Solid Gold GEM AM (later Classic Gold GEM-AM) 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 2 ...
station, broadcasting to much of
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
,
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
,
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 ...
,
Rutland
Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town.
Rutland has a ...
and
East Staffordshire
East Staffordshire is a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Staffordshire, England. The council is based in Burton upon Trent. The borough also contains the town of Ut ...
from studios in Nottingham, and later
Dunstable
Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the fou ...
, Bedfordshire.
The station ran as Solid Gold GEM AM until the mid-1990s when it was absorbed into the rest of the
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 ...
network, and was replaced on 3 August 2007 by a new network called simply Gold. The result of the merger of the
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 ...
and
Capital Gold networks under one owner, GCap Media. The GEM name has since re-emerged with the launch of the internet station Solid Gold Gem AM in 2012.
History
The station began as GEM-AM in 1988 (the letters GEM standing for Great East Midlands). It was one of the most well-regarded gold-formatted stations to come to the British airwaves in the late 1980s and was launched as a response to government disapproval of the simulcasting of radio companies' FM programming on their
mediumwave
Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM broadcasting, AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. Duri ...
frequencies. GEM was the offshoot of
Radio Trent, which began to cater for a younger audience and became known as ''Trent FM'' upon the frequency split, and the new AM service was launched to much fanfare with a team of Olympic style runners completing a marathon from Leicester to Derby and finally to Nottingham (the three main areas to which GEM was to broadcast).
GEM's medium wave broadcasts to
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
on 999 kHz and
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...
on 945 kHz were initially supplemented by transmissions on 1260 kHz to
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 ...
, but in 1992 this last frequency was given over to programming for
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 ...
's large Asian population (
Sunrise Radio
Sunrise Radio is a 24-hour Asian commercial radio station, focusing on entertainment, music and news from the Indian subcontinent. It broadcasts to the Greater London area on 963/972 AM, nationally on DAB through the Sound Digital multiplex, ...
, later
Sabras Radio).
In 1994 GEM's owners
Midland Radio plc were bought, by expanding radio company
GWR, which gradually networked the station's programming with that of other gold stations it had purchased elsewhere in the country. The station was subtly rebranded ''Classic Gold GEM'' and over time, it became more ''Classic Gold'' and less ''GEM'', until only four hours of local programming was left.
By the end of the 1990s, Classic Gold GEM and GWR's network of other medium wave ''Classic Gold'' stations across the country were sold to media company
UBC, in order for GWR to comply with government rules of the time, restricting how much share of listening one company could own. This and the other stations in the group became known as
Classic Gold Digital Network.
Former
Radio 1 presenter
Tony Blackburn
Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years.
Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...
co-presented a national breakfast show on the network until 2007.
Presentation
Presenters on the station included some who were already established personalities in the East Midlands region. Among them were
John Peters (who launched the station as he had done with Trent in 1975). In the late 1980s a new South Asian programme hosted by DJ Magnam brought extra listenership to GEM-AM from the large South Asian community that lived in Derby and Nottingham. A number of the original presenters were later to be heard on a newer
oldies
Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as well as for a radio format playing this music.
Since 2 ...
and easy listening station broadcasting to the East Midlands, this time on
Saga 106.6 FM, which came on air in 2003, and was later rebranded as
106.6 Smooth Radio after it was acquired by
GMG Radio
GMG Radio was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Radio, however pending regulatory review of the me ...
. Many of Saga 106.6 FM's
jingles were made by
JAM Creative Productions
JAM Creative Productions, Inc., is an American company that produces radio jingles, promo music for television, and commercial jingles for advertisers. It has made more radio jingles than any other jingle company and has become part of America ...
of Dallas, Texas, and
Steve England, and made reference to the Great East Midlands. Classic Gold GEM used ident jingles from Manchester company
Alfasound
Alfasound was a radio jingle production company based in Manchester from late 1970s to mid-1990s founded by Alan Fawkes and ex- Piccadilly Radio DJ Steve England.
Alfasound was responsible for some of the most memorable radio jingles in the 8 ...
, and then PAMS and JAM.
GCap Media and Global Radio
In summer 2007, when ownership restrictions were relaxed, Classic Gold's original owners, now called
GCap Media
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group.
The merger was completed on 9 May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index ...
after a merger, bought the network of stations back from
UBC Media Group.
Having two gold networks on its hands, GCap decided to merge them. In early August 2007, the Classic Gold and Capital Gold networks were joined under the new name Gold, and local output declined further.
The station had a 4% audience reach in Nottingham, and 6% in Derby in 2006. In 1993 the reach was 24% in Nottingham, 23% in Derby. (*RAJAR ratings 1993/2006)
The dwindling audience tuning into the station's medium wave frequencies has in recent years been supplemented by those listening to a stream on the internet, and also on
DAB Digital Radio in Nottingham and Leicester. The bit rate for this broadcast was reduced in 2006 to accommodate more radio stations to the digital multiplex, but was later increased back to stereo.
After nineteen years broadcasting from the basement 'Studio B' at Radio Trent's Castle Gate headquarters, Classic Gold's Nottingham studios moved, along with Trent's, to the sixth floor of Chapel Quarter, an office building on the corner of Mount Street and Chapel Bar, in January 2007.
Solid Gold Gem AM
On 4 November 2012, the
internet radio
Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...
station Solid Gold Gem AM was launched following the original GEM-AM format. While Solid Gold Gem AM had no connection to the original GEM AM in Nottingham, its line-up featured many of the original presenters including Andy Marriott, Krissi Carpenter, Paul Burbank, Craig Strong, Tim Rogers and Len Groat who was Head of Programmes and Music at the original GEM-AM from 1988 to 1994. A commercial free station, it styles itself as "radio like it used to be". On 27 November 2014, and shortly after the station had celebrated its second anniversary, it was announced that Solid Gold Gem would cease broadcasting from midnight on 30 November. However, a week after its closure, a relaunch was announced for 15 December. The station would also now be managed by Len Groat, and a second station, Serenade Radio, was launched in February 2015. No reason was given for the broadcasting hiatus.
The station has now rebranded to Solid Gold Gem and it broadcasts 24 hours a day without advertising.
References
External links
Classic Gold's HomepageSolid Gold Gem
{{coord missing, Nottinghamshire
GCap Media
Classic Gold GEM
Radio stations established in 1988
Radio stations disestablished in 2007
Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom
Radio stations in Derbyshire