Centre Radio (officially known as Leicester and Leicestershire Local Radio plc) was the first

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 2 ...

station to serve

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

. It was based at Granville House,

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

Centre Radio was launched on 7 September 1981 in a blaze of publicity and was broadcast on 97.1 MHz on the VHF FM waveband in stereo and on 1260 kHz on the medium wave band (238 metres in wavelength). Several adverts were placed in the ''

Leicester Mercury The ''Leicester Mercury'' is a British regional newspaper for the city of Leicester and the neighbouring counties of Leicestershire and Rutland. The paper began in the 19th century as the ''Leicester Daily Mercury'' and later changed to its pre ...

'', and the station's presenters appeared at many local events preceding the launch. To build people's interest further, one of their more famous DJs,

Timmy Mallett Timmy Mallett (born 18 October 1955) is an English television presenter, broadcaster, author and artist. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses and shirts, and a giant pink foam mallet (known as "Mallett's Mallet"), as we ...

would often rollerskate up and down London Road. Mallett presented the first breakfast show with multi-coloured hair, dressed in a dinner jacket and a bowtie which was filmed for a BBC documentary. Other presenters on Centre Radio included Tony Cook, Jay Cooper, Mark Hurrell, Alan West, John Evington, Mark Williams and Kenny Hague. In September 1983, financial problems caused by the recession and alleged overspending setting up the premises hit the fledgling station hard, but attracting listeners also proved difficult.

BBC Radio Leicester BBC Radio Leicester is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Leicestershire, City of Birmingham, South Staffordshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rutland. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at ...

had been on air since 1967, and many listeners stayed loyal to the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. On 5 October 1983, the former managing director of Centre Radio, Geoffrey Pointon, made an offer to take over Centre Radio under a consortium called Crestnote. Although Pointon’s rescue bid had widespread support from both the board and the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...

, the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

(IBA) blocked it, because they felt the structure of the company that owned Centre Radio would change to such an extent that Centre Radio would have to reapply for the licence. In response to the IBA’s rejection of Pointon’s bid, Centre Radio announced on the following day (6 October) that it would cease trading, appointing

Ernst & Whinney EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms. The EY network is composed of member firms ...

as its liquidators: regular programming ended at 1pm with the playing of Paul Young's "

Come Back and Stay "Come Back and Stay" is a 1981 song written and originally recorded by the American musician Jack Lee. In 1983, the English singer Paul Young, with female backing singers The Fabulous Wealthy Tarts (Marilyn "Maz" Roberts and Kim Lesley), releas ...

", followed by a short news bulletin read by Tony Cook (Centre's head of news) announcing the station's closure. This was followed by continuous music until 5.30pm, when Diana Ross's "The Boss" faded into a final closing announcement. The station's licence was re-advertised and awarded to

Radio Trent Trent FM was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Nottinghamshire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Leicester Sound and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's Capital FM Network) on ...

, which commenced broadcasting as

Leicester Sound Leicester Sound was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Leicestershire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's The Capital FM Network, C ...

on 7 September 1984. Leicester Sound later merged with their owner (since renamed to

Trent FM Trent FM was an Independent Local Radio station which broadcast to Nottinghamshire. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Leicester Sound and Ram FM to form Capital FM East Midlands (part of Global's Capital FM Network) on ...

) and

Ram FM Ram FM was an Independent Local Radio station, which broadcast to central and southern parts of Derbyshire on 102.8 FM. The station merged with two other East Midlands stations, Trent FM and Leicester Sound to form Capital FM East Midlands (p ...

in January 2011 to form the regional station Capital FM East Midlands, based in Nottingham.

References

{{Reflist

External links

History of Centre Radio
Mass media in Leicester Radio stations established in 1981 Radio stations disestablished in 1983 Radio stations in Leicestershire Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom