Country 1035

Former country music radio station in London

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Country 1035Broadcast area| London

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Frequency| 1035 kHz
Programming
Format| Country music
History

First air date

| 1 September 1994

Country 1035 was a country music based Independent Local Radio station based in London, England.

## History[edit]

Announced as Europe's first dedicated country music radio station, Country 1035 began broadcasting across Greater London on 1 September 1994. Transmissions were on frequency 1035 kHz on the medium wave band. Martin Satterthwaite, the station’s senior music consultant, speaking to Billboard magazine prior to the launch envisaged a playlist of predominantly American artists divided equally between established and newer, less familiar.[1] Roger Trapp writing in The Independent described country music in the station's proposed playlist as "pretty much anything you want it to be". He questioned whether the genre would be attractive to advertisers, given country music had an image problem in Britain.[2]

After airing test transmissions the first voice officially heard on air was the station's chairman John Wellington. In his opening words he noted that the station will "fulfill a long awaited need". It was the first terrestrial station in the UK to broadcast Country music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (although TV and Radio stations had been broadcasting the genre daily for sometime). Garth Brooks, who was at the peak of his fame, officially opened the station after Wellington's speech with the words "On behalf of all the Country music artists and Country music fans. Hi folks, this is Garth Brooks and you've got it tuned to the newest radio station in London. It's Country 1035 and I officially declare it open. I wish you guys a long success and a lot of happiness, cause that's the true measure of success".

Country 1035 On Air Studio circa 1995

The first song played was Brooks' Friends in Low Places (which was voted #1 country song ever by listeners of the station a few months later), the second was another Brooks song The Dance. The station's early line up included presenters Chris Grant, Jon Scragg, Randall Lee Rose, Peter Quinn, Paul Hollingdale, David Allan and Bryan Chalker. Chalker was subsequently dismissed for disciplinary reasons. David Allan left the station, going back to BBC Radio 2 and in an article for Country Music People magazine he criticized the station for not playing enough true country music.

Advertising take-up was slow as potential advertisers, particularly record labels awaited publication of audited audience figures, however, success was reported for concert ticket sales promoted on air. Luxembourg-based CLT Multimedia (RTL), who previously held a minority stake had assumed ownership by the beginning of 1995.[3]

RTL made strenuous attempts for nearly three years to turn it around. An initially over-formulaic, heavy-rotation playlist damaged ratings, but a subsequent, more audience-friendly format saw station share rise, and at one time, even exceed its competitor Jazz FM.

RTL decided to automate the presentation and to broadcast from the studios of Talk Radio in London's West End. This resulted in huge savings for the loss-making station. The presenter line-up at this time included Tina Stewart, Keith Francis (station manager), Randall Lee Rose, Gary Ziepe, Miles Long, and Michele Stephens. Sales and administrative functions were amalgamated into RTL's Talk Radio and Atlantic 252. Eventually, RTL sold RTL Country 1035 as it had become known to Ritz Records, at one time the UK record label for Daniel O'Donnell, but problems within the RMG group resulted in the mother company becoming close to bankruptcy.

By 2002 the audience had reduced from over 250,000 listeners a week in 1999 to only 75,000 listeners by 2001. The new management at Ritz also tinkered with the transmitter and reduced the station's coverage considerably as a result. Ritz eventually sold the station in a deal which saw the staff go unpaid to Mean Radio, part of Vince Power's Mean Fiddler group. It was in turn purchased by Asian radio tycoon Avtar Lit, owner of Sunrise Radio, who renamed it Easy 1035. After a year or so of broadcasting a mixed easy listening/country format, Mr Lit applied to Ofcom to transfer Easy to a digital platform, thus freeing the 1035 frequency for Kismat Radio, a further Asian-language station. "Easy 1035" stopped broadcasting on the analogue AM service in 2003 but continued broadcasting (now called Easy Radio London) via its digital frequency. In 2008 this too was closed.

## References[edit]

1. ^ Morris, Edward (14 May 1994). "Europe's 1st Country Radio Station Set To Debut In July". Billboard. p. 40. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
2. ^ Trapp, Roger (27 August 1994). "New station gets into the twang". The Independent. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
3. ^ Vaughan, Andrew (7 January 1995). "Country 1035 Off To Promising Start". Billboard. p. 101. Retrieved 14 June 2023.

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Radio stations in Greater London, England

AM stations|

| LW|

* BBC Radio 4 198

|

MW|

* Panjab Radio 558
* BBC Radio 5 Live 909
* Sunrise Radio 963, 972
* Lyca Gold 1035
* Talksport 1089
* LBC News 1152
* Premier Christian Radio 1305, 1413
* Lyca Radio 1458
* Desi Radio 1602

FM stations|

* BBC Radio 2 88.8, 89.1
* Westside  89.6
* BBC Radio 3 91.0, 91.3
* Hayes FM 91.8
* BBC Radio 4 93.2, 93.5
* Select Radio 94.4
* BBC Radio London 94.9
* Capital London 95.8
* Maritime Radio 96.5
* Capital Xtra 96.9, 107.1
* LBC 97.3
* BBC Radio 1 98.5, 98.8
* KISS 100.0
* Classic FM 100.6, 100.9
* Flex FM 101.4
* Smooth London 102.2
* London Greek Radio 103.3
* Resonance FM 104.4
* Radio X 104.9
* Magic 105.4
* Greatest Hits Radio London 105.8
* Heart London 106.2
* Rinse FM 106.8
* Reprezent 107.3
* Time 107.5
* Radio Jackie 107.8

DAB|

| CE London|

* Absolute Radio 00s
* Absolute Radio 10s
* Absolute Radio Country
* Capital London
* Gold
* Greatest Hits Radio
* Heart London
* Heart Xmas
* Hits Radio Pride
* KISS
* Kiss Fresh
* Magic Chilled
* Magic Radio
* Magic Soul
* Magic at the Musicals
* Smooth Chill
* Smooth London

|

Switch London|

* Absolute Radio 70s
* Adventis Radio
* AsianFX
* BBC Radio London
* Centreforce
* Chris Country
* Fix Radio
* Hits Radio
* Jazz FM
* LBC News
* Mi-Soul
* Nation Radio UK
* Radio Maria
* Smooth Country
* Virgin Radio Groove

DRG London|

* Absolute Classic Rock
* Athavan Radio
* Bloomberg Radio
* Boom Radio
* Colourful Radio
* Gaydio
* Lyca Gold
* Lyca Radio
* Matryoshka Radio
* Panjab Radio
* Premier Gospel
* Polish Radio London
* Sout-al-Khaleej
* Unity DAB
* Voice Of Islam Radio

U.DAB|

* Angel Vintage
* Asian Star
* Atlantis
* The Beat London
* Delite Radio
* Desi Radio
* Fun Kids Junior
* Kool FM
* London Greek Radio
* Mixer Radio
* NME 1
* NuSound Radio
* Podcast Radio
* Radio Caroline
* Rainbow Radio
* Resonance FM
* Rinse FM
* Riverside Radio
* Ruach Radio
* Solar Radio
* THC Radio

Internet stations|

* Anglo-Polish Radio
* Blast Radio
* East London Radio
* Eruption Radio
* Imperial College Radio
* French Radio London
* Monocle 24
* NTS Radio
* Point Blank FM
* Shine 879
* Soho Radio
* Sub.FM
* Unity DAB
* Wandsworth Radio

See also
List of radio stations in the United Kingdom
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