The Pulse of West Yorkshire

The Pulse of West Yorkshire
Broadcast area	Bradford, Kirklees & Calderdale
Slogan	West Yorkshire's Hit Music Station Today's Best Mix
Frequency	97.5 MHz, 102.5 MHz, DAB
First air date	16 September 1975
Format	Contemporary hit radio
Audience share	6.7% (September 2009, [1])
Owner	UTV Radio

The Pulse is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting from Bradford. The station was originally known as Pennine Radio. It is one of three stations that broadcast contemporary music in the UTV Radio brand. The Pulse of West Yorkshire's current slogan reflects the music playlist - West Yorkshire's Hit Music Station.

History

The station was part of the Yorkshire Radio Network which also owned Viking FM and Hallam FM, this was bought out by Newcastle based Metro Radio Group (owners of Metro Radio and TFM). Pennine Radio became Pennine FM in the late 1980s when the AM frequency was split off to create the original incarnation of Classic Gold. In 1991, in a bid to revive flagging fortunes, Pennine FM was rebranded as The Pulse.

The Metro Radio Group itself was bought out by EMAP in 1996 and ownership rules at the time meant that as they already owned neighbouring Radio Aire in Leeds something had to be sold on, and that was The Pulse and its sister station Classic Gold which were purchased in a management buyout from senior staff and ex-Metro Group executives. The new company was called The Radio Partnership, it was at this time that the station moved to number one position in the West Yorkshire radio market for the first time in its history.

The Radio Partnership expanded over the years to include other stations, such as Signal Radio in Stoke-on-Trent. In 1999, Kelvin MacKenzie's Talk Radio UK bought The Radio Partnership and formed The Wireless Group to include the national broadcaster and a series of local stations. In July 2005 The Wireless Group was bought out by UTV.

Technical

The main 102.5 FM signal comes from the Vicars Lot transmitter close to the M62 between Scammonden Dam and junction 23, close to the Scammonden arched bridge. This signal covers a lot of West Yorkshire and can be heard as far south as Doncaster and Sheffield. The signal is much stronger, and the transmitter at a higher altitude than the Idle transmitter. The 97.5 FM signal covers Bradford, and comes from the Idle transmitter, which is on the top of Idle Moor, between Idle and Shipley. The Idle transmitter also carries national radio frequencies, Galaxy Yorkshire on 105.6FM, Sunrise Radio on 103.2FM and Real Radio for Yorkshire on 107.6FM.

Programming

Weekday Schedule

• 0200 - 0600 Paul Ellery
• 0600 - 1000 Alex Duffy
• 1000 - 1500 Marc Henry
• 1500 - 1900 Jacqui Blay
• 1900 - 2200 Total Access with Simon Morykin
• 2200 - 0100 Late Night Love with Andy Martindale

 0100 - 0200 The Jukebox with Andy Martindale

Weekend Presenters

• Alex Duffy

 Jacqui Blay
 Pulse Sport
 marc Henry

 Andy Martindale
 Simon Morykin 
 Carl Spencer
 Dave Sherwood

• Perry Spiller
• Andy Jones
• Kev Lee

Former presenters

See also

• Pulse Two - sister station on AM

External links

• The Pulse
• Listen Live
• UTV Radio
• Idle transmitter.
• Vicars Lot transmitter.
• Alex Duffy
• Darren Kelly