Radio City 96.7

City of license	Liverpool
Broadcast area	Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales
Slogan	Liverpool's Hit Music Station
Frequency	96.7 MHz DAB 932 Telewest (Liverpool) Online
First air date	21 October 1974
Format	CHR/Pop
Audience share	9.30% (December 2012, [1])
Owner	Bauer Radio
Sister stations	Magic 1548 City Talk 105.9
Webcast	whatsON
Website	Radio City 96.7

Radio City 96.7 (also previously known as City FM and 194 Radio City) is a British Independent Local Radio station, based in Liverpool, that serves Merseyside, Cheshire and North Wales. The station is owned & operated by Bauer Radio and forms part of Bauer's Place Network of stations.

History [edit]

Radio City studios tower by night

Launched on 21 October 1974 with Stevie Wonder's "You Are The Sunshine Of My Life" as the first song played, Radio City primarily broadcasts pop and dance music at a frequency of 96.7 MHz on the FM band from Allerton Park. Until 1989, it was also on 1548 kHz medium wave from a transmitter at Rainford, until it split its frequencies and launched a talk station on medium wave called City Talk - unusually it initially chose not to launch a Gold service on medium wave, despite the first generation of British Gold stations featuring many Liverpudlian bands and artists on their playlists. The medium wave frequency now carries its current sister station Magic 1548, from a transmitter at the former Bebington/Bromborough Power Station site. In the early days of Marcher Sound, the evening programmes of the station were simulcasted to the fledgling station, so for a period in the Eighties, Radio City had in theory, four frequencies (Marcher Sound occupied 95.4 MHz and 1260 kHz). The station is also webcast on its website. Originally based in Stanley Street in Liverpool city centre, in 2000 the station moved atop St. John's Beacon, which in the past was a revolving restaurant and viewing platform.

The 96.7 FM signal comes from the Allerton Park transmitter in south-east Liverpool, which also transmits Radio Merseyside on 95.8FM. There is also a transmitter in the Mersey (Queensway) Tunnel. There are also digital transmitters at St John's Beacon, Billinge Hill (in St Helens, which also carries Wish FM), and Hope Mountain (near Wrexham). The Billinge Hill site has the strongest digital signal.

On 9 November 2006, it was announced by Ofcom that Radio City had beaten competition from rival broadcasters to win a new FM licence for the Liverpool area. The new station, a 24-hour speech radio format named CityTalk, launched on 28 January 2008 and broadcasts on 105.9FM.^[1]

Programming/presenters [edit]

In:Demand and overnights are networked programmes broadcast from Key 103 in Manchester. The Vodafone Big Top 40 is syndicated from Capital in Leicester Square, London. Terrace Talk, Radio City Sport and Late Night City are simulcast on City Talk 105.9. The station opts out of some networked output at weekends to carry specialist dance programming.

Past presenters [edit]

News team [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Radio City 96.7
• History of the station
• Details of book recounting the history of the station
• North West Radio - Radio City Memories
• David's Transmitter World
• Radio City Tribute Site
• MDS975's coverage map
• Allerton Park transmitter
• Billinge Hill transmitter
• Hope Mountain transmitter
• Radio City Studios in 2004 by Richard Moore
• Station Tours