Bauer rebranding 53 stations to The Hits/Greatest Hits

Yes there's always differences between where stations should go and do go and where they say they go!

In my experience Redditch/Bromsgrove way (which I assume is where you are) do get the West Midlands stations fine but once you head past there west or south into the rest of Worcestershire they soon disappear.

Funnily enough I listened to a bit of Signal 107 this morning and and was odd to hear Hereford (i think) news with GHR jingles, I hadn't realised they split their news. I wouldn't be surprised if the Wolverhampton/Shropshire bit of what is now Signal 107 becomes essentially an extension of 105.4. Thing is that even with the extra mostly rural areas it gets from Signal 107 it gives GHR the edge over Smooth and Heart

Doh, yes shows how much you actually see a frequency on a car radio these days.... rarely actually tune into anything at all

I've given up trying to remember station names now, I just remember the frequency and transmitter.

Apart from BBC Radio, the only other two stations that spring to mind that haven't ever changed are Capital 95.8 and LBC 97.3, both in London. (Although LBC became Crown FM for a while, but everyone ignored that and just carried on saying LBC)

Radio Aire has always been a variation on Aire (eg Aire FM, Aire 963, The New 96.3 Aire FM)

I think Hallam and Metro are similar

Surely LBC has changed, though? The original LBC lost its licence in the mid-90s and was replaced by London News Radio. They brought back the LBC name after a couple of years, but only on MW, eventually returning to FM several years later.

Oh yes, and Clyde ? There we are then, it's not as bleak as I thought !

Am I right in thinking Heart in the West Midlands & London both haven’t changed names at all? Probably something like Isle of Wight Radio and maybe the ones on the channel islands too?

Yes.. and no.
On Air (both in presenter links and jingles) - Heart WM was 100.7 Heart FM and London was Heart 106.2. I'm not sure it they said 'This is Birmingham's Heart, or You're listening to Heart London' it was always with the respective set of numbers after or before it.

So, yes - both stations are still called 'Heart' but if you call dropping the frequencies as a name change, then no, both have had a slight name change since day 1 on air.

Island FM and Channel 103 on the Channel Islands have never changed their names since they have been on air.

Is Pirate FM, having its name changed by the Bauer revamp ?
South coast regional Wave 105(.2) has managed to remain as per launch (so far)

AFAIK, Pirate FM is remaining completely untouched.

It became Crown FM and London Talkback for a while. Crown was shortlived and became LBC Newstalk.

After they lost their license in 1994 the LBC name was dropped completely (in fact it was almost claimed by Al Fayed for his station). It returned on MW a couple of years later and not on FM till 2002


What about Forth, Northsound and Downtown Radio? City in Liverpool

Others that spring to mind are LGR in North London and Sunshine in Herefordshire. Premier in London too

Oh and Sunrise in Yorkshire and London, although the latter kept its name and sold its frequency and moved along the dial

I thought Bauer's Scottish stations were largely untouched for now, in terms of names and networking from Clydebank and Edinburgh?
They're obviously using the same branding as the Hits/GHR stations but do seem to have primarily Scottish voices on the schedule.