Supergold was an oldies radio sustaining service operated by Chiltern Radio Group in the United Kingdom. Originally devised by entrepreneur and DJ Graham Kentsley, it was one of Europe's first satellite delivered radio stations, receiving a Satellite Television Technology International (STTI) award for satellite communication innovation.
Contents
History
The Supergold service was launched at 10am on Sunday 24 June 1990, following requests from the Radio Authority for radio stations to split frequencies into separate AM and FM services or lose them. The first presenters heard were Tony Lloyd and Colin Wilsher.
It was broadcast from Studio 1 at the Studio HQ in Dunstable, Bedfordshire and was first heard on Chiltern Radio's 792 kHz AM, 828 kHz AM transmitters and Northants Radio's 1557 kHz AM transmitter.
Later, Chiltern acquired Gloucestershire's Severn Sound in 1989 and this led to the rebranding of their 774 kHz AM service as Severn Sound Supergold in 1992.
Elsewhere, Coast AM, Invicta FM's medium wave AOR/soft rock station, was renamed Coast Classics and began playing more 'oldies'. By 1990 it became a fully fledged 'Golden Oldies' station and in 1991 it started taking the SuperGold service on its 1242 kHz and 603 kHz AM frequencies. As a result, the station was renamed Invicta Supergold. However, just before this change took place, and for most of Summer 1991, presenters referred to the station Coast Classics Invicta Supergold on air, to allow listeners to get used to the change. It achieved a 17% reach in a JICRAR survey; some say much to the disgust of its Southern Radio Group bosses who, it has been said, preferred their AM stations to hover around the 9% mark.
Radio Maldwyn in Mid Wales, western Shropshire, north western Herefordshire also took Supergold as a sustaining service overnight.
Programmes
The original weekday presenters included Colin Wilsher for breakfast, Bill Overton with an hour's phone-in at 10.00am, Dave Foster till 3.00 p.m., and Tony Lloyd at Drive, until 7.00 p.m. Sunday programming included Paul Burrell and the Elvis Hour with Willie Morgan who later went on to host 'Sunday Will Never Be The Same' in early 1991. Burrell later went on to become the Breakfast Show presenter, and Morgan became the Head of Music for the SuperGold network, and latterly the Programme Controller of SuperGold, as well as presenting most of the station's 'specialist programmes inc. Beatles Hour, Classic Soul Hour, Rock & Roll - The Real Thing (co-hosted with Burrell), Get on The Right Track (a classic Album Track show). He also produced & presented the 40 min slot "Down In The Vaults", which was the junction between the Breakfast show and the more lifestlyle-orientated mid morning sequence.'
Closure
The Supergold network closed on Sunday 1 September 1996 following the takeover of Chiltern Radio in 1995 by the GWR group. In place of Supergold, listeners would now receive Classic Gold. The takeover also enabled GWR to base Classic Gold at Chiltern's HQ in Dunstable, where Chiltern's own Supergold service had previously been based.