Metro Radio

"Your next door neighbour in the North East... 261"

Metro Radio

Metro Radio, Metro FM, Metro Radio

Metro 261, Metro Radio, Metro FM, Metro Radio

A station that has seen a return to it's name as of it's launch on 15th July 1974. Originally, it started on 97VHF & 261metres MW serving Northumberland, Tyne & Wearside and the County of Durham as Metro Radio.

It has received many accolades including Station Of The Year and a Sony Gold Award for it's sports coverage. It has a potential audience of 1.4million listeners. From it's humble beginnings, it became the Metro Radio Group, first acquiring Radio Tees in 1986.

Four years later, Metro acquired Yorkshire Radio for £16m in what turned out to be the radio sector's first takeover with any high scale level of hostility. Yorkshire Radio also consisted of Sheffield's Hallam FM, Bradford's The Pulse & Viking FM in Hull. Up to this stage, Capital Radio and Chrysalis Radio disposed of their shares in Metro Radio - 18.1 & 19.5% respectively. In 1995, EMAP, a dominant northern newspaper & magazine publishing business, paid a whopping £98.7m for Metro Radio Group - who kept control of The Pulse & Great Yorkshire Gold until November of the same year when they sold the two stations to The Radio Partnership for £4.6m. It was evident then, that these two stations didn't fit in with EMAP's ambitious plans.

However, May 2002 saw EMAP report that they too had suffered from a visible downturn in the radio advertising market - their stations - Metro included, were continuing to struggle, but were surviving. Metro has become part of EMAP's 'Big City' FM radio network - this has a core demographic (or target audience) of the 18-25 age bracket in the Newcastle area. Somewhere along the way, it's name changed to the more 1990's friendly hip Metro FM, before it reverted back under the 'Big City' banner.

An notable story from Metro's past revolves around one of the presentation staff, Wayne Tunnicliffe, who lost a bet that the winner of 2000's Channel 4 show Big Brother, Craig Phillips, would be Christmas Number 1. As a consequence of losing the bet, he performed a striptease by the side of the A1 at the Angel of The North Statue, just outside Newcastle. This led to a pile up of three cars and a stay in hospital for most of the occupants as passers-by slowed down to take a look at. Whilst Wayne hoped everyone was all right, there was a backlash from one of the owners of the crashed cars who felt the station were irresponsible to perform such a stunt at rush hour - nothing to do with them slowing down then? The station insisted they weren't to blame.

The station - once again Metro Radio - broadcasts from Longrigg in Swallwell, Newcastle and broadcasts to it's official format of chart & adult contemporary music, news and exclusive sports coverage on four frequencies across five transmitters: Alnwick 102.6, Hexham 103.2, Tyne & Wear 97.1 & 103.0 & the Tyne Tunnel 97.1.

For more great history of Metro Radio, please visit NorthEastRadio.co.uk

Information amended from the excellent Aircheck UK webpage

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