Metro Radio

Metro Radio
City Newcastle
Broadcast area Tyne and Wear
County Durham
Northumberland
Slogan Your Music, Your Life
Frequency FM:
102.6 MHz (Alnwick)
103.0 MHz (Fenham)
103.2 MHz (Hexham)
97.1 MHz (Tyne Tunnel Relay)
97.1 MHz (Newcastle upon Tyne)
RDS: METRO
DAB: 11C[1]
First air date 15 July 1974
Format CHR, news and talk
Audience share 9.9% (June 2014, RAJAR)
Owner Bauer Radio
Sister stations Metro 2 Radio
Metro 3 Radio
Webcast Radioplayer
Website www.metroradio.co.uk

Metro Radio is a local radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio as part of the City 1 network. It broadcasts to County Durham, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear from studios in Newcastle. The station's output is shared with sister North East station TFM.

History

Metro Radio logo used from 2004 to 2015.

Launch

The Newcastle-based station, broadcasting to North East England, launched on 15 July 1974.[1] The first Breakfast Show was presented by Don Dwyer, an Australian radio presenter formerly at ABC, Len Groat, Giles Squire, Dave Gregory, James Whale, Peter Wraight, Peter Sampson and Harry Rowell were also there from the beginning. The first show also included messages of congratulations from Kenny Everett at the equivalent local commercial station in London, Capital Radio.

Studios

Metro Radio on the Swan House roundabout in Newcastle upon Tyne

The station transmitted from a studio in Swalwell, Gateshead, which, in later years, would be adjacent to the MetroCentre. In 2005 Metro, and sister station Magic 1152 moved to the former BT building, previously known as Swan House, now known as 55° North, next to the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Football commentary

Until 2005 the station broadcast live football commentary for the region's two biggest clubs — Newcastle United and Sunderland. In an attempt to boost ratings, the football commentary was stopped. However, a negative response from football fans prompted the owners to cover all Newcastle and Sunderland games on sister station Magic 1152.

TFM co-location

As of Monday 8 April 2013, all Metro's programming is shared with TFM. However, the Metro branding is retained along with separate advertising.[2] The two stations were able to co-locate without consultation as the Metro Radio licence area is located in one approved broadcast area (North East England).[3]

Programming

All programming on Metro Radio - local, networked and syndicated - is shared with TFM. The majority of the station's programming is produced from Newcastle, including networked shows for Friday nights and Saturday breakfast. Other networked programming originates from Key 103 in Manchester, Clyde 1 in Glasgow, Radio City in Liverpool, Radio Aire in Leeds and Forth 1 in Edinburgh. The Vodafone Big Top 40 is syndicated from Global Radio at its Capital studios in London for broadcast on over 145 commercial radio stations across the UK.

The station's main presenters include Steve Furnell, Karen Wight, Brian Moore, Dan Moylan (Home Run) and Alan Robson (Night Owls).[4]

News

Metro Radio broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am to 7pm on weekdays, from 7am to 1pm on Saturdays and Sundays. Headlines are broadcast on the half hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside sport and traffic bulletins.

National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried overnight with bespoke networked bulletins on weekend afternoons, usually produced at sister station Radio Aire in Leeds.

Notable former presenters

The DJ and TV presenter James Whale launched his radio career on Metro, presenting the Nightowls show between 1974 and 1980. Other notable former presenters include:

Awards and nominations

Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards

Year Award Entry Result
2011 RCS Programmer Of The Year Chris Pegg (Programme Director) Nominated
2011 Skillset Newcomer(s) Of The Year Simon Conway (Journalist) Nominated
2011 Newsteam Of The Year Newsteam Nominated
2012 Feature(s) of the Year Raoul Moat: One Year On Nominated
2012 RCS Programmer Of The Year Chris Pegg (Programme Director) Nominated
2013 Breakfast Show of the Year (under 2 Million TSA) Steve & Karen's Breakfast Show Gold
2013 Presenter of the Year (under 2 Million TSA) Steve Furnell & Karen Wight Gold
2013 RCS Programmer Of The Year Chris Pegg (Programme Director) Nominated
2013 Journalist of the Year (Ali Booker Memorial Award) Rebecca Dixon Nominated
2013 Station of the Year (500,000 to 2M TSA) Metro Radio Gold
2014 Presenter of the Year (under 2 Million TSA) Steve Furnell & Karen Wight Nominated
2014 Presenter of the Year (under 2 Million TSA) Stuart Elmore & Kelly Hinch Nominated
2014 RCS Programmer Of The Year Chris Pegg (Programme Director) Nominated
2014 Unsung Hero of the Year Dan Black Nominated
2014 Local Sales Team of The Year Metro Radio & Magic 1152 Nominated
2015 Presenter of the Year (under 2 Million TSA) Steve and Karen Bronze
2015 Journalist of the Year Micky Welch Silver
2015 Station of the Year (under 2 Million TSA) Metro Radio Gold
2015 Marketing Award Punching Above Weight Promo Silver

IRN News Awards

Year Award Entry Result
2011 Young Journalist of the Year Simon Conway Nominated
2011 Newsreader of the Year Joel Goldman Nominated
2011 Best Newsteam / Newsroom Newsteam Nominated
2012 'And Finally' The Princess and the Pea......Fritter Runner-up
2013 Newsreader of the Year Simon Conway Runner-up
2013 Reporter of the Year Rebecca Dixon Nominated
2013 'And Finally' Eat For Free Runner-up
2014 Newsreader of the Year under 1M TSA Sophie Calvert Winner

Sony Radio Academy Awards

Year Award Entry Result
2007 Best live event coverage Alan Shearer Testimonial Coverage Gold
2011 Best breaking news coverage Manhunt - The Raoul Moat Story - Metro Radio News Nominated
2011 Best live event coverage Great North Run Coverage Silver
2012 Speech Radio Personality of the Year Alan Robson Nominated
2012 News Journalist of the Year Metro Radio News Team Silver
2013 Best Speech Programme Alan Robson's Nightowls Bronze
2013 Breakfast Show of the Year (under 10 million) Steve and Karen's Breakfast Show Silver
2013 Station of the Year (1 Million plus) Metro Radio Gold
2014 Speech Radio Personality of the Year Alan Robson Silver
2014 Best Coverage of a Live Event Great North Run 2013 Silver
2014 Station of the Year (1 Million plus) Metro Radio Nominated

Metro Radio Arena

Main article: Metro Radio Arena

References

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, May 03, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.