Pulse 2 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 serving

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

Kirklees Kirklees is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. The borough comprises the ten towns of Batley, Birstall, West Yorkshire, Birstall, Cleckheaton, Dewsbury, Heckmondwike, Holmfirth, Huddersfield, Meltham, Mirfield and Slaithwaite. It ...

and

Calderdale Calderdale () is a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 211,439. It takes its name from the River Calder, and dale, a word for valley. The name Calderdale usually refers to the borough through which the ...

areas from studios in

, West Yorkshire, England. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.

Background

The station was previously known as Pennine Radio,

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 ...

, Great Yorkshire Gold, Great Yorkshire Radio, 1278 and 1530 AM West Yorkshire, West Yorkshire's Big AM, Pennine's Big AM, West Yorkshire's Classic Gold and Pulse Classic Gold and under previous ownership was part of the

Yorkshire Radio Network The Yorkshire Radio Network was a group of three radio stations which shared programmes in the evening and at weekends. YRN was made-up of Pennine Radio in Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire ...

. When, in 1989, Pennine Radio was split into Pennine FM and Classic Gold, the AM service became part of a network, initially with sister stations in Hull and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

. In 1995, the Bradford-based radio station became a stand-alone operation owned by The Radio Partnership, which had purchased Pulse FM (now Pulse 1) for £4.6 million, though it continued to lease the name Great Yorkshire Gold. The brand lease ended in March 1997. However Emap had just announced plans to rebrand the Leeds, Hull and Sheffield stations as Magic, with a format of easy listening pop music. However The Radio Partnership decided that it wanted to continue offering a gold format so an agreement was formed with GWR to broadcast their

. 75 per cent of the programmes would be supplied by GWR, with local programming coming from Bradford. However on-air promotions for Magic had already started to appear so to avoid any potential confusion amongst listeners, a temporary station called 1278 and 1530 AM West Yorkshire was created to fill the gap until the networking of Classic Gold could begin. A couple of years later, Classic Gold was dropped in favour of becoming part of the BIG AM network with sister stations in Stoke and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. Shortly after though, Classic Gold reappeared, simulcasting the GWR/UBC

and latterly GCap

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 ...

network with local afternoon programming for West Yorkshire remaining. However, on 1 December 2008 the station was re-launched as a fully local service for West Yorkshire and was one of the last legacy ILR AM stations in England to broadcast local programming.

Station rebrand

On 8 February 2019, Pulse 2 and the Wireless Group's local radio stations were sold to

Bauer Radio Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of Bauer Media Group owning brands; Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio, Jazz FM, Hits Radio, KISS, Planet Rock, Magic, Kerrang! Radio and Heat Radio. History In early 2008, German ma ...

. The sale was ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the principal competition regulator in the United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for promoting competitive markets and tackling unfair beh ...

. On 27 May 2020, it was announced that Pulse 2 would join Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio network. On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with Pulse 2 retaining its own branding. On 1 September 2020, the station rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio and merged with ten other stations in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. The station's local breakfast show was replaced by a regional drivetime show. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising were retained.

References

External links

* {{coord missing, West Yorkshire Mass media in Bradford Radio stations in Yorkshire Radio stations established in 1989 Radio stations disestablished in 2020 Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Bauer Radio Greatest Hits Radio