Beacon Radio is the name of an Independent Local Radio station in the Midlands of England, previously known as Beacon FM, and Beacon Radio 303 before that. Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the English West Midlands, traditionally part of the county of Staffordshire. ... Statistics Population: 70,059 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SJ495123 Administration District: Shrewsbury and Atcham Shire county: Shropshire Region: West Midlands Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Shropshire Historic county: Shropshire Services Police force: West Mercia Ambulance service: West Midlands Post office and telephone Post town... Statistics Population: 138,241 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SJ699092 Administration District: Telford and Wrekin Region: West Midlands Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Shropshire Historic county: Shropshire Services Police force: West Mercia Ambulance service: West Midlands Post office and telephone Post town: TELFORD Postal district... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ... A radio format or programming format describes the overall content broadcast on a radio station. ... GCap Media plc is a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. ... Logo used by the Independent Broadcasting Authority for promoting Independent Local Radio services. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2005 est. ...

The station began broadcasting to the West Midlands and the Black Country from studios at 267 Tettenhall Road, Wolverhampton on mediumwave 303 metres, and 97.2 MHz (from Turner's Hill) at 6 A.M. on April 12, 1976. The first presenter was Mike Baker who played Eric Carmen's "Sunrise" as the first record. It set out to broadcast Beautiful Music including soul and country rock with a heavy bias towards American chart music swinging to the sounds of Linda Ronstadt and The Eagles. Straplines: "Where the Music Sounds Nicer", "It's On Us", "The Sunshine Sound", "We Do It For You". The station's Managing Director was Jay Oliver, an American who, with his Programme Controller Allen McKenzie (a Scot/Canadian), was responsible for the Mid-Atlantic sound that flooded the West Midlands for three years (including a US-style jingle package). As with other UK commercial stations at the time, the station's commitment to news and speech broadcasting in its opening year, particularly in the evenings, was extensive; and its late-evening music programmes appeared to offer the presenters a freedom to enlighten with a wide choice of recordings, as well as to entertain. The County of West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England, the United Kingdom, formed in 1974. ... The Black Country is a loosely-defined area of conurbation to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton in the English West Midlands, around the South Staffordshire coalfield. ... Wolverhampton is a city and metropolitan borough in the English West Midlands, traditionally part of the county of Staffordshire. ... Mediumwave radio transmissions serves as the most common band for broadcasting. ... Turners Hill (sometimes written Turners Hill) is the highest hill in the West Midlands conurbation of England. ... April 12 is the 102nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (103rd in leap years). ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday. ... The Eagles are an American rock music group that originally came together in Los Angeles, California in the early 1970s. ...

The station became very successful, but was chastised by the UK licensing authority (then, the Independent Broadcasting Authority) for being too American sounding and not wide ranging enough in its programming. Due to this, the management and output were changed in mid-1979. The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television (ITV and Channel 4 - cable and satellite television were the responsibility of the Cable Authority) and radio broadcasts. ...

Its licence was later expanded in 1987 to cover Shropshire, also broadcasting from its offices in Shrewsbury on 103.1 MHz. The station is now FM-only, with Beacon's former AM frequencies of 990 and 1017 kHz now owned and operated by the UBC Media Group as Classic Gold 990 & 1017. 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Shropshire (abbreviated Salop or Shrops) is an English county in the West Midlands region of the United Kingdom. ... Statistics Population: 70,059 Ordnance Survey OS grid reference: SJ495123 Administration District: Shrewsbury and Atcham Shire county: Shropshire Region: West Midlands Constituent country: England Sovereign state: United Kingdom Other Ceremonial county: Shropshire Historic county: Shropshire Services Police force: West Mercia Ambulance service: West Midlands Post office and telephone Post town... Amplitude modulation (AM) is a form of modulation in which the amplitude of a carrier wave is varied in direct proportion to that of a modulating signal. ...

Both licenses are owned and operated by GCap Media (formerly the GWR Group), which rebranded it as Beacon FM, before reverting to Beacon Radio in May 2005. GCap Media plc is a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. ... GWR Group was a British radio company, until its merger with Capital Radio Group in May 2005 to form the new company GCap Media. ...

Past presenters include:

• Mike Baker
• Dave Owen
• Mick Wright
• Gavin McCoy
• Helen Armitage
• Peter Deeley
• Graham Freer
• Stephen Rhodes
• Tony Silvia
• Peter Wagstaff
• Dick Fisher
• Pat Foley
• Chris Harper
• Munro Jack
• George Ferguson
• KKJ
• Phil Brice
• Bob Snyder
• Peter Quinn
• Dale Winton
• Andy Wint
• Tony Paul
• Peter Craig
• Gordon Astley
• Nick Piercey
• Pete Clements

The latter DJ Mr Clements now resides in sunny Houston, Texas and is immenently undertaking the writing of a book which will expand on the early activities at Beacon Radio. Peter Deeley is a prominent British journalist and until Jan 2006, was a talk radio presenter on the London phone-in station LBC 97. ... Stephen Rhodes is a weekday daytime presenter on BBC Three Counties Radio. ... Dale Winton Dale Winton (born May 22, 1955) is a UK DJ and television presenter. ... Currently radio DJ for BBC Southern Counties Radio. ... Nick Piercey is a Broadcaster & can be heard on various BBC Local Radio stations around the UK. // Early Career Nick Piercey started his broadcasting career on University Radio Stations in Bath in 1979 & 1980 & University ofKent from 1981 - 1984, before becoming a trainee at Invicta FM in late 1984. ... Houston redirects here. ...

The station owns the commercial radio rights to broadcast live commentary for all the Wolverhampton Wanderers home and away games in the 2006/2007 season, and runs a fans phone-in on Saturday evenings. Beacon Radio often broadcasts the same content as many other radio stations that are owned by GCap Media.

External links

History of Beacon Radio