| Broadcast area | North East England |
|---|---|
| Branding | Real Radio 100–102 FM |
| Slogan | The North East's Real Good Feel Good Station |
| Frequency | FM: 101.8 MHz (Main) FM: 96.2 MHz (Fenham) FM: 96.4 MHz (Hexham) FM: 100.7 MHz (Teesside) DAB: 12C (MXR North East) |
| First air date | 1 September 1994 (as Century Radio) |
| Format | Hot adult contemporary |
| Audience share | 5% (December 2009, [2]) |
| Owner | GMG Radio |
| Sister stations | Rock Radio (North East), 97.5 Smooth Radio |
| Webcast | Windows Media Audio |
| Website | realradionortheast.co.uk |
Real Radio North East is a radio station in north east England owned by GMG Radio. It is based in Team Valley, Gateshead, and broadcasts to north east England.
The station was launched in 1994 as Century Radio, the first station in Border Radio Holding's Century Network. The station was taken over by Capital Radio Group, and then by GCap Media in 2005. GMG Radio acquired the Century stations in 2006, rebranding them in 2009 to conform to the branding and network programming of the other stations in the Real Radio network.
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Conceived as the second regional station for North East England, it was also the first to use the Century brand, which followed a 'personality' format, mixing speech and music. The station was originally based beside the Tyne Bridge in Gateshead, before relocating to Team Valley in 2008 to share a building with GMG stations Smooth Radio and Rock Radio. The station was originally called Century Radio, before changing its name to 'Century FM and finally reverting to the original moniker in 2008.
The station was set up by Border Television, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as programme director. Myers presented the breakfast show under the pseudonym of John Morgan. The first song played on air was "A Star is Born" (also used to launch the North West's Century FM).
A 'listener's club' was formed, with parties at locations around the region attended by the station's presenters. The Jingling Gate in Stanley, County Durham was the most common location, but other events were held at the Stadium of Light and the Dolphin Centre in Darlington.
Late-night phone-in presenter Mike 'The Mouth' Elliott once caused controversy by walking out during his show. Elliot took an extended break after this controversy, during which time he appeared in the film Billy Elliot as boxing coach George Watson. He was also fired in January 2000 when bosses claimed that he was intoxicated on air. However, Elliott claims that he was "stoned out of his tree" on Benylin while trying to fight off a heavy cold. He was reemployed when Capital Radio took over the station.[1]
Ex-Metro Radio presenter Steve Colman's highly marketed introduction to the breakfast show was very unpopular, and he was sacked after just three weeks in August 1996. It was revealed that audiences had decreased rapidly, and businesses had threatened to pull their advertising. Colman is now at Magic 1152 presenting the weekday breakfast show and a '60s show on Sundays.[2]
Jeff Stephenson replaced Myers as Managing Director, and John Caine replaced Simons. Simons left the station for talkSPORT, and Myers left Gateshead to concentrate on setting up 105.4 Century FM in Salford and relaunching 106 Century FM in Nottingham.
Border sold the Century brand to GCap Media, and Myers left the group to head GMG Radio, where he set up the similar Real Radio network. Simons rejoined Myers to establish the Real and Smooth FM regional stations. In October 2006 GMG Radio acquired the Century brand from GCap.[3] Paul Smith, a former BBC and commercial radio producer, then joined Century as Programme Controller, and Sales Director Debbie Bowman was promoted to Managing Director. Smith left the company after the current Programme Director Kevin Howard joined the company in Sept 2007.
On 18 December 2008 it was announced that Century Radio was to be re-branded as Real Radio on 30 March 2009.[3]
The station broadcasts extensively on football, a passion in the north east, and has a particularly close relationship with Newcastle United and Middlesbrough F.C.. Two famous ex-players for local sides, Malcolm Macdonald, who played for Newcastle United and Bernie Slaven, who played for Middlesbrough are employed on the "Legends Football Phone-In". Eric Gates, who played for Sunderland was the third "Legend", but has not been heard on the show since reports surfaced in local newspapers that he had signed for rival station BBC Radio Newcastle. He has recently been replaced by FA Cup Final 1973 winner Micky Horswill.
Live match commentaries on Newcastle United and Sunderland matches aired until the end of the 2010-11 season.[4]
Local presenters broadcast from Real Radio North East's main studios are based in Team Valley, Gateshead. Networked output is broadcast from 105.4 Real Radio based in Manchester. The Vodafone Big Top 40 is a networked chart show and is produced by Global Radio at their Capital studios in Leicester Square, London. On Air with Ryan Seacrest is a syndicated production produced at KIIS-FM in Los Angeles.[5]
Real Radio North East has their own dedicated team of broadcast journalists and newsreaders:[6]
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NB: Real Radio 105.4 in Manchester provide opt-in bulletins during the evening, and between 0200-0500 all news bulletins are produced by Sky News Radio in London; for all Smooth Radio and Real Radio stations in England.
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Networked/syndicated presenters
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