| City of license | Hull |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | East Riding of Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire |
| Slogan | It's MY Station |
| Frequency | 96.9 MHz ))rds name viking)) |
| First air date | 17 April 1984 |
| Format | Classic Hits & Contemporary Hits |
| Audience share | 8.7% (March 2011, [1]) |
| Owner | Bauer Radio |
| Sister stations | CFM Radio Hallam FM Key 103 Metro Radio Radio City 96.7 96.3 Radio Aire 97.4 Rock FM TFM Radio |
| Webcast | whatsON |
| Website | 96.9 Viking FM |
96.9 Viking FM is an English Independent Local Radio station which has broadcast music and local information to the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire since 1984.[1] It is based in Kingston upon Hull. The station is owned & operated by Bauer Radio and forms part of Bauer's Place Network of stations.
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The station is transmitted from the High Hunsley transmitter on the Yorkshire Wolds, near North Cave, sharing the 200 ft tower with Galaxy Yorkshire and BBC Radio Humberside, as well as on the Bauer Humberside DAB multiplex from three transmitters, located at High Hunsley, Buckton Barn near Bridlington and Grimsby town centre.
It is also streamed over the Internet via Viking FM's website (listed in the external links), making it accessible to listeners from all across the UK. Worldwide webcasting has recently been suspended for licensing reasons.
It began as Viking Radio on 102.7FM and 1161MW. During the application process for the licence the station's working title was Humber Bridge Radio. In spring 1986, the radio station had to move to 96.9FM, the then residence of arch-competitor Radio Humberside, which moved to 95.9FM. In summer 1986, the station hit the showbiz big time by signing up the pop music connoisseur Paul Gambaccini. Viking was the first commercial radio station in the UK to introduce split programming so that it could broadcast rugby league commentary on Sunday afternoons on its AM frequency leaving FM clear to take the Network Chart Show. In 1988, Viking Radio split frequencies on a permanent basis and was transformed into Viking FM on 96.9 FM and Viking Gold on 1161 (said "Double-One Six-One") medium wave. The AM station later became Classic Gold, Classic Gold Radio, Great Yorkshire Gold and Great Yorkshire Radio. It is now known as Magic 1161 (said "Eleven-Sixty-One").
In 1990, The Yorkshire Radio Network, who owned Viking as well as Radio Hallam, Pennine Radio and Classic Gold, were bought by Metro Radio group, who in turn were bought by media empire EMAP in 1996 and is part of their Big City Network of stations. As a result of their 2008 takeover of the group, Viking is now owned by H. Bauer Publishing as part of their radio arm.
| Programme Director | Jono Symonds |
In 2005 the station won its first Gold Award at the Sony Radio Academy Awards for "Happy Hour"; a news investigation into binge drinking in the region. They won a Bronze award in 2006 for their series of programmes on subjects like ASBO's and street crime.
In 2005, Viking FM's Creative Team (who write and make the adverts) won a Vox Award for a Road Safety ad, in 2006 they won no less than 4 Vox Awards (Best Campaign, Best Use of Music, Best Media Production and Other) and the London International Awards for Sound Design. In 2007 they achieved a finalist place at the New York Awards and won a United Nations Award for Peace and Human Rights, one of only 4 given out worldwide.
The original logo depicted the station mascot "Eric the Viking", this was phased out in the late 80s when the logo style was shared with its sister stations. Currently the station's logo contains the "Bauer Radio splash", this is used to brand all of the groups Big City Network.
Viking original package was produced by CBC Creative, further idents were made by Jam Creative Productions, Alfasound and Reelworld. Viking went through a stage starting in the late 90s of only using voice over sweeper production produced in-house, however, in 2006 a new sung package was commissioned. These new idents are from Wise Buddah in the U.K [2]
The majority of programming is presented and produced locally from Viking FM's Hull studios although In:Demand and the overnight output is produced from Key 103 in Manchester while nights are produced from Radio Aire in Leeds. The Vodafone Freebees Big Top 40 is produced by Global Radio at its Capital studios in London for broadcast on over 140 commercial radio stations across the UK.
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