Melody Radio 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 2003, ...

station, broadcast to

Greater London Greater may refer to: * Greatness, the state of being great *Greater than, in inequality * ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film * Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record * "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014 * Greater Bank, an Austra ...

between 1990 and 1998, when it was purchased by media group

Emap Ascential plc, formerly EMAP, is a British business-to-business media business specialising in exhibitions & festivals and information services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History Ri ...

and rebranded as Magic 105.4.

History

Melody Radio launched on 9 July 1990 on 104.9 FM in

with

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his bir ...

's ''Strike Up The Band'', as part of 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 A ...

's creation of seven capital-wide services at the time. Broadcasting from studios in

Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End. Toponymy Knightsbridge is an ancient ...

, the station was owned by the late Lord James Hanson, chairman of

Hanson plc Hanson UK, formerly Hanson Trust plc, is a British-based building materials company, headquartered in Maidenhead. The company has been a subsidiary of the German company HeidelbergCement since August 2007, and was formerly listed on the London S ...

, who created Melody as a service he himself would wish to listen to, allegedly inspired by 'easy listening' formats that had become popular on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous ...

. Hanson was particularly keen on keeping speech to an absolute minimum; however, after the first few days of transmission, a large number of listener enquiries as to the identity of featured music persuaded him to slightly relax restrictions on presenter content. In its early years, the music predominantly catered for those aged 50 and over; Frank Sinatra, who recorded a launch message for the station, and Annunzio

Mantovani Annunzio Paolo Mantovani (; 15 November 1905 – 29 March 1980) was an Anglo-Italian conductor, composer and light orchestra-styled entertainer with a cascading strings musical signature. The book ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' sta ...

prime examples of the artists featured. Launch presenters included Bill Bingham,

Steve Crozier ''yes'Steve is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Steven or Stephen Notable people with the name include: steve jops * Steve Abbott (disambiguation), several people * Steve Adams (disambiguation), several people * Steve ...

, Dave Gillbee, Greg Bance and Peter Dickson, who spent four years as breakfast show presenter. The station achieved listening figures of over a million within its first six months of transmission. Other presenters included Gary Whitford,

Allan King Allan Winton King, (February 6, 1930 – June 15, 2009), was a Canadian film director. Life Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, during the Great Depression, King attended Henry Hudson Elementary School, in Kitsilano.David Jacobs, Tony Myatt and Jonothan Izzard. In 1996, the station changed frequencies, moving to 105.4 FM, having received numerous complaints from listeners in South West London of interference from

BBC Southern Counties Radio BBC Southern Counties Radio was a BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Surrey and Sussex. The station also covered a large part of north-east Hampshire. It was the first BBC local radio station to introduce an all-speech form ...

. The 104.9 frequency was, after technical corrections, reallocated to

Xfm Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...

. In its later years, Melody FM adopted a 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 ...

sound, aimed at a slightly younger audience, and newly marketed as 'London's relaxation station', the slogan which accompanied a television advertising campaign featuring

Enya Enya Patricia Brennan (; ga, Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin; born 17 May 1961), known professionally by the mononym Enya, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and musician known for modern Celtic music. She is the best-selling Irish solo arti ...

's ''Orinoco Flow''. The Radio Authority permitted the sale of Melody FM to

in June 1998, who rebranded the station as Magic 105.4 in December that year, as part of the company's newly created network of soft adult contemporary music stations, following the acquisition of several AM services in the north of England.

Other

Melody Radio launched with the slogan 'At last – radio without the speakers'. One of Melody Radio's distinctive features was its lack of pre-produced

station identification Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and broadcast network, networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, ...

. Presenters also acted as the station's

newsreaders ''Newsreaders'' is an American television comedy that aired on Cartoon Network's late night programming block Adult Swim. ''Newsreaders'' is a spin-off of '' Childrens Hospital'', presented as the fictional television news magazine program ''Ne ...

, and the inclusion of regular financial bulletins was precipitated by Lord Hanson's own interest in business affairs. Long-running programmes included a nightly Saga-sponsored ''Classic Hour'' and ''Melody Showtime'', a tribute to songs from musical theatre, later replaced by ''Nice And Easy'', which featured many of the artists that had formed Melody's core playlist in 1990. Later Melody FM presenters including David Hamilton, Tony Myatt and David Allan all joined Saga's network of radio stations following the Emap takeover. {{DEFAULTSORT:Melody 105.4 Fm Melody FM Radio stations established in 1990 Radio stations disestablished in 1998 Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom