Bauer rebranding 53 stations to The Hits/Greatest Hits

It was always supposed to be 20, I can't remember why only 19 happened? Despite Beacon being last on air, the last to be awarded a franchise was Reading's Radio 210. I remember the local paper front page, 'Reading beats Cardiff to get IBA local radio'

Made sence Cardiff was the first of Phase 2

Wasn't it something to do with the government deciding that certain areas would only have a BBC or ILR station during the process, or to do with frequencies being available? I would have to dig out a book to check.

That had something to do with it I think. Once the big metropolitan cities had been covered, the smaller towns and cities didn't have a BBC and ILR station, it was one or the other. I recall at the start of Phase 2 the IBA and BBC horse traded Norwich and Exeter, so BBC Devon didn't appear until 83, and Broadband ILR didn't appear until 1984

That makes the Radio 1 Roadshow slick. Painful pedestrian ILR delivery.

I hope someone's rolling tape on that signal this evening. I've tuned in and out through the afternoon and unlike a lot of the recent AM closures (where it's been a transmitter playing out some piped-in network before being turned off at midnight) they have been mentioning the closure.

You'd hope someone there might stick on a 194 jingle for old time's sake before a historic frequency goes quiet for good, just for the anoraks.

It'll be top story on tomorrow's Look Hull

Understandable, unlike the other recent switchoffs it's a station ending, not just one transmitter simulcasting a station that's going off air. According to DS the last song will be by The Beatles


Presumably the end of City Talk will be on their online stream
https://planetradio.co.uk/city-talk/player/




EDIT: and here it is, sounds like they didn't back time the playlist to end the song before the transmitter turned off (online and DAB heard the whole song)
https://voca.ro/9RFSbQI7kdO

The stream is still up on the RadioPlayer app but, of course, ‘silent’. I have put that in single quotes as last night, after Hey Jude , there was GHR on the left channel and Radio City on the right channel, but only if you turned the volume up very high and they were still quiet. This morning it seems like Radio City is on the left channel and something else, probably GHR on the right.

At 07:22, travel news for Liverpool and area on Radio City and Somewhere in my Heart on GHR.

I didn't think bleed through like that was a thing in these days of digits

Honestly, neither did I. Not sure how it would be caused, but I invite all to check for themselves before the stream is cut entirely

.....or even balanced analogue audio, (unless there's a crossed or one legged pair)

It appears that the final song on 194 was the first half of Hey Jude.
I don't think any single AM transmitter is going to get a fanfare to mark its history before being switched off now.
There just aren't enough people without anaroks listening.
I wonder which ones will be next?