The UKRD Group Ltd was a British media company that owned 15 commercial

radio stations Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...

in the United Kingdom. The name originates from UK Radio Developments. Since its acquisition in March 2019, it has been run as a subsidiary of

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 ...

History

Formed on 22 August 1990 as a company to invest in commercial stations following the relaxation of station ownership laws, its first investment was a stake in

Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...

Pirate FM 102 Hits Radio Cornwall, formerly Pirate FM, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio, Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Cornwall and West Devon on DAB from studios in Redruth. ...

, which was designed and launched by former

County Sound County Sound Radio was an Independent Local Radio station covering Surrey and north-east Hampshire in the United Kingdom. One of its closing forms in 2012–2014 formed Eagle Extra occupying 1566 MW following an internal split between older an ...

boss

Mike Powell Michael Powell (1905–1990) was a British film director. Michael Powell or Mike Powell may also refer to: Sportsmen * Mike Powell (rugby union) (born 1978), rugby union player for the Ospreys * Michael Powell (lacrosse) (born 1982), U.S. professi ...

who, after leaving County Sound, had formed Infinity Radio. Shortly after the launch, Infinity Radio merged with UK Radio Developments and Powell became CEO of the embryonic UKRD Group. Under Powell's leadership, UKRD became one of the fastest growing private radio groups in the UK, rapidly adding Star FM in Slough and winning the

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

radio franchise which gave birth to

96.4 The Eagle Eagle Radio was an Independent Local Radio station in the Surrey and North East Hampshire area of England. Based in Guildford in the Guildford College campus, Eagle Radio was part of the UKRD Group of radio stations. Launch Peter Gordon launched ...

, the new County Sound (a recreation of the original Guildford commercial station of the same name) and

Delta Radio delta radio is a radio station from Kiel, Germany. It is a branch of Mach3 Broadcasting along with Radio Schleswig-Holstein (RS-H) and Radio Nora (all of Kiel). The French Lagardère Group holds shares in the company. Delta radio prides itself f ...

. Subsequently, it acquired several more stations, and launched further stations on the issue of new local licences. UKRD acquired a significant minority share-holding in

Faze FM Faze FM Radio Ltd was the owner of two dance music radio stations in the North of England. It operated Kiss 102 in Manchester and Kiss 105 in Yorkshire from 1994 to 1997 before being taken over by Chrysalis Group. History Faze FM Radio Ltd ...

, which ran

Kiss 102 Kiss 102 was a dance music radio station based in Manchester, England. History The frequency was originally issued to Sunset 102 Radio - The Kickin FM but that suffered some financial problems. In May 1993, the Radio Authority made a deci ...

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 ...

and

Kiss 105 Kiss 105 was a dance music radio station based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It was part of a new breed of regional radio stations as opposed to Independent Local Radio. History The licence, covering the Yorkshire and Humberside region, was one ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. The stations had a branding deal with

EMAP Ascential (formerly EMAP) was a British-headquartered global company, specialising in events, intelligence and advisory services for the marketing and financial technology industries. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until it was ac ...

's Kiss FM, London. UKRD sold its interests in the Kiss stations in 1997 to the

Chrysalis Group Chrysalis Group was a UK media company that was founded by Chris Wright, chairman, and Terry Ellis. Wright was named in '' Sunday Times Rich List 2009'' of the 1,000 richest persons in the UK. Previously having interests in television, books an ...

, who added them to its

Galaxy Radio Galaxy was a radio network owned by Global Radio and broadcast across the British Isles on FM in regional areas of England and Scotland, through the digital platform with Sky and DAB and online respectively. Local relays included: Galaxy Birmin ...

network. It also had a helping hand in the launch of

South Hams Radio Heart South Devon (formerly South Hams Radio) was an Independent Local Radio station serving the South Hams area of Devon, England. The station began broadcasting on 1 December 1999 and until its closure, was run as a joint venture between UKRD ...

in December 1999, which was closed in 2009 to make way for Heart. From 2001, the head of the organisation was William Rogers, one-time leader of

Penwith Penwith (; ) is an area of Cornwall, England, located on the peninsula of the same name. It is also the name of a former Non-metropolitan district, local government district, whose council was based in Penzance. The area is named after one ...

District Council, Cornwall. UKRD Group's head office was within the Carn Brea Studios of

Redruth Redruth ( , ) is a town and civil parishes in Cornwall, civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. According to the 2011 census, the population of Redruth was 14,018 In the same year the population of the Camborne-Redruth urban area, ...

