Signal 107 was a British

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 serving

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

and surrounding areas,

Telford Telford () is a town in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Shropshire, England, about east of Shrewsbury, south west of Stafford, north west of Wolverhampton and from Birmingham in t ...

and

Wrekin The Wrekin is a hill in east Shropshire, England. It is located some five miles (8 km) west of Telford, on the border between the unitary authorities of Shropshire and Telford and Wrekin. Rising above the Shropshire Plain to a height of 4 ...

, Shrewsbury, Oswestry in north and central

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

and

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it ha ...

, Stourport-on-Severn and

Bewdley Bewdley ( pronunciation) is a town and civil parish in the Wyre Forest District in Worcestershire, England on the banks of the River Severn. It is in the Severn Valley west of Kidderminster and southwest of Birmingham. It lies on the Riv ...

in north

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

. The station, owned and operated by

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 ...

, launched on Monday 26 March 2012 as a result of the merger of three stations – The Wolf, The Severn (previously known in

Telford FM 107.4 Telford FM was a commercial local radio station broadcasting in Telford, Shropshire and the surrounding areas of Bridgnorth and Newport from 3 May, 1999 until 20 September, 2010. In 2010, the station was later renamed as 'The Severn' to ...

) and

The Wyre 107.2 The Wyre was a local commercial radio station serving Kidderminster, Bewdley, Stourport-on-Severn, Stourbridge and Bromsgrove in England. The station was owned by MNA Broadcasting but was sold to UTV Media and merged on Monday 26 March ...

History

''Signal 107'' originally broadcast as four stations – The Wolf began broadcasting to Wolverhampton and the surrounding areas from its Mander House studios in the city on 7 October 1997 while

launched in the

Telford and Wrekin Telford and Wrekin is a borough and unitary authority in Shropshire, England. In 1974, a non-metropolitan district of Shropshire was created called The Wrekin. In 1998, the district became a unitary authority and was renamed "Telford and Wrekin" ...

area on 3 May 1999. The Wyre started broadcasts in

, Stourport-on-Severn,

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

and Bromsgrove on 12 September 2005, followed by The Severn in Shrewsbury and Oswestry on 18 September 2006, initially providing separate programming services for north and central Shropshire. Telford FM, The Wyre and The Severn were owned and operated by the Midlands News Association. The three stations were co-located at Telford FM's studios in 2009 following permission from OFCOM. On 20 September 2010, the Telford station was rebranded as ''The Severn'' and allowed to share all programming with the Shrewsbury/Oswestry station. In November 2011, the station's owners announced that the stations would be closed unless a buyer could be found. On 3 February 2012, The Wyre and The Severn were both acquired by UTV Media, which had owned The Wolf since a buyout from The Wireless Group in mid-2005. Live programming ended on the same day on both former MNA stations. All three stations merged and rebranded as ''Signal 107'' at midday on Monday 26 March 2012. On 8 February 2019, Signal 107 was bought by

alongside the other local

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 ...

stations. On 27 May 2020, it was announced that Signal 107 will close and be replaced by a national station

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 Rad ...

. On 1 September 2020 Signal 107 was replaced by

Greatest Hits Radio Midlands Greatest Hits Radio Midlands is a regional radio station serving the East & West Midlands as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network. Localised variants The station has seven variants: * Birmingham & the West Midlands (formerly Greatest H ...

Programming

Local programming was produced and broadcast from Signal 107's Wolverhampton studios from 6 am-7 pm on weekdays, 6 am-6 pm on Saturdays and 8 am-12 pm on Sundays. Networked programming originates from Wireless Group's

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 ...

studios in Stoke-on-Trent. Signal 107 did have the option to opt-out of networked programmes for local content if deemed appropriate. The station's local presenters were Dicky Dodd (Weekday Breakfast), Tim Haycock (Weekday and Saturday Daytime), Steve Mason (The Home Run). Signal 107 opted in to networked programming from

Signal 1 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 a ...

's studios in Stoke-on-Trent – Total Access and The Spence Macdonald Late Show (Monday to Friday), Mylo's Saturday Night House Party (Saturday) and Sam Harper's late show (Saturday and Sunday night), The Total Access Top 40 (Sunday) and Old Skool Anthems (Sunday).

News and sport

Signal 107 broadcast local news bulletins hourly from 6 am to 6 am on weekdays, from 7 am to 1 pm on Saturdays and from 8 am to 12 pm on Sundays. Headlines were broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows. The station also simulcasted hourly

Sky News Radio Sky News Radio is the radio arm of Sky News, owned by Sky UK. It has been operating since June 1999, providing a news bulletin service for UK commercial radio stations operators across the UK and for a number of English-speaking radio stations aro ...

bulletins at all other times. Since the 2015–16 season, Signal 107 has broadcast live football commentaries of

Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

league and league cup matchesSignal 107 picks up Wolverhampton commentary
/ref> Match coverage airs on all of their FM transmitters. Coverage is presented by Steve Mason, with commentary from Mikey Burrows and Andy Thompson.

Outside Broadcasting and Events

Signal 107 regularly broadcast live from various locations across the TSA. It had a purpose built roadshow/outside broadcast unit which was a self-contained stage and PA system on board.

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 52.5850, -2.1285, display=title Radio stations established in 2012 Mass media in Wolverhampton Radio stations in Worcestershire Radio stations in Shropshire Radio stations in the West Midlands (region) Mass media in the West Midlands (region) Bauer Radio