Heart Cheshire and North East Wales (formerly Marcher Sound and previously MFM 103.4) was an independent radio station broadcasting to north east
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
and
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
from its Mold Road studios in
Gwersyllt
Gwersyllt () is an urban village and community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales.
The densely populated village is one of Wrexham's largest and is situated in the north western suburbs of the city, bordering the nearby villages of Llay, Cefn-y ...
,
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
, also shared with
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
and
Heart Wirral
Heart Wirral (formerly Wirral's Buzz) was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the Wirral Peninsula, sharing its facilities with Heart Wrexham and Gold, in Gwersyllt, Wrexham.
History
The station, owned by Global Radio (origin ...
.
The station was last owned and operated by
Global Radio
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...
who purchased the previous owner,
GCap Media, the group formed by the merger of
GWR Group and
Capital Radio Group. GWR purchased
Marcher Radio Group in October 2000, although the latter remains as the official licensee of the station, which now forms part of
Capital North West and Wales
Capital North West and Wales is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cheshire, the Wirral Peninsula & North Wales. The station broadcasts from its studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexh ...
.
The station was broadcast from the
Wrexham-Rhos Relay
The Wrexham-Rhos transmitting station is a digital television relay of Moel-y-Parc, and forms part of the Wales television region. Despite its name, the station is situated in Moss Village and serves the city of Wrexham, the northern area of Wre ...
, situated just above
The Moss near Wrexham, and although it officially broadcast to the Wrexham and Chester areas, it could also be heard in parts 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 ...
and
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 th ...
.
History
Early years
Originally the flagship station for what became the
Marcher Radio Group, ''Marcher Sound'' (''Sain-Y-Gororau'' in Welsh), licensed by the
Independent Broadcasting Authority, began broadcasting at 6.30 am on Monday 5 September 1983 on 95.4FM and 238 metres (1260 kHz medium wave). The first voice heard on air was the station's chairman,
Lord Evans of Claughton and the first track played was
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...
's ''Wired for Sound''. Using the strapline ''Your station, your sound'', Marcher broadcast in both English and Welsh to a potential audience of 660,000 listeners.
Marcher Sound was initially founded by a group of five redundant workers from the former
Shotton steelworks, which closed in 1980. The six-strong consortium won the franchise in March 1981, seeing off two rival bids from 'Radio Offa' and 'Border Sound'. The group attracted funding from local businessmen and the
Welsh Development Agency and shareholdings from neighbouring station
Radio City. Within two years of its launch, Radio City pulled out, the original management had left and the station was in severe financial difficulties. Further investment was sought and Marcher Sound came close to a buyout by
Chiltern Radio
Heart Dunstable (formerly 97.6 Chiltern FM) was an Independent Local Radio station based in Chiltern Road in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.
History
Together with sister stations 96.9 Chiltern FM, Northants 96 and Horizon Radio, the station formed th ...
. Crown Communications, the UK subsidiary of the
Toowoomba-based
Darling Downs Television, later bought shares in the station.
Marcher initially broadcast for around 12.5 hours a day from 6am-6.30 pm (6am-6pm at weekends), with a daily Welsh language news programme on weekdays and a bilingual magazine show on Sunday. Radio City programming was relayed during downtime. Local programming later increased to 10 pm and soon, until midnight, before a full 24-hour service began in 1987. Around the same time, the station's main FM frequency changed from 95.4 to 103.4 FM on the
Wrexham-Rhos transmitter, following a spectrum audit. A relay was added on 97.1 FM from the
Moel-y-Parc transmitter, initially aimed at coastal areas of North East Wales.
Split frequencies
In 1989, Marcher Sound split its FM and AM frequencies into two separate services. MFM 103.4 featured chart-led music while Marcher Sound continued on 1260 kHz before being relaunched as ''
Marcher Gold'', carrying a classic hits playlist. The station continues to broadcast today as
Smooth Wales, part of the
Smooth Radio Smooth Radio may refer to:
* Smooth Radio (2010), the original national network in the UK
* Smooth Radio (2014)
See also
* Smoothfm
smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by NOVA Entertainment. From original ...
network.
A further split on MFM's service came when it refocused the target area of its relay frequency to the
Wirral. A separate breakfast show for the area, produced from Wrexham was introduced, followed in 1993 by further local programming from a studio in
Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...
. The move of the transmitter to
Storeton led to the Wirral service being relaunched as a separate entity, ''
Wirral's Buzz'' on 14 February 1999.
GWR ownership
In 2001, the
Marcher Radio Group – now consisting of five stations in North Wales, the Wirral and Cheshire – was bought out by
GWR. Four years later, the owners attempted to sell off the stations, although despite several offers, the sale was called off five months later.
On Monday 25 September 2006, the station was renamed ''103.4 Marcher Sound'', reviving their initial branding in keeping with GCap's decision to gradually erode the FM term from its FM services. Following
Global Radio
Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysa ...
's takeover of GCap in 2008, the station became part of the
Heart network
Heart is a British radio network and brand of 13 adult contemporary music, adult contemporary Independent Local Radio, local stations operated by Global Media & Entertainment, Global throughout the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local an ...
in June 2009, relaunching as ''Heart Cheshire and North East Wales''.
Station merger
On 21 June 2010, Global Radio announced plans to merge the station with
Heart North Wales Coast and
Heart Wirral
Heart Wirral (formerly Wirral's Buzz) was an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the Wirral Peninsula, sharing its facilities with Heart Wrexham and Gold, in Gwersyllt, Wrexham.
History
The station, owned by Global Radio (origin ...
as part of plans to reduce the Heart network of stations from 33 to 15, leading to the end of separate local programming for the Wrexham and Chester area.
''Heart North West and Wales'' began broadcasting from Wrexham on Friday 2 July 2010.
Heart slims but strengthens
RadioToday, 21 June 2010 On Tuesday 6 May 2014, the station became part of the sister Capital FM network and relaunched again as ''Capital North West and Wales
Capital North West and Wales is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cheshire, the Wirral Peninsula & North Wales. The station broadcasts from its studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexh ...
'', with enhanced Heart output moving to a new regional station for North and Mid Wales, owned by Communicorp. Both stations continue to broadcast regional programming at peak times from the former Marcher studios at Gwersyllt in Wrexham.
References
External links
DooYoo Review
Wrexham-Rhos transmitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heart Cheshire And North East Wales
Radio stations in Wales
Radio stations in Cheshire
Radio stations established in 1983
1983 establishments in Wales
Radio stations disestablished in 2010
2010 disestablishments in Wales
Cheshire and North West Wales
Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom
Wrexham
Marcher Radio Group