Touch FM 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 broadcasting to Burton,

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

, Tamworth and

South Derbyshire South Derbyshire is a local government district in Derbyshire, England. The population of the local authority at the 2011 Census was 94,611. It contains a third of the National Forest, and the council offices are in Swadlincote. The district ...

, England.

Centre FM

Centre FM was created as the result of work by the Tamworth Community Radio Association. It was formed in 1993 with the purpose of developing a

community radio Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popula ...

station for the town and its surrounding areas. In 1996, TCRA, with a group of local businessmen and radio presenters, formed Centre Broadcasting Ltd to apply for the commercial broadcasting licence for South East Staffordshire. In addition to this, there was another rival bid from Burton-based Tower FM, who also did reading books for the blind. Considering there was interest in Burton and Swadlincote and Tamworth and

, both areas were merged by the Radio Authority. Centre FM launched on 6 June 1998, from studios at 5-6 Aldergate, Tamworth. Upon its launch, The board consisted of Ric Simon of TCRA, local business leader Keith Hayes, representatives of Central Independent Newspapers, and

ITV Central ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...

news anchorman Bob Warman. At one point,

Capital Radio Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...

held shares in the station, selling them, along with those of Stratford-upon-Avon based The Bear, on 11 April 2001. In April 2002, it was acquired by The CN Group, which, on 29 April 2006, re-branded the station as Touch FM.

Programming

The original line-up in 1998 was Sean Goldsmith at breakfast, Mike Vitti on mid-mornings, Hayley Chapman on afternoons and Antony Masters in the evening, with Mike Thomas as news editor. The strapline was 'One Great Song After Another'. Apart from Vitti, the original line-up had left by the end of 2000. Sean Goldsmith left for Hallam FM and Mike Thomas left in 2001 for the launch of

Saga 105.7 FM Saga 105.7fm was an independent local radio station broadcasting to the West Midlands of the United Kingdom. As well as the West Midlands County, it also served surrounding areas such as Worcestershire, Staffordshire, and Warwickshire. Part ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

, but returned to the station between 2005 and 2007. No overnight presenters were employed, instead non-stop music was played straight from a computer. Later, Centre FM's strapline was "We Only Play the Best Music".

Touch FM

Under the CN Group, the station was re-launched as Touch FM in 2006 leaving behind almost eight years of heritage in South East Staffordshire. Touch FM was launched at 12:00 BST on Saturday 29 April 2006. The on-air launch was marked at

Coopers Square Coopers Square (originally called Burton Shopping Centre) is an indoor shopping centre located in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is owned by the Grosvenor Group. The total retail area for the shopping centre is . The shopping ce ...

Shopping Centre in Burton-upon-Trent, and was hosted by breakfast presenter Dave James with an appearance by the

Sugababes Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...

. The re-branding of Centre FM made it the fourth station to join the new

Touch Radio Network {{Use British English, date=June 2016 The Touch FM network was a group of local commercial radio stations owned by Quidem. The network included stations in Coventry, South Staffordshire, Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Nuneaton & Hinckley, Loughborou ...

. Kix 96.2 and The Bear were re-branded earlier that year, with a new station for Banbury also launching Touch FM on 25 February 2006. In 2009, the station was acquired by the Quidem group, which introduced new idents, a revised logo and changed the strapline to "Classic Hits and the Best Of Today". The station broadcast from Aldergate in Tamworth town centre until it moved to a studio complex in

Coalville Coalville is an industrial town in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, with a population at the 2011 census of 34,575. It lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Tr ...

in 2012, following Quidem's acquisition of Oak FM, already based there, from the Lincs FM Group. In August 2016, it received permission from OFCOM to move studios to Kenilworth in Warwickshire. In September 2019, Quidem announced it had entered a brand licensing agreement with Global, citing financial losses. Two months later, following permission from regulator, Ofcom to change the station's format, it was confirmed Touch FM (Burton, Lichfield and Tamworth) would merge its Quidem-owned sister stations and launch as Capital Mid-Counties on 2 December 2019.Global confirms Capital FM to replace Quidem stations
Radio Today, 27 November 2019 Local output for the Mid-Counties region consists of a three-hour regional Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising for south east Staffordshire and south Derbyshire. Touch FM ceased broadcasting at 7pm on Friday 29 November 2019.

Transmitters

Touch FM used two transmitters to cover Lichfield, Tamworth and Burton. One was at the

Lichfield transmitting station The Lichfield transmitting station is situated close to Tamworth in Staffordshire in the West Midlands between the A5 and A51. The nearest geographical feature is Hopwas Hill. The station is owned and operated by Arqiva. The mast is known ...

, which broadcast on 101.6 FM at a power of 60 watts to Lichfield and Tamworth, and another transmitter was a
Winshill water tower
on 102.4 FM. This covered Burton and South Derbyshire at a power of 90 watts. Even though the station was meant to cover South East Staffordshire and

, it could also be heard on some parts of the M6 through the

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and through most of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

References

External links