Wish FM was a local radio station serving

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

and the St Helens area of

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

from studios in the

Orrell Orrell may refer to: *Orrell, Greater Manchester, a district of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan **Orrell (ward), an electoral ward of the Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council *Orrell, Merseyside, an urban area east of Bootle, in the Metropolitan Bo ...

area of Wigan. Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer. Overview The network launched on 5 January 2015 as the "Bauer City 2 Network", and rebranded on 7 January 2019 due to the success of Ra ...

network in September 2020.

Overview

Wish FM broadcast on 102.4 FM from a transmitter, powered by a wind generator, sited on

Billinge Hill Billinge Hill, also known as Billinge Lump, is in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in North West England. With a maximum elevation of , it is the highest point of Merseyside. It lies in Billinge, within the historic county boundaries of ...

, St. Helens, Merseyside. It began broadcasting on 1 April 1997, as the first licence applied for and won by Tony Dewhurst and Jeff Graham of the recently formed Independent Radio Group. The station took its name from the initials WIgan and St Helens. The station was based in

, Wigan, but in early 2007, the station's owners approached UK media regulator

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 ...

to ask permission to move the station's base to

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 22,114. Newton-le-Willows is on the eastern edge of St Helens, south of Wigan and north of Warrington. The ...

, Merseyside, as part of a plan to share a single building with two other stations from the UTV Radio group:

Tower FM Greatest Hits Radio Bolton & Bury (formerly Tower FM) is an Independent Local Radio station serving the Bolton and Bury areas of Greater Manchester. Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the Greatest Hits Rad ...

and

Wire FM Wire FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving the Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn areas of Cheshire. Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the Greatest Hits Radio network in September 2020. History ...

. However, after following the sale of

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

-based

Imagine FM Imagine FM was an Independent Local Radio station based in Stockport broadcasting to South Manchester and Cheshire in the North West of England. History The station began its life as KFM, initially as a pirate local radio station based in S ...

, UTV Media (now

Wireless Group 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 ...

) decided to keep Wish FM in Orrell, and co-located Wire FM and Tower FM into the Orrell studios.

Station rebrand

On 8 February 2019, Wish FM and the Wireless Group's local radio stations were sold to

Bauer Radio Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of the Bauer Media Group. History In early 2008, German magazine publisher Bauer bought the radio division of British company Emap, which had been established as East Midland Allied Press in ...

. The sale was ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

. On 27 May 2020, it was announced that Wish FM would join Bauer's

network. On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with Wish FM retaining its own branding. In September 2020, Wish FM merged with six local stations in the North West of England and North Wales, as

Greatest Hits Radio North West Greatest Hits Radio North West is a regional radio network serving North West England and North Wales, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. Stations Under relaxed OFCOM requirements for local content on commercial radio, GHR North ...

. The station's local breakfast show was replaced by a regional afternoon show. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising were retained.Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio
Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 27 May 2020 The station's Orrell studios were closed.

References

External links

North West Radio

{{Liverpool and Merseyside radio

Wish A wish is a hope or desire for something. In fiction, wishes can be used as plot devices. In folklore, opportunities for "making a wish" or for wishes to "come true" or "be granted" are themes that are sometimes used. In fiction In fiction a ...

Mass media in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Radio stations established in 1997 Bauer Radio Greatest Hits Radio Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom