Heart Cheshire and North East Wales (formerly Marcher Sound and previously MFM 103.4) 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 north east

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

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 ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, also shared with

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

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 (origi ...

. 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 Chrysal ...

who purchased the previous owner,

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 ...

, the group formed by the merger of

GWR Group 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 Inde ...

and

Capital Radio Group 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. ...

. GWR purchased

Marcher Radio Group Marcher Radio Group Ltd, previously Marcher Sound Ltd, was a British media organisation which operated several radio stations in north Wales and northwest England. The company, now owned by Global Radio founded the independent local radio stati ...

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 North 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 was previously part of the Heart radio net ...

. The station was broadcast from the Wrexham-Rhos Relay, situated just above

The Moss The Moss is a brook in North East Derbyshire, England. When Rother Valley Country Park was built in the 1980s, constructors used water from The Moss to fill the lakes. Name The name of the river derives from ''Moss Beck'', which means 'strea ...

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 ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

and

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

History

Early years

Originally the flagship station for what became the

, ''Marcher Sound'' (''Sain-Y-Gororau'' in Welsh), licensed by 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 ...

, 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 a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...

'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 Welsh Development Agency (WDA; ) was an executive agency (or QUANGO) and later designated an Assembly Sponsored Public Body (ASPB). Established in 1976, it was tasked with rescuing the ailing Welsh economy by encouraging business development and ...

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. Crown Communications, the UK subsidiary of the

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

-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 Smooth Wales is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting from Cardiff for South Wales and North Wales, as well as parts of Cheshire in England. All programming content is now shared to both areas. There are no longer any stations within t ...

, 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 l ...

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 () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverpool. It lies within the Historic counties of England, historic co ...

. The move of the transmitter to

Storeton Storeton is a small village and former civil parish in the Wirral district, in the county of Merseyside, England, on the Wirral Peninsula. It is west of the town of Bebington and is made up of Great Storeton and Little Storeton, which is classi ...

led to the Wirral service being relaunched as a separate entity, '' Wirral's Buzz'' on 14 February 1999.

GWR ownership

In 2001, the

– 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

's takeover of GCap in 2008, the station became part of the

Heart network Heart is a network of thirteen independent adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming, although only the stations in Scotland and Wales still have their own shows. Ten of the s ...

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 Heart North Wales Coast (formerly Coast 96.3 and originally Marcher Coast FM) was an independent local radio station broadcast along the North Wales coast, and owned & operated by Global Radio. The station, which broadcast from studios in Colwy ...

and

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 ''

'', with enhanced Heart output moving to a new regional station for North and Mid Wales, owned by

Communicorp Bauer Media Audio Ireland (formerly Communicorp Group) is a media holding company based in Ireland, owned by Bauer Media Group. History Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. It launched its radio operations in Ireland that ...

. 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