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The Local Radio Company AI simulator
(@The Local Radio Company_simulator)
Hub AI
The Local Radio Company AI simulator
(@The Local Radio Company_simulator)
The Local Radio Company
The Local Radio Company was a British media company, based in Redruth, Cornwall, that owned eleven Independent Local Radio stations in the UK. After takeover talks with UTV Media, UKRD Group and Hallwood Financial, UKRD acquired the majority share of the company in June 2009.
TLRC was formed in 1996 as a joint venture between its majority shareholder Radio Investments Limited and GWR Group plc, with founding Chief Executive Chris Carnegy also holding a small stake. It was designed as a specialist operator of small stations and its initial portfolio consisted of stations transferred from the founders: Spire FM, Gold Radio, KCBC and Boss 603 Cheltenham from RIL, and Isle of Wight Radio from GWR. The group expanded rapidly by acquisitions and new licence wins.
Changes in structure saw a merger between TLRC, RIL and RIL subsidiary Radio Services. At its peak the merged private company owned or invested in 28 stations, spread between Stirling in Scotland and the Isle of Wight, and between Lowestoft and Plymouth. From 2000, the Guardian Media Group held a management contract, with its radio chief John Myers taking charge.
The group was sold in 2004 and began a new life as The Local Radio Company plc, an AIM-quoted public company under the leadership of former Jazz FM CEO Richard Wheatly.
For a while, all stations owned by the quoted group, except Fire Radio, broadcast under a contemporary music format known as Music:fun:life. However this was generally not deemed a success so, after the departure of Group Programme Director Gordon Davidson in June 2006 to Emap, most stations developed their own branding.
The playlist offered a mix of new and classic pop music, with some special programming such as Party Anthems or Soul on Sunday. Network programmes broadcast by the group include The Lunchtime Gameshow which returned to the network after a break of 2 years in November 2008, hosted by John Harding and Russ Leighton broadcasting from Minster FM in York to the Northern TLRC stations; the hit40uk chart show; the urban chart show Fresh 40 and the Fierce Angel Radio Show on Saturday nights.
For six months in 2008 there were two new networked shows on the group, including the Saturday Afternoon show with Tim West (which not all stations took) and the Network Weekend Breakfast Show with Danny Mathews (previously on Capital Gold, Key 103, Century and the Magic Network). This was short-lived and, although the shows were well received by the audience / RAJAR, the shows' contracts were only six-months long and, due to the selling of many stations, these shows ceased in late 2008.
Former networked shows, such as the evening music and comedy show Simon James and Hill and late-night phone-in North-South Divided (which was broadcast jointly from studios in London and Durham to pitch listeners in the South of England against those in the North), were dropped in favour of more music-based shows that reflected the daytime sound of the TLRC stations. For a time, Sunday afternoons across the network were dedicated to a premium rate phone-in show hosted by Andy Muir, titled Money on your Mobile.
The Local Radio Company
The Local Radio Company was a British media company, based in Redruth, Cornwall, that owned eleven Independent Local Radio stations in the UK. After takeover talks with UTV Media, UKRD Group and Hallwood Financial, UKRD acquired the majority share of the company in June 2009.
TLRC was formed in 1996 as a joint venture between its majority shareholder Radio Investments Limited and GWR Group plc, with founding Chief Executive Chris Carnegy also holding a small stake. It was designed as a specialist operator of small stations and its initial portfolio consisted of stations transferred from the founders: Spire FM, Gold Radio, KCBC and Boss 603 Cheltenham from RIL, and Isle of Wight Radio from GWR. The group expanded rapidly by acquisitions and new licence wins.
Changes in structure saw a merger between TLRC, RIL and RIL subsidiary Radio Services. At its peak the merged private company owned or invested in 28 stations, spread between Stirling in Scotland and the Isle of Wight, and between Lowestoft and Plymouth. From 2000, the Guardian Media Group held a management contract, with its radio chief John Myers taking charge.
The group was sold in 2004 and began a new life as The Local Radio Company plc, an AIM-quoted public company under the leadership of former Jazz FM CEO Richard Wheatly.
For a while, all stations owned by the quoted group, except Fire Radio, broadcast under a contemporary music format known as Music:fun:life. However this was generally not deemed a success so, after the departure of Group Programme Director Gordon Davidson in June 2006 to Emap, most stations developed their own branding.
The playlist offered a mix of new and classic pop music, with some special programming such as Party Anthems or Soul on Sunday. Network programmes broadcast by the group include The Lunchtime Gameshow which returned to the network after a break of 2 years in November 2008, hosted by John Harding and Russ Leighton broadcasting from Minster FM in York to the Northern TLRC stations; the hit40uk chart show; the urban chart show Fresh 40 and the Fierce Angel Radio Show on Saturday nights.
For six months in 2008 there were two new networked shows on the group, including the Saturday Afternoon show with Tim West (which not all stations took) and the Network Weekend Breakfast Show with Danny Mathews (previously on Capital Gold, Key 103, Century and the Magic Network). This was short-lived and, although the shows were well received by the audience / RAJAR, the shows' contracts were only six-months long and, due to the selling of many stations, these shows ceased in late 2008.
Former networked shows, such as the evening music and comedy show Simon James and Hill and late-night phone-in North-South Divided (which was broadcast jointly from studios in London and Durham to pitch listeners in the South of England against those in the North), were dropped in favour of more music-based shows that reflected the daytime sound of the TLRC stations. For a time, Sunday afternoons across the network were dedicated to a premium rate phone-in show hosted by Andy Muir, titled Money on your Mobile.