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96.9 Viking FM
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Viking FM | |
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| Broadcast area | East Riding & Northern Lincolnshire |
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| Frequency | 96.9 MHz |
| First air date | April 17, 1984 |
| Format | Contemporary |
| Audience share | 8.5% (September 2007, [1]) |
| Owner | EMAP |
| Website | www.vikingfm.co.uk |
Viking FM is an Independent Local Radio station which has broadcast music and local information to the East Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North-East Lincolnshire counties of England since 1984. Based in Kingston upon Hull,
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In 1990, The Yorkshire Radio Network, who owned Viking as well as Radio Hallam, Pennine Radio and Classic Gold), were bought by Metro Radio group, who were ultimately bought by media empire EMAP in 1996 and is part of their Big City Network of stations.
It is transmitted from the High Hunsley transmitter on the Yorkshire Wolds, near North Cave, sharing the 200 ft tower with Galaxy 105 and BBC Radio Humberside, as well as on the EMAP Humberside DAB multiplex from three transmitters, located at High Hunsley, Buckton Barn near Bridlington and Grimsby town centre.
It is also streamed over the Internet via Viking FM's website (listed in the external links), making it accessible to listeners from all across the UK. Worldwide webcasting has recently been suspended for licensing reasons.
It began as Viking Radio on 102.7FM and 1161MW. During the application process for the licence the station's working title was Humber Bridge Radio. In spring 1986, the radio station had to move to 96.9FM, the then residence of arch-competitor Radio Humberside, which moved to 95.9FM. In summer 1986, the station hit the showbiz big time by signing up the pop music connoisseur Paul Gambaccini. Viking was the first commercial radio station in the UK to introduce split programming so that it could broadcast rugby league commentary on Sunday afternoons on its AM frequency leaving FM clear to take the Network Chart Show. In 1988, Viking Radio split frequencies on a permanent basis and was transformed into Viking FM on 96.9 FM and Viking Gold on 1161 (said "Double-One Six-One") medium wave. The AM station later became Classic Gold, Classic Gold Radio, Great Yorkshire Gold and Great Yorkshire Radio. It is now known as Magic 1161 (said "Eleven-Sixty-One").
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Current weekday presenters include Sam Heywood & Mark Somers at Breakfast, Matthew Smith (Tue: Craig Beck (Mid morning) and James Piekos (drive). Weekday Evenings are 'networked' with other EMAP stations in the North, from 7pm 'In-Demand' is broadcast from Manchester, and from 10pm 'Confessional' is broadcast from Sheffield. Weekend presenters include Liam Smedley [[2]], Patrick Billington,Scott Makin and Matthew Smith.
Current Management
| Managing Director | Alexis Thompson |
| Station Director | Steve Albones |
| Programme Director | Craig Beck |
In 2005 the station won its first Gold Award at the Sony Radio Academy Awards for "Happy Hour"; a news investigation into binge drinking in the region. The won a Bronze award in 2006 for their series of programmes on subjects like ASBO's and street crime.
In 2005, Viking FM's Creative Team (who write and make the adverts) won a Vox Award for a Road Safety ad, in 2006 they won no less than 4 Vox Awards (Best Campaign, Best Use of Music, Best Media Production and Other) and the London International Awards for Sound Design. In 2007 they achieved a finalist place at the New York Awards and won a United Nations Award for Peace and Human Rights, one of only 4 given out worldwide.
The studio has a Webcam. This allows listeners to watch the goings on inside studio 1 (the main studio) at Viking on the Internet. This can be found on the Viking FM website and refreshes every 30 seconds. A further pioneering development, and a UK first was the installation of a new "fish cam", recording the wacky antics of the Viking FM goldfish. Despite high hopes, this has not yet secured an award.
The original logo depicted the station mascot "Eric the Viking", this was phased out in the late 80s when the logo style was shared with its sister stations. Currently the stations logo contains the "Emap splash", this is used to brand all of the groups Big City Network.
Viking original package was produced by Cath Baxter Productions, further idents were made by Jam Creative Productions, Alfasound and Reelworld. Viking went through a stage starting in the late 90s of only using voice over sweeper production produced in-house, however, in 2006 a new sung package was commissioned. These new idents are from Jones TM in Dallas, U.S.A
- Photos from the glory days!!
- Viking FM
- Early Jingles.
- More jingles (from 1996).
- History of local radio in Yorkshire.
- David's Transmitter World
- High Hunsley transmitter.
- EMAP