City Aylesbury First air date 15 April 1994 | Broadcast area Buckinghamshire Format Hot AC | |
Slogan Bucks Best Mix of Music Frequency 96.2 FM, mobile and online | ||
Mix 96 is the Independent Local Radio station for the town of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England.
Contents
History
Launched on 15 April 1994 broadcasting on 96.2FM, it was the first radio station to gain a permanent licence to serve Aylesbury and the surrounding towns including Thame, Princes Risborough, Tring and Leighton Buzzard. The launch slogan was 'Bucks Best Music' but the station now uses the strapline "Bucks Best Mix of Music". The first song to be played on the radio station was 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA, played at 7:45am on the opening morning, 15 April 1994.
Originally an independent, it was solely owned by local group Bucks Broadcasting Ltd. The original Chairman of Mix 96 was Richard Morris-Adams, Managing Director was Mark Flanagan, Sales Director was Erika Sorby-Firth and the Programme Controller was Keri Jones. In 1995 Erika Sorby-Firth took on the role of MD until Bucks Broadcasting was divested to Radio Investments in 2011. The current Managing Director is Max Hailey who returned to the radio station in 2013.
The group invested in a number of stations throughout the UK including The Bear 102, in Stratford-upon-Avon, 107.7 The Wolf in Wolverhampton, Arrow FM in Hastings and Surf 107 in Brighton.
Fox FM increased their shareholding in Bucks Broadcasting, and were themselves wholly acquired by Capital Radio plc, leading the company to become part of Capital until they were divested to Radio Investments (later known as The Local Radio Company).
The latest audience listening figures show that Mix 96 has a weekly reach of 34% (42,800).
Mix 96 is part of the UKRD Group.
It celebrated its 20th birthday on 15 April 2014.
Present format
Its playlist is a mix of contemporary and new hits. Local and national news, weather and travel are provided locally from 6am to 6pm, with news bulletins from the Sky News Centre from 7pm to 5am. 'What's On', events and local charity information for Bucks feature prominently.