The Radio Partnership was a media company which operated radio stations in the
UK.
About
Initially, the
Metro Radio Group which owned
TFM,
Metro FM
Metro FM is a national radio station in South Africa owned by the South African Broadcasting Corporation. The station broadcasts on FM Stereo as well as the DStv Bouquet Channel 801.
Telephone :
History
The station started broadcasting in O ...
and
Great North Radio
Great North Radio, or G.N.R as it was sometimes called, launched in March 1989 using the AM frequencies of Metro Radio and Radio Teesbr> This happened after the Metro Radio group decided to split the FM and AM frequencies. The station was broa ...
, bought
Viking FM,
Hallam FM
Hallam FM is an Independent Local Radio station based in Sheffield, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Yorkshire.
As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 283,000 ...
,
Pennine FM
Pennine FM was an Independent Local Radio station based at Lockwood Park in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. The station closed on 5 April 2010 and returned its licence to the industry regulator Ofcom.
Background
The station was origina ...
(later rebranded as
The Pulse) and
Classic Gold
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 Yo ...
(later rebranded Great Yorkshire Radio, then Great Yorkshire Gold) was acquired by
East Midland Allied Press in 1996. Ownership rules meant that because they owned
Radio Aire
Radio Aire was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Leeds and West Yorkshire.
The station was merged and relaunched as Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.
History
Radio Aire was launched at 6am ...
in an overlapping area, one of the stations had to be sold, and that was The Pulse and its AM sister station which were purchased in a management buyout from senior staff and ex-Metro Group executives for £4.6m. Under the new company, called The Radio Partnership, became number one in the West Yorkshire radio market for the first time in its history.
The Radio Partnership expanded over the years to include other stations, such as
Signal Radio
Signal 1 is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Staffordshire and South Cheshire.
As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 172,000 listeners ...
in Stoke-on-Trent.
In 1999,
Kelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin Calder MacKenzie (born 22 October 1946) is an English media executive and a former newspaper editor. He became editor of '' The Sun'' in 1981, by which time the publication was established as Britain's largest circulation newspaper. Aft ...
's
Talk Radio UK bought The Radio Partnership and formed
The Wireless Group to include the national broadcaster and a series of local stations. In July 2005, The Wireless Group was in turn acquired by
UTV radio
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 ...
.
Licence bid
The Radio Partnership was one of 14 applications to broadcast a regional station in the North East. Under the name The Point the group proposed a dance and alternative format for listeners aged 15-30. They were unsuccessful in their bid and the licence was won by
Chrysalis Radio
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrys ...
's
Galaxy format.
[{{cite web , url = http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/rau/newsroom/news-release/98/pr20.htm
, title = Radio Partnership licence bid , accessdate = 2010-02-01 ]
References
External links
Article referring to the former Pennine Radio and Radio Partnership
Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom