Mercia Sound - Launch & Test
Mercia Sound was the first English station to arrive in the second burst of commercial radio, just as the government thought commercial radio was working, but was not awfully sure.
It came on air on May 23rd 1980, with Ian Rufus giving the opening announcement before a Sue Manning jingle. I have a theory that one can tell a great deal about the destiny of a station from the style in which its opening announcement is given. Gordon Astley hosted the first show.
In an area where BBC Local Radio had yet to arrive, the station mopped up its target audience and more besides, and was able to pull off the ‘full service’ remit with ease and pride, with lost dogs sniffing alongside Leif Garrett. It’s a fact that the station was one which made a huge contribution to its community, often symbolised by the smiling face of Stuart Linnell in the local press handing over, actually, a useful cheque. Hear him at the end of this audio.
As the government made stations ‘use or lose’ their two different frequencies, the station split off its medium wave to form the oldies station Xtra AM to play some Cliff, Beatles and Elvis. Xtra then morphed into Capital Gold, now Gold. Mercia Sound – or Mercia 220 - was truncated to become eventually simply Mercia.
Meanwhile, the station had passed from independent hands to become part of Midlands Radio Holdings, alongside brmb in 1988; which then became Midlands Radio in May 1989 when the East Midlands stations (the Trents and Leicester Sound) merged with the West; after a failed Piccadilly merger. Beacon lay outside the fold. The group was acquired by Capital, which disposed of all stations apart from brmb to GWR a year later. GWR then merged with Capital to form GCap. As GCap itself was then acquired by Global Radio, the new mega-group was forced to sell down its Midlands stations. I hope you followed all that. Someone will be interested.
That’s the stage I wandered back into Hertford Place as part of the new Orion Group in 2009. The building had been Mercia’s original home and a former working men’s club. Whilst only occupying part of its large premises by this time, it was clear that this old 70s building had seen a lot of radio laughter, success, and some tears. Dusty, disused studios and cupboards of 10 ½” spools told their own story.
It was not the first time my path had crossed with Mercia’s; I had been part of the Midlands Radio management team in the late eighties and early nineties. I shall remember an office at Mercia being the place I resigned from radio on the spur of the moment. You know those days when life seems just a bit too much. It had been a long day; I had got lost on the ring road after being summoned to a Coventry meeting. It was just one of those days. I resigned without a job to go to. Luckily, I got another one. Not a wise move. The resignation that is.
The Mercia name was retired in March 2012.