Radio station in Greater Manchester, England
Wish FM
was an
Independent Local Radio
station serving
Wigan
in
Greater Manchester
and the
St Helens
area of
Merseyside
from studios in the
Orrell
area of Wigan.
Following its sale to Bauer Radio, the station was closed and merged with the
Greatest Hits Radio
network in September 2020.
Overview
[
edit
]
Logo used from 2004 to 2010.
Wish FM broadcast on 102.4 FM from a transmitter, powered by a wind generator, sited on
Billinge Hill
, St. Helens, Merseyside.
It began broadcasting on 1 April 1997, as the first licence applied for and won by Tony Dewhurst and Jeff Graham of the recently formed Independent Radio Group. The station took its name from the initials
WI
gan and
S
t
H
elens.
The station was based in
Orrell
, Wigan, but in early 2007, the station's owners approached UK media regulator
Ofcom
to ask permission to move the station's base to
Newton-le-Willows
, Merseyside, as part of a plan to share a single building with two other stations from the UTV Radio group:
Tower FM
and
Wire FM
.
However, after following the sale of
Stockport
-based
Imagine FM
, UTV Media (now
Wireless Group
) decided to keep Wish FM in Orrell, and co-located Wire FM and Tower FM into the Orrell studios.
Station rebrand
[
edit
]
On 8 February 2019, Wish FM and the Wireless Group's local radio stations were sold to
Bauer Radio
. The sale was ratified in March 2020 following an inquiry by the
Competition and Markets Authority
.
[1]
On 27 May 2020, it was announced that Wish FM would join Bauer's
Greatest Hits Radio
network.
[2]
On 13 July 2020, local programming outside weekday breakfast was replaced by networked output from the GHR network, with Wish FM retaining its own branding.
[3]
In September 2020, Wish FM merged with six local stations in the North West of England and North Wales, as
Greatest Hits Radio North West
. The station's local breakfast show was replaced by a regional afternoon show. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising were retained.
[4]
The station's Orrell studios were closed.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
https://www.bauermedia.co.uk/newsroom/press-releases/cma-today-clears-the-acquisitions-of-lincs-fm-celador-radio-ukrd-and-wireless-local-stations CMA today clears the acquisitions of Lincs FM, Celador Radio, UKRD and Wireless local stations
, Bauer Media, 12 March 2020
- ^
Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio
Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 27 May 2020
- ^
Bauer starts to roll out Hits and Greatest Hits to new radio stations
Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 9 July 2020
- ^
Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio
Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 27 May 2020
External links
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Radio
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Northern Ireland DAB/FM
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Republic of Ireland local FM
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Former
| Great Britain local AM
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Great Britain local FM
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Other media
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See also
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