Wyvern (radio)

Wyvern is a radio station broadcasting to Herefordshire and Worcestershire in England. Wyvern is predominantly music-based, playing pop from the 1980s through to the present day. The name derives from the River Wye and River Severn, the rivers running through Hereford and Worcester respectively (the name was proposed in the 1970s for what would become the county of Hereford and Worcester). Wyvern broadcasts on 97.6 FM in Herefordshire, and 102.8 FM in Worcestershire and on 96.7 FM, covering Kidderminster and the Wyre Forest in north Worcestershire.

History

Radio Wyvern originally went on-air on 4 October 1982. The initial Presentation team consisted of Sammy Southall at Breakfast, Roy Leonard in the morning, Graham Hughes in the afternoon, and Mike George at drivetime. Weekend presenters included Jeff Roberts, Rob Yarnold and Bob Lee.

For the first year or so, the station opened at 6am (7am on Sundays) and closed at 8pm, Later the station provided a 24-hour service by joining up with Beacon Radio from 10 p.m. and then a wider network of Midlands stations from 1am. Radio Wyvern took the SuperStation overnight service in the late 1980s, and when that closed abruptly, a local Late Show was introduced, with the overnight output from 1am shared with BRMB and Mercia FM.

After its licence was renewed in 1994, the station split into Wyvern FM, playing newer music, and Wyvern AM (Quality and Variety) which was essentially a gold service. The AM station was rebranded as Classic Gold soon afterwards, and was sold to Murfin Music International because of ownership regulations and the large overlap with neighbouring Classic Gold 774 in Gloucestershire. Some time later, it was rebranded as Classic Hits, and by this time a fully-fledged local service, with no links to Wyvern FM or the Classic Gold network. In 2007, Laser Broadcasting abruptly relaunched the AM station as SunshineRadio.

Wyvern played host to many well-known broadcasters over the years. Neil Fox began his professional broadcasting career here in 1984, and the line Wyvern News, this is Howard Hughes became very familiar to listeners. Rich Edwards, who joined in the very early days, presented on Classic Hits until its abrupt closure in 2007. David Holdsworth, now with the BBC was the station's News Editor, and Eleanor Oldroyd, now with Five Live, was a member of the Sport team. Many presenters, such as Mike George, from earlier years have found a new home at BBC Hereford and Worcester.

On 8 August 2008, it was confirmed that due to competition 'conflict of interests' in the West Midlands (and in other areas), Wyvern FM would be sold by Global Radio, along with other West Midlands owned GCap/Global stations BRMB, Mercia FM, Heart 106 and Beacon Radio. In July 2009, the station was sold officially to a company backed by Lloyds TSB Development Capital and Phil Riley^[1] called Orion Media. Following the take over In January 2010, Wyvern FM rebranded as Wyvern and launched a new station slogan, "Made for Herefordshire & Worcestershire".

Programming

Past presenters

• Elliott Webb (now at Real Radio (North West))
• Davinia Palmer
• Neil Fox (now at Magic 105.4)
• Ed Nell (now at Hallam Fm)

References

External links

• Wyvern Website
• Wyvern studios in 2005 at www.the-moores.co.uk
• http://www.mds975.co.uk/Content/airwaves.html#radio_wyvern_film/ Documentary regarding launch of Radio Wyvern]