Magic was an AM radio network based in Northern England.
History
The Magic brand in UK radio originated with
Magic 828, the sister station of
Radio Aire
Radio Aire was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Leeds and West Yorkshire.
The station was merged and relaunched as Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.
History
Radio Aire was launched at 6a ...
in Leeds which was launched in July 1990, although no other stations were branded 'Magic' until the Emap group purchased the
Metro Radio group in 1995. It can be regarded as the successor to
Great North Radio
Great North Radio, or G.N.R as it was sometimes called, launched in March 1989 using the AM frequencies of Metro Radio and Radio Teesbr> This happened after the Metro Radio group decided to split the FM and AM frequencies. The station was broa ...
which was a small network in the
North East that consisted of what became
Magic 1170 and
Magic 1152
Greatest Hits Radio North East is a local radio station serving North East England, as part of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio network.
History
Great North Radio (also known as G.N.R) was formed in March 1989 using the AM frequencies of Met ...
.
Preston
Preston is a place name, surname and given name that may refer to:
Places
England
*Preston, Lancashire, an urban settlement
**The City of Preston, Lancashire, a borough and non-metropolitan district which contains the settlement
**County Boro ...
's
Red Rose Gold was the last to be converted to the Magic brand, in 2000, two or so years since the conversion of the majority of the stations. In London,
Melody FM was rebranded
Magic 105.4 in 1998.
The northern AM stations played
Hot Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet ...
music. The playlists of these Magic stations predominantly consisted of hits from the 1960s and 1970s, although music from other decades was included in the mix.
The London station is more laid-back and its playlist more contemporary, playing
soft adult contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quiet s ...
hits from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. The London station is branded with the tagline, "More music, less talk".
On 5 January 2015, the network merged with the Greatest Hits Network of Scottish AM stations to form the
Bauer City 2 network.
Bauer City 2 network gears up for launch
Radio Centre, 19 December 2014 The London-based Magic became available nationally via DAB
DAB, dab, dabs, or dabbing may refer to:
Dictionaries
* ''Dictionary of American Biography'', published under the auspices of the American Council of Learned Societies
* ''Dictionary of Australian Biography'', published since 1949
Places
* Dąb ...
at the same time.
Directory of stations
Television channel
Following the success of the radio stations, Emap set up a corresponding Magic TV channel which is available through satellite
A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioiso ...
and cable television
Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
systems and plays non-stop video
Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
s of songs established as typical of the Magic brand.
Magic albums
The Magic network released several albums since the formation of the network in the late 1990s. The albums predominantly feature music on the Magic 105.4 play list, but were also promoted on the Northern England stations too.
References
External links
{{Magic Radio , state=autocollapse
Bauer Radio
Former British radio networks
Franchised radio formats