Xtra AM
| Broadcast area | Birmingham and Coventry |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Non Stop Classic Hits |
| Frequency | 1152 kHz in Birmingham 1359 kHz in Coventry |
| First air date | 4 April 1989 |
| Format | Oldies |
| Owner | Midland Radio Plc |
Xtra AM was a United Kingdom radio station which was on the air between 1989 and 1998. It was broadcast to much of Birmingham, Coventry and Warwickshire and was the 'oldies' station which took over the mediumwave frequencies of both BRMB and Mercia FM. The programming came from the BRMB studios based in Aston, Birmingham, and the signal was relayed from the Langley Mill transmitter (Birmingham) and Shilton (Coventry).
The station was launched on the morning of 4 April 1989, and was launched as a response to government disapproval of the simulcasting of programming on FM and mediumwave. Xtra AM became a 'gold' station and targeted listeners in the 35 to 50 age range, while BRMB and Mercia both began to cater for a younger audience. The new AM service was launched to much fanfare with its inaugural host, Les Ross, conducting a spoof interview with Elvis Presley as part of its publicity.
Xtra AM quickly became popular with its audience and was soon rivalling its FM counterparts. Despite this, however, BRMB maintained the larger proportion of the audience share. One of the key ingredients in this success was the appointment of Les Ross as the station's breakfast host. A well liked and respected broadcaster in the region, when Ross left BRMB to move to Xtra AM, he took many of his listeners with him. He remained with the station for four years, before making a return to BRMB following a programming shake up in 1993.
As well as playing what it termed 'classic hits', Xtra AM also carried a mini playlist of 12 songs from the current Top 40 which were demed to fit with its music profile. Regional news, weather, events and community information, as well as local advertising were separate for the Birmingham and Coventry areas, but programming was simulcast in both areas from Birmingham. BRMB's famous and well respected sports coverage was moved over to the new station, where Tom Ross continued to cover the region's sports events with his unique presenting style.
Presenters on the station included many who were already established personalities in the West Midlands region. During Xtra AM's nine years on air, these included Les Ross (as mentioned above), Annie Othen, Ted Elliott, Tony Butler, Adrian Stewart, Dave Hickman, Mick Wright, Guy Jogoo and Noddy Holder (who hosted a popular Sunday afternoon show playing music from the 1970s). Jimmy Savile was also heard on the station, presenting a syndicated oldies show (also taken by a number of other commercial stations) based on his previous BBC Radio 1 show.
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