Melody Radio
 |
|
| Broadcast area | London |
|---|---|
| Frequency | 104.9/105.4 MHz |
| First air date | 9 July 1990 |
| Last air date | December 1998 |
| Format | Easy Listening |
| Owner |
Hanson plc (1990-1998) Emap plc (1998) |
Melody Radio was an Independent Local Radio station, broadcast to Greater London between 1990 and 1998, when it was purchased by media group Emap and rebranded as Magic 105.4.
Melody Radio launched on 9 July 1990 on 104.9 FM in Greater London with Tony Bennett's Strike Up The Band, as part of the Independent Broadcasting Authority's creation of seven capital-wide services at the time. Broadcasting from studios in Knightsbridge, the station was owned by the late Lord James Hanson, chairman of Hanson plc, who created Melody as a service he himself would wish to listen to, allegedly inspired by 'easy listening' formats that had become popular on the West Coast of the United States. Hanson was particularly keen on keeping speech to an absolute minimum; however, after the first few days of transmission, a large number of listener enquiries as to the identity of featured music persuaded him to slightly relax restrictions on presenter content.
In its early years, the music predominantly catered for those aged 50 and over; Frank Sinatra, who recorded a launch message for the station, and Annunzio Mantovani prime examples of the artists featured. Launch presenters included Bill Bingham, Steve Crozier, Dave Gillbee, Greg Bance and Peter Dickson, who spent four years as breakfast show presenter. The station achieved listening figures of over a million within its first six months of transmission. Other presenters included Gary Whitford, Allan King, for a brief period David Jacobs, Tony Myatt and Jonothan Izzard.
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