Signal 1
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| Signal One | |
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| Broadcast area | Staffordshire & southern Cheshire |
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| Frequency | 96.4 MHz, 96.9 MHz, 102.6 MHz, DAB |
| First air date | September 5, 1983 |
| Format | Contemporary |
| Audience share | 13.9% (September 2007, [1]) |
| Owner | UTV Radio |
Signal One is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting from studios in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent to Staffordshire and Cheshire, England on 96.4 (Sutton Common, Macclesfield), 96.9 (Pye Green) and 102.6 MHz FM (Alsagers Bank) for Cheshire, Stafford and North Staffordshire respectively. It also broadcasts on the Stoke "UTV-EMAP Stoke-on-Trent" DAB multiplex 12D.
It can also be received in a much wider area due to the power of the Alsagers Bank transmitter. In RAJAR surveys, Signal 1 have consistently emerged as the leading station in their market. In October 2005, it launched an MP3 internet stream facility.
The station began as Signal Radio which first broadcast on September 5th 1983, with DJ John Evington selecting Neil Diamond's "Beautiful Noise" as its first track. It is now home to the "Andy and Louise" breakfast show, James Macdonald on mid-mornings, Liz Ellis' "The Big Drive Home" and Chris Bovaird "Evenings". Local news and sport is broadcast each hour.
Every first Tuesday of each month, Signal broadcasts live from Liquid Nightclub, holding an event for young clubbers aged 18 and under.
Between 1990 and 1991, the Cheshire 96.4 frequency operated as an alternative AOR station, Echo 96 also carried in Stafford on 96.9.
In 2000, the 96.4 transmitter returned to Signal 1 from Imagine FM.
Since the early 1990s, the Stafford area has also had a range of split programming on 96.9 and the alternative older targeted Signal 2 service has evolved from what was initially a "Golden Breakfast Show" only, on the original accompanying 1170 AM frequency, from back in 1992.
The Wireless Group bought the station in 1999 and were subsequently bought themselves by UTV Radio.
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[edit] Former presenters
Some of Signal's past presenters include Darren Procter (now Key 103), Carlos (now 105.7 Smooth Radio), Doug Wood (now Signal 2), Digby Taylor (currently drive time, Radio 2 U.A.E.), Chris Lowe (not the Pet Shop Boys member; he hosted a popular early evening musical show in the mid-late 1980s that also featured a very popular multiple musical snippet identification game called 'Odds and Bods'), James Stannage (a comic talent who has worked at several different stations over the years, he hosted a popular late night talk show in the 1980s that at times was notoriously interrupted by callers who began talking normally then loudly screamed down the telephone line, forcing Stannage to cut them off), Lee Finan (known affectionately as 'Leaping Lee', he hosted an extremely popular musical evening show first called 'ID 104' then renamed 'Lee Finan's Late Night Show', which ran throughout most of the mid-late 1980s, and began every evening with its own full-length theme song set to the tune of Carole King's 'It's Too Late' but with alternate lyrics; he is now at Century FM), Dave Everson (who hosted a weekly northern soul show called 'Club Classics' in the 1980s), Phil Trow (who took over Chris Lowe's early evening slot when Lowe departed the station in the late 1980s), Phil Gayle (who hosted a late night show called 'The Show With No Name' in the late 1980s), Paul 'Funster' Carrington (active in the early 1990s, and known for his self-deprecating jingle featuring a chorus of children singing that he was ugly), Ray Crowther, Sam Plank, Mel Scholes (sadly deceased, known affectionately as 'Scholesy' on air), Jason Hardy (now BBC Radio Stoke), the sensational Paula White (Now at BBC Radio Stoke), Stu Haycock (now Beacon Radio), Jim Davis (now LBC and Heart FM), Matt Rogan (now Gemini FM), Russ Morris (now BRMB), Lee Thomas, Rob Oliver, Mark Franklin (Ex TOTP Presenter), Paul Harvey (1996 ex Key103 Presenter), Chris Moyles (active 1994-95, he has since described the station as 'the worst station he had ever worked at'), Steve Ball and Geoff Lloyd (who began his career here in 1992 as a traffic & travel reporter before taking on the station's evening show).
[edit] Community
Signal 1 runs a youth club called Signal Smokebusters, for those who don't smoke or want to quit. Local children aged between 10 and 15 can join in for prizes and discounts. A show dedicated to the club is broadcast every Sunday at 7:00-10:00pm, presented by Chris Bovaird
Presenter Johnny Owen has released two singles, one to coincide with the World Cup (reaching number 64 in the national charts) and one at Christmas 2006 called "Father Christmas Stole My Girl" to raise money for "Help a Signal Child". Johnny also works at Century fm in Manchester at weekends, presenting North West Football Fever.
[edit] Controversy
As with the controversy as mentioned on Signal 2's page, Signal1 has undergone the same thing - the Night time slot is now filled with Money On Your Mobile hosted by the man with the annoying voice Paul Fairclough, also, Matt Rogan who once hosted the Drive Time show had said that he was going away for a "short while", but then Liz Ellis revealed that she was the new host.
[edit] References
- ^ Quarterly listening figures. RAJAR.
[edit] External links
- Official page
- Signal Radio Jingles
- History of local radio in Staffordshire
- Sutton Common transmitter, near Macclesfield
- Pye Green transmitter, near Stafford
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