County Sound Radio 1566 AM

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County Sound Radio 1566 AM
City of license	Guildford
Broadcast area	Guildford
Slogan	Great music, good company.
First air date	4 April 1983
Frequency	1566 kHz
Format	Contemporary
Owner	UKRD Group
Website	http://www.countysound.co.uk/

County Sound Radio is a commercial radio station covering Surrey and North East Hampshire. Currently broadcasting on 1566 MW and 91.5 FM (on cable) and on the internet via the website.

It was launched on 4 April 1983 by Frank Muir as County Sound Radio on 203 MW and 96.6 FM. In 1986 the FM frequency was changed to 96.4 FM.

The FM transmitter is on the "Hog's Back" - a well known local hill near Guildford - while the AM transmitter is next to the railway line in Farncombe, opposite Broadwater School.

County Sound was originally only on air until 7pm, later moving to 9pm, then midnight, before going 24 hours.

The original line-up included Phil Myles at Breakfast, Paul Owens and Simon Cummings. Mike Powell was the Head of News at launch. There were long news programmes called "County World" at lunchtime and 6pm.

The County Sound Radio theme was written by Les Reed with the slogan "The One and Only One for You". The lyrics to the County Sound Song went "We are you music, and your news each day. Turn on the sunshine. The County Sound way. Open up your heart, and you will let a little sunshine through, with County Sound, the one and only one for you. We'll always be here, each and every day. Where ever you're going, we're going your way. Come with us and ride the airwaves discover something new, on County Sound - the one and only one for you. County Sound, the one and only one for you."

County Sound's mascot was Brewster the Mouse, often seen at fetes, fairs and shows in Surrey and North East Hampshire.

On June 1 1988 they became the first UK station to split their FM and MW frequencies to create two stations, 96.4 became "Premier Radio" and 203 MW was re-branded "County Sound Gold", which was later renamed First Gold Radio.

Since launch the station had been based in The Friary shopping centre in Guildford but after the split of frequencies it moved to a purpose built building in Woking.

In 1991 the group merged with Radio Mercury to become known as Allied Radio.

FM frequencies 102.7 & 96.4 broadcast Radio Mercury. The West Surrey (96.4) Mercury included programming made from a studio at County Sound's original home - the Friary shopping centre in Guildford. West Surrey had its own dedicated programming on Monday to Friday from 6am till 7pm. All other programming was networked from Mercury's Crawley HQ. Haslemere also had its own breakfast show, on 97.1FM. This, strangely, ran from 7am-11am, meaning listeners in Haslemere heard the first hour of the Guildford breakfast show, then had a four hour Haslemere programme, then joined the Guildford mid morning show an hour late.

"County Sound" became the name of the AM service, but it wasn't like the County Sound listeners knew and County Sound changed names once more in 1993 to become Mercury Extra.

In 1995 the link between the Guildford and Crawley stations was broken, as Allied lost the Guildford licence. UKRD won the franchise - and were originally to go on air in April 1996 - but Allied were keen to get out and sold the remaining seven months of their licence to the new franchisee.

UKRD - with Mike Powell at the helm - wanted to bring County Sound back to Surrey - and from 1 September 1995 "County Sound Radio" was, albeit temporarily, once again broadcasting on 96.4FM and 1476 AM. This was a temporary service while the new owners prepared to launch properly.

On Friday 29th December 1995 the station moved into Dolphin House on North Street in Guildford - ending twelve years of (on and off) broadcasting from the Friary - and on the 4 January 1996 the new UKRD stations launched, once again splitting frequencies. "County Sound" remained broadcasting on 1476, while the FM channel became 96.4 The Eagle. In 1999 County Sound moved to its current frequency of 1566 MW.

Original presenter Simon Cummings sadly died in December 1996 after suffering a long illness.