Wrexham and Chester Gold
Encyclopedia
Gold North Wales and Cheshire (originally Marcher Gold and later Classic Gold Marcher) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 independent local radio
Independent Local Radio
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. The same name is used for Independent Local Radio in Ireland.-Development of ILR:...

 station broadcasting to Wrexham
Wrexham
Wrexham is a town in Wales. It is the administrative centre of the wider Wrexham County Borough, and the largest town in North Wales, located in the east of the region. It is situated between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley close to the border with Cheshire, England...

, Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

, Flintshire
Flintshire
Flintshire is a county in north-east Wales. It borders Denbighshire, Wrexham and the English county of Cheshire. It is named after the historic county of Flintshire, which had notably different borders...

 and some of the Wirral, and is part of the Gold radio network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...

. It is the "sister" station to local FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...

 station, Marcher Sound, launched by Marcher Radio Group
Marcher Radio Group
Marcher Radio Group Ltd, previously Marcher Sound Ltd, was a former British media organisation which operated several radio stations in north Wales and north west England...

 in 1989. After a period of sales and takeovers which led to Gold being operated by a separate company to its FM sister station, both are now owned by Global Radio
Global Radio
Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...

. It is broadcast from Mold Road, Gwersyllt
Gwersyllt
Gwersyllt is an urban village and a local government community, the lowest tier of local government, part of Wrexham County Borough in Wales....

, Wrexham, although most programming comes from London.

History

The station launched in 1989 when new radio regulations prevented the simulcasting of independent local radio stations on AM
Amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation is a technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting information via a radio carrier wave. AM works by varying the strength of the transmitted signal in relation to the information being sent...

 radio bands, and therefore Marcher Radio Group
Marcher Radio Group
Marcher Radio Group Ltd, previously Marcher Sound Ltd, was a former British media organisation which operated several radio stations in north Wales and north west England...

 created MFM 103.4 on FM
Frequency modulation
In telecommunications and signal processing, frequency modulation conveys information over a carrier wave by varying its instantaneous frequency. This contrasts with amplitude modulation, in which the amplitude of the carrier is varied while its frequency remains constant...

, while the 1260 AM frequency became Marcher Gold. Both frequencies previously simulcast Marcher Sound.
Marcher Radio Group was purchased by GWR Group in 2000, which also included the sale of Marcher Gold. However, after regulations on how many stations one company could own, Marcher Gold became part of the Classic Gold
Classic Gold Digital Network
Classic Gold Digital Network was one of the biggest 'gold' formatted radio networks in the United Kingdom, with a potential audience of 47 million. Classic Gold was broadcast on analogue and DAB digital platforms, as well as Sky channel 0189.-History:...

radio network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...

, when the majority stake of the network was sold to UBC Media, with GWR retaining 20%. As a consequence, all participating stations in the network were re-branded, and Marcher Gold became Classic Gold Marcher. Despite the changes in ownership, Classic Gold Marcher continued to share facilities with the GWR Group-owned former sister station, MFM 103.4.

GWR Group merged with Capital Radio Group in 2005, creating GCap Media
GCap Media
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...

. After approval from the regulator, GCap successfully purchased 18 of the Classic Gold Network stations from UBC and merged it with its own Capital Gold
Capital Gold
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...

 network, forming simply "Gold" on 3 August 2007. As a result, the station's Wrexham and Chester licence was renamed "Gold North Wales and Cheshire".

In 2008 GCap Media was purchased by Global Radio
Global Radio
Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...

.

Content

Since the renaming of the station, local content includes a daily local show, presented by Simon Nicks. Local news bulletins feature hourly from 6am until 6pm, with local headlines during breakfast and drivetime. There are also regular local travel bulletins and local commercial breaks. It generally focuses on classic hit
Classic hits
Classic hits is a radio format which generally includes rock and pop music from 1964 to 1989. The term is sometimes erroneously used as a synonym for the adult hits format, but is more accurately characterized as a contemporary style of the oldies format...

 and late 20th Century music.

Drivetime ends an hour earlier than the rest of the Gold Network at 6pm for an hour-long Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 programme called Cŵl Cymru
Champion FM 103
Heart Cymru is an independent local radio station broadcasting to Gwynedd and Anglesey from the Arfon transmitting station...

which is networked with Champion 103 and later repeated at 10pm on Coast 96.3. All stations are in the Marcher Radio Group
Marcher Radio Group
Marcher Radio Group Ltd, previously Marcher Sound Ltd, was a former British media organisation which operated several radio stations in north Wales and north west England...

 network
Radio network
There are two types of radio networks currently in use around the world: the one-to-many broadcast type commonly used for public information and mass media entertainment; and the two-way type used more commonly for public safety and public services such as police, fire, taxicabs, and delivery...

of Global Radio.
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