Magic AM

Magic AM

City of license	Sheffield
Broadcast area	South Yorkshire & North Midlands
Slogan	"The Best of the 60s, 70s & more"
Frequency	990, 1305, 1548 kHz, DAB Digital Radio
Format	Oldies
Audience share	3.8% (March 2011, [1])
Owner	Bauer Radio
Website	magicam.co.uk

Magic AM is a commercial local radio station which broadcasts to South Yorkshire and the North Midlands. The station forms part of the Magic Network and is owned by Bauer Radio. It is considered the sister station of Sheffield-based Hallam FM.

Technical

The station broadcasts on three separate frequencies, 1305 kHz in Barnsley, 1548 kHz for Sheffield & Rotherham and 990 kHz in Doncaster.

History

The station was formed when Radio Hallam split is FM and medium wave frequencies to provide two separate services. The AM station became "Classic Gold", then "Classic Gold Radio", "Great Yorkshire Gold" and "Great Yorkshire Radio". The original incarnation was owned by The Yorkshire Radio Network who were then taken over by Metro Radio group before being bought by EMAP.

Programming

In December 2001, EMAP decided that it was more economical for the Magic AM to share off-peak programmes in line with the other 7 Magic stations in northern England. Stations began networking 10am-2pm from Magic 1152 in Manchester, and 7pm-6am from the London station Magic 105.4 providing the programmes - during these hours it was simply known as Magic, although there were local commercial breaks, and local news on the hour.

In January 2003 after a sharp decline in listening, the station ceased networking with the London station, Magic 105.4, and a regional northern network was created with Magic 1152 at the hub at the weekend and the Newcastle station of the same name during the week. During networked hours, local adverts are aired, as well as a local news summary on the hour.

From July 2006, more networking was introduced across the northern Magic stations, meaning only the breakfast show would be produced locally.

Trevor Thomas hosts the weekday breakfast show.

Branding

The station presently uses very few sung idents, mostly they can be heard after the news each hour, these are produced by Steve England. The rest of the time idents are in the form of Voice-overs which use the voice of Mark Thorburn one of Magic's presenters.

External links

• Magic AM Homepage
• Transmitter Information