Gold (radio)
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| Broadcast area | London, Manchester, East Midlands (AM) London, East Midlands and Yorkshire (DAB) Across UK & Ireland (Sky, Freesat & Virgin Media and online) |
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| Slogan |
The Greatest Hits of All Time. This is Gold! |
| Frequency | 945 & 999 AM (Nottingham/Derby) 1458 AM (Manchester) 1548 AM (London) DAB (London, Nottingham, Leicester, Yorkshire) |
| First air date | 1 November 1988 (Capital Gold) 3 August 2007 (Gold) |
| Format | Classic Hits |
| Audience share | 1.3% (December 2012, ) |
| Owner | Global |
| Sister stations |
Capital FM Heart Classic FM Smooth Radio Capital Xtra Radio X LBC |
| Website | mygoldmusic |
Gold is a network of oldies radio stations which was formed by the merger of the Capital Gold network and the Classic Gold Network in August 2007. The station relaunched in March 2014 as a partly automated service broadcasting in a smaller number of areas than previously, when many of the prior local AM/DAB Gold frequencies were turned over to Smooth Radio.
The Capital Gold network started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, as the British Government urged radio stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on FM and AM) and threatening to remove one of their frequencies if simulcasting continued. The Classic Gold network was similarly formed from the AM transmissions of the former GWR Group's station licence areas. (Many of the FM pop stations to which the ...Gold stations were sister operations are themselves now part of the Heart or Capital networks).
The original DJs on the early incarnation of Capital Gold included Tony Blackburn (who would later appear on the then-rival Classic Gold network), Kenny Everett and David Hamilton. The idea of hiring radio personalities to host networked shows continued to be a feature of the Capital Gold and Classic Gold networks as they grew, though following the 2014 relaunch Gold now only had three presenters - Tony Dibbin, Simon Hirst and David Andrews at the time of the relaunch. (Dibbin presents on Gold six days a week; Hirst and Andrews combined once-a-week Gold appearances with their weekday duties on Capital Yorkshire and Smooth Radio respectively). Most Gold programming is broadcast from the Gold network studio in Leicester Square, London, though Hirst broadcast from the Capital studios in Leeds or his home studio. Simon Hirst left Gold (and Capital) in June 2014, leaving Dibbin (Sunday to Friday) and Andrews (Saturday) as Gold's sole remaining DJs.
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