Featherstone Rovers Featherstone Rovers are a professional rugby league club in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England, who play in the Championship (rugby league), Championship. Featherstone is a former coal mining town with a population of around 16,000 and Rover ...

in rugby league, to Ossett United (amalgamation of

Ossett Albion Ossett Albion Association Football Club was an English football club. They played at Queen's Terrace in Ossett, in West Yorkshire, more commonly known as Dimplewells, the area of Ossett the ground is situated in. History The club was formed in ...

and

Ossett Town Ossett Town Association Football Club was an English football club based in Ossett in West Yorkshire. History Ossett Town AFC were formed in 1936 when, during a public meeting, the Mayor of the Borough of Ossett charged John Carter, a former ...

) and

Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History Although the club itself claims it was formed in 1910, the team was activ ...

in football.

Presenters

During Ridings FM's lifetime, presenters included: * Phil Butler * Gareth Webb * Paul Bromley * John Tolson * Jamie Fletcher * Chris Hubbard * Kev Wilson * Andy Hoyle

References

External links

History of local radio in Yorkshire

The Student Wiki

{{coord missing, South Yorkshire Radio stations established in 1999 Radio stations in Yorkshire Organisations based in Wakefield Bauer Radio 1999 establishments in England