- Orion Media
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Orion Media Type Private Industry Media Founded 2009 Headquarters Birmingham, England, UK Key people Phil Riley, Chief Executive
David Lloyd, Director of Programming & Marketing
Adrian Serle, Commercial DirectorWebsite Orion Media Orion Media is a UK commercial radio group run by radio veteran Phil Riley and backed by Lloyds TSB Development Capital. It was created from the enforced sale of several radio stations in the English Midlands owned and operated by Global Radio.
History
Following Global Radio's acquisition of GCap Media in 2007, it was deemed that Global had an unfair advantage in the West Midlands market as they owned the vast majority of stations.
The OFT wanted to re-install competition in the Midlands area, causing Global to sell some of their stations. In May 2009, Riley purchased BRMB, Mercia, Wyvern, Beacon in the West Midlands and Heart 106 in the East Midlands from Global Radio for a total price of £37.5 million, beating off competition from several other interested parties [1] These stations accounted for around three per cent of the total commercial radio audience at the time.
In June 2009, the new group was named Orion Media.[2]
In January 2011, Orion's East Midlands station Heart 106 was rebranded and relaunched as Gem 106, following the end of a franchise agreement with Global Radio allowing the station to use the Heart branding and carry networked programming from London.
Orion Media Headquarters on Broad Street, Birmingham
Stations
Station name Based in Broadcast Areas Frequency & Multiplex Format Transmission Date brmb Birmingham Birmingham and West Midlands 96.4FM, CE Birmingham Contemporary hit radio 19 September 1974 beacon Wolverhampton Black Country and Shropshire 97.2, 103.1FM, NOW Wolverhampton Contemporary hit radio 12 April 1976 wyvern Worcester Herefordshire and Worcestershire 97.6, 96.7, 102.8FM Contemporary hit radio 4 October 1982 mercia Coventry Coventry and Warwickshire 97.0, 102.9FM, NOW Coventry Contemporary hit radio 23 May 1980 gem106 Nottingham East Midlands 106.0FM, NOW Nottingham, NOW Leicester, NOW Derbyshire Hot AC 23 September 1997 Gold (Midlands) London/Birmingham West Midlands 990, 1017, 1152, 1359AM, CE Birmingham, NOW Wolverhampton, NOW Coventry Classic Hits 4 April 1989, 15 January 1989 References
- ^ Bauer beaten to the punch in radio deal Timesonline News - Accessed 26 May 2009
- ^ Midlands radio sale cleared Radio Today - Accessed 5 July 2009
Categories:- Radio stations in the United Kingdom by owner
- Radio broadcasting companies of the United Kingdom
- Media in the West Midlands (region)
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