Trans World Communications (or TWC for short) was the investment vehicle of businessman

Owen Oyston Owen John Oyston (born 3 January 1934) is an English former businessman best known as the former majority owner of Blackpool Football Club. Oyston was convicted of rape and indecent assault of a 16-year-old girl in 1996. He served three years and ...

. It operated radio stations and played a part in the

Miss World Miss World is the oldest existing international beauty pageant. It was created in the United Kingdom by Eric Morley in 1951. Since his death in 2000, Morley's widow, Julia Morley, has co-chaired the pageant. Along with Miss Universe, Miss I ...

Beauty Pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the Physical attractiveness, physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of Per ...

About

Initially called The Red Rose Group because of its beginnings at

Red Rose Radio Red Rose Radio was the first UK Independent Local Radio station to be licensed for Lancashire by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA). Although a company of that name was incorporated in 1978 (as Red Rose Radio Limited), the licence was aw ...

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 ...

, Trans World went on to purchase

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 ...

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

, Red Dragon Radio in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

and

Piccadilly Radio Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West is an Independent Local Radio station based in Manchester, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Greatest Hits Radio Network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester and North West Engl ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

to form the UK's first radio group. Perhaps TWC's biggest star was

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Frankenstein'' (1931), '' The Old ...

whose radio programme was 'networked' from Radio Aire in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

to Red Rose Radio in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

in 1987 and even simulcast on ITV from

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was prima ...

's studios from 1989.

Take over

TWC was later taken over by East Midland Allied Press. However, EMAP's take over of TWC was originally blocked by The Radio Authority after they ruled EMAP, who already owned 30% of Trans World, would breach local radio ownership restrictions as it meant they would hold eight radio franchises - two more than the legislation of the day allowed. The

Guardian Media Group Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and ...

, which owned 20 per cent of Trans World, wanting to increase its stake but was prevented in doing so due to the national newspapers it owns. EMAP went on to acquire further radio stations in the UK until its radio arm was eventually gobbled up itself by the Germany-based

Bauer Media Group Heinrich Bauer Publishing (german: Heinrich Bauer Verlag KG), trading as Bauer Media Group, is a German multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Hamburg. It operates worldwide and owns more than 600 magazines, over 400 digital products and 50 ...

in 2008. Oyston's company also turned to the beauty business, taking over the Miss World Organisation and reforming it into Trans World Communications. In 1991, a boardroom battle forced him out and The Miss World brand has been privately owned by the Morley family since.

References

{{reflist Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom