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Beacon Radio
Broadcast area	Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury and Telford
Frequency	97.2 MHz, 103.1 MHz
First air date	12 April 1976
Format	Contemporary
Audience share	7.9% (September 2007, [1])
ERP	2.00 kW, 2.70 kW
Owner	GCap Media
Website	www.beaconradiowestmids.co.uk www.beaconshropshire.co.uk

Beacon Radio is the name of a Radio station in the Midlands of England, previously known as Beacon FM, and before that Beacon Radio 303.

Contents 1 History 2 Past presenters 3 Live sport 4 Tag lines 5 Current West Midlands line up 6 Current Shropshire line up 7 External links

The station began broadcasting to the West Midlands and the Black Country from studios at 267 Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton on mediumwave 303 metres, and 97.2 MHz (from Turner's Hill) at 6 a.m. on April 12, 1976.

The station is owned by GCap Media (a merger of Capital Radio Group and GWR). The original company was to have been called "The Express & Star Radio Company" after part of the original consortium, but the company that ultimately evolved was known as "Beacon Broadcasting Ltd".

The first presenter was Mike Baker and the first song to be played was Eric Carmen's "Sunrise" as the first record.

The station was originally set out to broadcast Beautiful Music including soul and country rock with a heavy bias towards American chart music swinging to the sounds of Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles.

The station's original Managing Director was Jay Oliver, an American who, with his Programme Controller Allen McKenzie (a Scot/Canadian), was responsible for the Mid-Atlantic sound that flooded the West Midlands for three years (including a US-style jingle package).

As with other UK commercial stations at the time, the station's commitment to news and speech broadcasting in its opening year, particularly in the evenings, was extensive; and its late-evening music programmes appeared to offer the presenters a freedom to enlighten with a wide choice of recordings, as well as to entertain.

The station became very successful, but was chastised by the UK licensing authority (then, the Independent Broadcasting Authority) for being too American sounding and not wide ranging enough in its programming. Due to this, the management and output were changed in mid-1979.

Its licence was later expanded in 1987 to cover Shropshire, ostensibly broadcasting from its offices in Shrewsbury on 103.1 MHz. In actual fact only the News service was generated in Shrewsbury, actual programmes was based at the Wolverhampton studios - although entirely separate programming for the two areas was provided during daytime hours (this was from time to time slimmed down or expanded as finances allowed).

Since January 1989 the station has been FM-only, with Beacon's former AM frequencies of 990 and 1017 kHz becoming branded as a separate service "Nice 'n' Easy Radio WABC" (WABC stood for Wolverhampton And Black Country). This was shortened to "Radio WABC" in 1992.

In 1997 the local service essentially closed, and the service was networked (bar afternoon drivetime and News bulletins) under the banner of "WABC Classic Gold". This service is currently owned and operated by the UBC Media Group as Classic Gold 990 & 1017 (occasionally still referred to in jingles as "Classic Gold WABC").

The company had been reorganised in the late 1990s into "Beacon Broadcasting and Communications Ltd" (BBCL) - a holding company for the company's various activities. In 1995 GWR Group plc bought Beacon Broadcasting Ltd from BBCL (leaving BBCL as a dormant company). The FM licenses currently are owned and operated by GCap Media (formerly the GWR Group), which re-branded the FM service as Beacon FM in 1997, before reverting to Beacon Radio in May 2005. The thinking behind this reversion to the 'radio' title had been floating around for a number of years within the company - new digital radios do not promote a frequency on 'FM' therefore as a 'radio' station it should be branded as such.

Beacon Radio often broadcasts the same content as many other radio stations that are owned by GCap Media - particular between the hours of 10pm and 6am, when networked programmes are generated from a central point (for example in the early GWR years, network programmes came from Swindon, Wiltshire. At the time of the introduction of networked shows, GCAP or GWR as they were known then, were criticised by not only listeners but by the industry as well. However, during the last few years, ALL the major UK radio players have introduced what GCAP radio stations have been doing for many years, with many groups also using networked programming at 'off peak' times.

• Mike Baker
• Dave Owen
• Mick Wright
• Gavin McCoy
• Helen Armitage
• Peter Deeley
• Graham Freer
• Stephen Rhodes
• Tony Silvia
• Peter Wagstaff
• Dick Fisher
• Pat Foley
• Chris Harper
• Munro Jack
• George Ferguson
• KKJ
• Phil Brice
• Bob Snyder
• Peter Quinn
• Dale Winton
• Andy Wint
• Tony Paul
• Peter Craig
• Gordon Astley
• Nick Piercey
• Dave Myatt
• Ian Perry
• Chuck Street
• Graham Hall
• Barry Curtis
• Jim Duncan
• Bob Lawrence
• Will Tudor
• Charlie Wolf
• Simon Nicks
• Bob Davis
• Alan Nicklin
• Pete Clements

The latter DJ Mr Clements ('Clem') now resides in sunny Houston, Texas and is imminently undertaking the writing of a book which will expand on the early activities at Beacon Radio.

The station now owns the commercial rights to broadcast live commentary on all of Wolverhampton Wanderers' And West Bromwich Albion's live matches, home and away throughout the 2007/2008 season. All games will be broadcast either on 97.2 Beacon Radio or on its sister station GOLD. Both of these stations are on DAB Digital Radio. This season 103.1 Beacon Radio will be broadcasting no football commentaries.

97.2 Beacon Radio has the 'new' Black Country Football show which is anchored by presenter Stu Haycock (ex-Rock FM, Signal 1 and Hallam FM), and joined by 'Wolves legend' Robbie Dennison at the full time whistle for an after match phone in.

The commentary team during the show consists of Bill Hatton (ex-Wolf), Geoff Owen, George Andrews, 'Wolves legend' Robbie Dennison, 'Baggies legend'Tony Bomber Brown and Nathan Alleyne. Beacon also provides updates and goal flashes from every Walsall game, cementing it as the 'ONLY Black Country Football Show'.

As well as the commentary games, on a Friday evening, Beacon joins with its sister stations on the GOLD network which include, GOLD in Birmingham and GOLD in Coventry, for '90 minutes with the legends' which is hosted by Tom Ross and is joined each week by 2 guests (ex footballers) in the studio to take part in a phone in across the region. On a Saturday afternoon, Beacon joins with GCAP-owned BRMB for a pre match build up show presented by Russ Morris (ex-Signal 1) called 'The Kick About'. This show airs at 12- 2pm, and is described as 'Soccer AM on the radio'.

A tag line is a phrase which identifies a radio station, usually spoken alongside the station's call sign or in sung jingles & sweepers.

• "Sunshine Music" (1976-1978)
• "It's On Us" (1976/7)
• "Summertime '77 means: ..the best music"/..the best summer gold"/..all the hits all the time"/..more summer fun" (1977)
• "We do it for you, on Beacon 303" (1978-1979)
• "Better Music Beacon"(1985-1987)
• "Latest Hits, Greatest Memories" (1987-1995)
• "The Best Mix of Latest Hits and Greatest Memories" (GWR variant!) (1995-1997)
• "The Best Music Mix" (1997)
• "Today's Better Music Mix" (1998-2000)
• "Today's Best Mix" (2000-?)
• "Haven't You Heard?" (2007-?)

This article or section contains a current television or radio schedule. Please convert this schedule to prose. Schedules which have been copied and pasted from an external source may possibly be in violation of copyright. Please remove this template after editing. This article has been tagged since April 2007.

Time	Presenter
05:00 - 09:00	Fresh & Jo
09:00 - 13:00	Andy Nash
13:00 - 16:00	Justin Walker
16:00 - 19:00	Jon Wyer
19:00 - 22:00	Music Control
22:00 - 00:00	Late Night Love

Time	Presenter
06:00 - 10:00	Ryan & Di
10:00 - 14:00	Andy Swift
14:00 - 19:00	Stu Haycock
19:00 - 22:00	Music Control
22:00 - 00:00	Late Night Love

• Alan Nicklin's History of Beacon Radio
• Beacon Radio Jingles
• Beacon 97.2 FM Website
• Beacon 103.1 FM Website

v • d • e GCap Media

Corporate Directors: Ralph Bernard (Chairman) · Steve Orchard (Group Operations Director) · Wendy Pallot (Group Finance Director) National FM radio station: Classic FM The One Network: 2CR FM · 2-Ten FM · Trent FM · 96.9 Chiltern FM  · 97.6 Chiltern FM  · BRMB · Beacon Radio  · Buzz 97.1  · Champion 103 · Coast 96.3  · Essex FM  · Horizon Radio · Fox FM · GWR FM Bath · GWR FM Bristol · GWR FM Wiltshire · Gemini FM · Hereward FM · Invicta FM  · Lantern FM  · Leicester Sound · Marcher Sound · Mercia FM · Mercury FM · Northants 96 · Orchard FM · Plymouth Sound FM · Power FM · Q103 · Radio Broadland · RAM FM  · Red Dragon FM · SGR Colchester · SGR-FM · Severn Sound · Southern FM · Ten 17 · Wyvern FM Other Local FM Stations: Capital 95.8 · South Hams Radio1 · Ocean FM Local AM Stations: Gold Network Choice FM: Choice FM London · Choice 107.1 FM · Choice Digital Xfm Network: Xfm London · Xfm Manchester · Xfm Scotland · Xfm South Wales Digital-only stations: Capital Life · Chill · Core · Fun Radio2 · Planet Rock · theJazz TV Station: Classic FM TV 80%, with UKRD Group 50%, with HIT Entertainment Website: www.gcapmedia.com

v • d • e Radio stations in the West Midlands, United Kingdom
FM Stations	88.3 • 90.5 • 92.7 • 95.6 • 96.4 • 97.2 • 97.9 • 98.7 • 100.1 • 100.7 • 102.2 • 105.2 • 105.7 • 107.7
AM Stations	693 • 828 • 990 • 1152 • 1296
United Kingdom Radio Markets: London • Manchester • West Midlands See also: List of radio stations in the United Kingdom