Bauer Place & Bauer Passion are the names given to two radio networks owned and operated by Bauer Radio. Place incorporates 36 local radio stations in Northern & southern England and Scotland while Passion incorporates six national or semi-national music genre stations.
The main rival networks are Global Radio's Heart Network (serving 22 stations) and The Capital FM Network (serving nine stations) in Wales, the English Midlands and Southern England. Both Global networks play a differing music format, have not retained their original heritage branding and in most cases, incorporate a greater reliance on networked programming.
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The Place network was originally known as the Big City Network. In 2006, many of the former Scottish Radio Holdings stations were added to the network and branded as Big City Network Scotland and Northern Ireland, although all stations kept their original logos, with the exception of CFM. West Sound was the only AM station in the network although it did not carry any of the networked programming carried by the FM stations.
In April 2011 Bauer Radio announced it would be restructuring its radio portfolio into two divisions: locally-focused and heritage stations, including many of the Big City stations, South Coast station Wave 105 and London station Magic 105.4 would also become part of the "Bauer Place" division, with branded music-category stations such as Kiss and Kerrang! Radio forming a second sub-brand, "Bauer Passion" - the Big City Network identity was dropped as part of the restructuring.[1]
Mark Chadwick and Davinia Palmer[2] are the voice-over artists across Bauer Place & Passion stations.
| Station name | Based in | FM broadcast areas | Digital broadcasts | Transmission Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerrang! Radio | Birmingham | West Midlands | Nationally on Digital TV, selected areas on DAB | 10 June 2004 |
| Kiss | London | London, Severn Estuary, East Anglia | Nationally on Digital TV, quasi-national DAB | 1 September 1990 |
| The Hits Radio | Manchester | - | Nationally on Digital TV, London DAB | 2003 |
| Heat Radio | Manchester | - | Nationally on Digital TV, selected areas on DAB | 25 September 2007 |
| Q Radio | Birmingham | - | Nationally on Digital TV | June 2008 |
| Smash Hits! Radio | Manchester | - | Nationally on Digital TV | 2002 |
Bauer Place stations in the North of England carry semi-networked and/or networked programming; in some cases production is voice-tracked with a Bauer Passion station. This usually occurs on weekday evenings and overnights. The Vodafone Big Top 40 is produced by Global Radio at it's Capital studios in Leicester Square, London for broadcast on 145 commercial radio stations in the UK.
| Day | Time | Main presenter(s)/programme | Station(s) | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday – Friday | 0100 – 0600 (from 0200 on Metro, Radio City) | Matt Wilkins | Bauer Place stations, heat | Manchester |
| 1900 – 2200 | In:Demand: Alex James | Bauer Place stations, The Hits Radio | ||
| 2200 – 0100 | Matt Spokes | Key 103, Rock FM, The Hits Radio | ||
| Sunday – Thursday | 2200 – 0100 | Late and Live: Steve Priestley | Radio Aire, Hallam FM, Viking FM | Leeds |
| Friday & Saturday | 2200 – 0100 | 90s Anthems: Michael Blades | ||
| Saturday | 0100 – 0600 (from 0200 on Metro, Radio City) | Adam Brown | Bauer Place stations, heat | Manchester |
| Sunday | 0100 – 0400 | Early Sunday (automated) | ||
| 0400 – 0600 (from 0400 on Radio City) | Adam Brown | |||
| Sunday (continuation) | 0600 – 0800 | Hallam FM, Key 103, Radio Aire, heat | ||
| Saturday | 1800 – 2200 (from 1700 on Metro) | Saturday Night Party: Stu Smith | CFM, Metro and TFM | Newcastle |
| 1800 – 2200 | Dave Kelly | Hallam FM, Key 103, The Hits Radio | Manchester | |
| Sunday | 1600 – 1900 | The Vodafone Big Top 40: Rich Clarke & Kat Shoob | Bauer Place stations, Smash Hits! Radio, The Hits Radio | Leicester Square, London |
The Magic AM stations in Northern England share 20 hours a day of programming; each has a local four-hour daily breakfast show.
City Talk 105.9 in Liverpool does not air the CHR networked programming, but does carry the Big Top 40 Show, and simulcasts Pete Price's late night phone-in (Sunday to Thursday nights) plus the regular football coverage with sister Liverpool station Radio City.
Magic 105.4 and Wave 105 are completely locally-scheduled and do not carry any of the networked programming.
The Bauer Place FM stations in Scotland carry networked programming on Sunday - Friday evenings, overnights and weekend mornings. Networked output is produced from the studios of Clyde 1 in Glasgow and Forth One studios in Edinburgh.
| Day | Time | Main presenter(s)/programme | Station(s) | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Everyday | 0100 – 0600 | Adrian Coll (Monday - Thursday) Kevin Cameron (Friday - Sunday) |
Bauer Place stations | Glasgow |
| Monday – Friday | 1900 – 2200 | In:Demand with Romeo | Bauer Place stations except MFR | |
| Sunday - Thursday | 2200 – 0100 | Late Night Gina McKie | Bauer Place stations | |
| Friday | 2200 - 0100 | In:Demand Dance with Krystle | Edinburgh | |
| Saturday | 2200 – 0100 | Saturday Night with Krystle | ||
| 0900 - 1200 | Boogie and Dingo | |||
| 1200 - 1400 | Scotland's Hot 20: Mark Martin | Bauer Place stations except Northsound 1 and MFR | Glasgow | |
| Sunday | 0600 - 0900 | Mark Martin (until 0800 on West Sound FM) |
Bauer Place stations except Northsound 1 and MFR | |
| 0900 - 1200 | Robin Galloway | Bauer Place stations except West Sound FM and Radio Borders | ||
| 1900 - 2200 | In:Demand Uncut: Jim Gellatly | Bauer Place stations except Northsound 1 and MFR |
Since 2009, the Bauer AM stations in Scotland have operated a schedule with a spine of up to 20 hours a day of networked programming - each area retains a local daily breakfast show and weekend evenings are also split. Each station is also able to split off from network output for specialist content and/or sports coverage as required.
MFR 1170 AM is a separate serivce of Moray Firth Radio, carrying specialist output on Sunday - Friday evenings and live sports coverage on Saturday afternoons. It does not carry the networked AM programming, broadcasting automated music outside of programming hours.
The two Northern Ireland stations, Cool FM and Downtown Radio, air locally produced programming during the evening and automated music overnight.
The Bauer Passion Stations take no networked programming, except for The Hits Radio which takes some of Bauer Place's networked output for Northern England as detailed above. Additionally, The Hits and Smash Hits Radio both carry the Big Top 40 Show.
The three Kiss stations now carry largely simulcast programming content from London, but retain the ability to split for localised news and advertising.
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