, Cornwall. It also had offices in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

. In 2009, it acquired

The Local Radio Company The Local Radio Company was a British media company, based in Redruth, Cornwall, that owned eleven Independent Local Radio stations in the UK. After takeover talks with UTV Media, UKRD Group and Hallwood Financial, UKRD acquired the majority ...

which had 20 local radio stations. UKRD disposed of many non-profitable stations, as well as re-branding

Alpha Radio Alpha Radio was a community radio station based in Darlington, England, for south County Durham. The brand has been bought and used multiple times, the current third iteration was formerly known as Darlo Radio. The original version was merged in ...

Minster Northallerton Minster Northallerton was an Independent Local Radio station based in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England. History Prior to launch, Minster Northallerton was originally known as BTN FM, after the principal towns of the area - Bedale, Thirs ...

and

Durham FM Durham FM was an Independent Local Radio station based in Durham, County Durham, England. History From its launch in 2005, Durham FM was owned and operated by TLRC. In December 2008, Durham FM submitted an application to Ofcom to co-locate wit ...

into

Star Radio North East Rathergood Radio, formerly known as Star Radio (in County Durham), was an Independent Local Radio station. It formerly broadcast in Darlington, County Durham, North Yorkshire and surrounding areas on FM. The County Durham licences were owned and ...

. In 2010, UKRD was ranked 27th in the ''Sunday Times'' Best Companies to Work For (SMEs) and was ranked first in the same category every year between 2011 and 2014. In July 2018,

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

announced it had bought 2BR from UKRD. The station was previously merged with The Bee. In March 2019,

acquired 10 stations from UKRD as well as three local DAB multiplexes and the interest in First Radio Sales

Stations previously owned by UKRD Group

Prior to their sale to

, UKRD owned the following stations: * 2BR Radio 2BR *

Eagle Radio Eagle Radio was an Independent Local Radio station in the Surrey and North East Hampshire area of England. Based in Guildford in the Guildford College campus, Eagle Radio was part of the UKRD Group of radio stations. Launch Peter Gordon launched ...

* Eagle 70s * Eagle 80s * Encore Radio * Escape to Cornwall *

KL.FM 96.7 KL.FM 96.7 (King's Lynn FM) was an Independent Local Radio station located in King's Lynn, Norfolk, England. It broadcast from a former bank building at 18 Blackfriars Street in King's Lynn on 96.7 FM, the frequency previously used by BBC Radio ...

Minster FM Minster FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving York and the surrounding areas such as Selby, Tadcaster, Thirsk, Northallerton and Goole. The station closed on 31 August 2020 and its frequency is now a relay of Greatest Hits Radio Yo ...

* Mix 96 *

Pirate FM Hits Radio Cornwall, formerly Pirate FM, is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Cornwall and West Devon on DAB from studios in Redruth. As of Septem ...

* Pirate 70s *

Spire FM Spire FM was an Independent Local Radio station based in Salisbury, Wiltshire. It was awarded the licence to broadcast to Salisbury and the surrounding areas by the Radio Authority, now Ofcom, in 1991. The station took its name from the spire of ...

* Spirit FM *

Stray FM Stray FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving the western half of North Yorkshire, and sections of West Yorkshire, to the north of Leeds and Bradford, England. The original licence covered the towns of Harrogate and Ripon and the surr ...

Wessex FM Wessex FM was an Independent Local Radio station for the Weymouth, Dorchester and Bridport areas of Dorset, originating from studios in Dorchester. It broadcast on 97.2 MHz in Weymouth and Dorchester (from the Bincombe Hill transmitter), a ...

* Yorkshire Coast Radio

Crowdfunded local 'replacements' for former UKRD Group stations

As most of the UKRD Group stations were rebranded under the Greatest Hits Radio brand by Bauer Radio, a number of schemes were launched to establish local radio 'replacements' for these services, many of which featured the same staff/presenters as the UKRD stations and many of which were set up through crowdfunding schemes. In

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

V2 Radio V2 Radio is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by VeeToo Trade in the United Kingdom. It broadcasts to West Sussex and South Hampshire, England. History After Bauer Media announced that Spirit FM "will be rebranded as " ...

was set up to fill the gap vacated by Spirit FM, with test transmissions starting in West Sussex in December 2020, and the new service launching fully on 18 January 2021. In

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

YorkMix Radio YorkMix Radio is a British radio station broadcasting to the city of York. It was founded in early 2021, following the sale and re-branding of Minster FM as Greatest Hits Radio, and features a number of the presenters and staff who previously ...

launched with former presenters from Minster FM on air, after a successful crowdfunding scheme to get local radio back on air, whilst in the

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

and

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

area, Radio Biscuit could be found with presenters from Eagle Radio. and Your Harrogate Radio is scheduled to launch on 1 March.

References

External links

UKRD Group
{{The Local Radio Company Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom Defunct mass media companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Cornwall Mass media in Cornwall Bauer Radio Mass media companies established in 1990 Mass media companies disestablished in 2020 British companies established in 1990 British companies disestablished in 2020 2019 mergers and acquisitions