Frequency MW: 1161 kHz
DAB: 11B Format Oldies | First air date 31 October 1988 Owner Bauer Radio | |
Broadcast area East Riding of Yorkshire & Northern Lincolnshire Audience share 3.9% (June 2014, RAJAR) | ||
Viking 2 is a local radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio as part of the City 2 network. It broadcasts to the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire from studios in Hull.
Contents
It is the AM sister station of Viking FM, playing classic pop and rock music from the 1960s to the 1980s.
History
The station was formed on 31 October 1988 when Viking Radio split its 1161 (originally said "Double-One-Six-One") medium wave frequency from its FM service. It has had many name changes, including "Viking Gold", "Classic Gold" (not to be confused with the service operated by UBC), "Classic Gold Radio", "Great Yorkshire Gold" and "Great Yorkshire Radio". Most of these formats, with the exception of "Viking Gold", shared programmes with the AM stations of the "Yorkshire Radio Network".
In December 2001, EMAP decided that it was more economical for the Magic network to share off-peak programmes and in line with the other Magic AM stations began networking between 10am-2pm, and 7pm-6am. During these hours it was simply known as Magic, although there were local commercial breaks, and local news on the hour.
In January 2003 after a sharp decline in listening, the station ceased networking with the London station, Magic 105.4, and a regional northern network was created with Magic 1152 at the hub at the weekend and the Newcastle station of the same name during the week. During networked hours, local adverts are aired, as well as a local news summary on the hour.
From July 2006, more networking was introduced across the Northern Magic AM network, leaving weekday breakfast as the only locally produced show. The local show was replaced with a regional breakfast programme from Leeds, which ran from March 2013 to December 2014.
On 5 January 2015, Magic 1161 was rebranded as Viking 2 as part of a revamp of the Bauer network and the station is now entirely networked with the other Bauer AM stations in the North although local news, weather and travel continue to be broadcast as opt-outs during the day.
Programming
The majority of Viking 2's programming is taken from the Bauer City 2 network, although there are separate shows for northern England at peak times, including weekday breakfast and drive time.
Programming originates from Key 2 in Manchester, Clyde 2 in Clydebank, Forth 2 in Edinburgh, Metro Radio 2 in Newcastle, Tay 2 in Dundee and Bauer's headquarters at Golden Square, Soho.
News and Sport
Viking 2 broadcasts local news bulletins hourly from 6am to 7pm on weekdays, from 9am to 1pm on Saturdays and from 9am to 12pm on Sundays. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside sport and traffic bulletins.
National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried overnight with bespoke networked bulletins at weekends, produced from Key 2's newsroom in Manchester. Extended sports coverage is featured in the network's Game On programme on Saturday afternoons.