Ridings FM

Former radio station in West Yorkshire, England

Ridings FM
Programming

Broadcast area	Wakefield
Frequency	FM: 106.8 MHz
Format	Classic Hits
Ownership
Owner	Bauer
History
First air date	3 October 1999
Last air date	31 August 2020

Ridings FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving the Wakefield District of West Yorkshire. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.

Studios

The station was originally based at Thornes Office Park in Wakefield before co-locating with sister station Dearne FM at Zenith Park on Whaley Road, Barugh Green, in the north-west of Barnsley in 2009.

Following a memorandum sent to Ofcom, which stated that the station had never made a profit although being a technical success, Ridings FM was moved to Doncaster where it shared a building with Trax FM, Dearne FM and Rother FM.

Transmission

The station's transmitter was located at Wakefield House in Wakefield city centre. Ridings FM broadcast on 106.8 FM on 500 watts of power. From July 2001, it was made available on the Bauer Leeds DAB multiplex. This service was discontinued in 2013 as it was a significant cost and covered areas outside of Wakefield with an uneconomically small potential audience.

FM licence

Prior to being awarded the Wakefield licence, the station ran a trial service which ran from 11 October 1997 on 87.7 FM.^[1]

By the closing date of 8 September 1998, WF 107 Ltd (based in Wakefield), Henna FM Ltd (based in Batley providing Asian music) and Ridings FM had applied to the Radio Authority for the licence.^[2] Ridings FM was later awarded the licence on 7 January 1999.

Programming

The station's output included a weekday breakfast show. The station's news team won a Sony Bronze award in May 2000. At off peak times the station used the feed from Independent Radio News. As well as news, Ridings FM covered local sports teams from the Wakefield Trinity, Castleford Tigers and Featherstone Rovers in rugby league, to Ossett United (amalgamation of Ossett Albion and Ossett Town) and Frickley Athletic in football.

Presenters

During Ridings FM's lifetime, presenters included:

Phil Butler
Gareth Webb
Paul Bromley
John Tolson
Jamie Fletcher
Chris Hubbard
Kev Wilson
Andy Hoyle

References

^ geocities.com
^ ofcom.org.uk

External links

History of local radio in Yorkshire
The Student Wiki
Receiving the licence in January 1999

Radio stations in West Yorkshire, England

AM stations

LW	BBC Radio 4 198
MW	BBC Radio 5 Live 909, 693 Talksport 1089, 1053

FM stations

BBC Radio 2 89.3
BBC Radio 3 91.5
BBC Radio Leeds 92.4, 95.3, 102.7, 103.9
BBC Radio 4 93.7
Greatest Hits Radio 96.3, 106.8
Phoenix Radio 96.7
Hits Radio West Yorkshire 97.5, 102.5
LDC Radio 97.8
BBC Radio 1 98.9
Classic FM 101.1
Branch FM 101.8
Sunrise Radio 103.2
Drystone Radio 103.5
Capital Yorkshire 105.1, 105.6
Heart Yorkshire 106.2
BCB 106.6
Fever FM 107.3
Tempo FM 107.4
Radio Sangam 107.9, 94.7

DAB

Bauer Bradford & Huddersfield	Absolute Classic Rock Absolute Radio Country BBC Radio Leeds Capital Yorkshire Greatest Hits Radio Heart Yorkshire Hits Radio Hits Radio Pride Kerrang! Radio Magic Chilled Magic at the Musicals Magic Soul Hits Radio West Yorkshire
Bauer Leeds	Absolute Classic Rock Absolute Radio Country BBC Radio Leeds Capital Yorkshire Greatest Hits Radio Heart Yorkshire Hits Radio Magic Chilled Magic at the Musicals Magic Soul Hits Radio West Yorkshire Smooth Radio
Bradford small-scale	Akash Radio Cosoro Radio Drystone Radio Fever FM Gorgeous Radio Great Yorkshire Radio LDC Radio Marefa Radio Panjab Radio Radio Apni Awaz Sab Rang Radio Sunrise Gold Sunrise Radio Voice of Islam
Leeds small-scale	Akash Radio Dance Asia Radio Fever FM Fresh Leeds Gaydio Juice Radio LDC Radio Marefa Radio Mighty Leeds Rangoli Radio Sunrise Gold Sunrise Radio Voice of Islam