EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
 ON MERCIA 220

It was a ITN television news report in May 1980 that tempted me to tune into 96.0 MHz VHF.  The news story was that CBC, the first of a further seven new Independent Local Radio (ILR) stations, authorised by the new Conservative Home Secretary in 1979, went on the air in Cardiff on 11th April 1980. CBC boasted the youngest DJ working in radio at that time and ITN were reporting these facts.  CBC was the twentieth ILR station in the UK, the nineteenth was Beacon Radio in Wolverhampton which went on air in 1976 - the last at that time as the then Labour government decided to bring a halt to the expansion of commercial radio in the UK.

I was fifteen at the time and we lived in the south West Midlands and having seen the television news story, noticing that CBC transmitted on 96.0 MHz FM and 221 meters medium wave, I decided to see if it was possible to hear the station in the Midlands.  I tuned the Hi-Fi (which had a roof aerial) to 96.0 MHz and found music with a strong signal, I found the same music and a strong signal on 221 medium wave too!  I thought that I had received CBC for a moment, but then an announcement said "You are listening to test transmissions from the Independent Broadcasting Authority.  These transmissions are in preparation for the new Independent Local Radio station for Coventry and the surrounding area, which will be provided by the IBA's contractor Midland Community Radio Ltd., and broadcasting under the name of MERCIA SOUND.  This new service starts shortly and will be heard on 220 meters on the medium wave, or 1359 kilohertz, and 95.9 VHF in stereo.  For futher information about this new service and Independent local radio elsewhere in Britain enquiries should be addressed to The Local Radio Officer, Independent Broadcasting Authority, Albany House, Hurst Street, Birmingham."  "Mercia Sound - a whole new listening experience for the eighties!"  "...Coventry, Nuneaton, Bedworth, Atherstone, Coleshill, Meriden, Kenilworth, Leamington, Warwick, Rugby, Hinckley - Mercia Sound is your radio station entertaining you, informing you, serving you."  "Mercia Sound will start broadcasting at two minutes to seven on the morning of Friday May 23rd." 

I had just found the twenty first ILR station to go on air in the UK!

Various selections of music were played during these test transmissions, three of which come to mind as an instrumental version "The Age Of Aquarius" a tune called "Popcorn" and the orchestral work "The Sorcerer's Apprentice".

We lived just inside the official 'surrounding area', but from the moment I picked up these test transmissions from Mercia Sound I was hooked.

Mercia Sound had moved into a former working mens club in Hertford Place in Coventry, and broadcast from transmitters just outside the city.  The address of the station was (and still is):

	ONE OF GORDON ASTLEY'S JINGLES: "Gordon Gordon will drive away your boredom, If you wake up feeling ghastly, Tune To Gordon Astley."
	Carl Peake remembers this quirky Mercia Sound jingle: "Every morning I wake up Drink some of my favourite cup Brush my teeth and go and walk my Dasch - Hooouund ! When I get back to the house I reach for my wire-louse And tune my favourite station Mercia Sound!" Carl keeps in contact with Jim Lee, who now works for BBC Radio, via amateur radio. Jim thinks that this jingle was made by John Warwick and was another one of those recorded with a strange chorus and pitch increasing device which went mad at the end! .

Gordon Astley:  Presented the very funny Good Morning Mercia breakfast show - it was always a difficult choice of listening; Gordon Astley on Mercia Sound or Les Ross on BRMB! Gordon Left Mercia Sound after a year or two to work for the kids tv programme TISWAS on ATV/Central television - what an old 'poo bag' as John Warwick would say!

Dave Jamieson:  Arrived at Mercia Sound via BBC Radio Leicester and BRMB in Birmingham in the 1970's.  Dave presented the 'Through Till One' show which was always packed full of features, local information, news and of course music.  Dave left around 1983/4 to move up to Humberside where he launched another new ILR station called VIKING RADIO.  Dave returned to the Midlands in 1989 when XTRA AM launched in the area.

Stuart Linnell:  Presented 'Afternoon Delight' ("oh gosh what fun" - John Warwick), 'Sportacular', sports phone-ins and documentary style programmes.  Stuart went on to become Programme Controller and then Managing Director of Mercia Sound until 1994/5.  Mercia was taken over by GWR in 1993/4 and Stuart left some time after this.

Jim Lee: Joined Mercia Sound after leaving his career at a bank behind him.  Jim started to present Afternoon Delight, once Stuart Linnell had left this particular slot.  He also presented the request show on a Sunday morning From Me To You.   [Jim left Mercia Sound around 1990 to join CWR - a new BBC station in Coventry and Warwickshire - and was part of a group that, in around 2000, and was part of a team that ran an RSL (short term licence) radio staton in the Abingdon area of Oxfordshire. Jim Lee also works as a continuity announcer on BBC Radio Four].

Tom Clapton: - Presented the Night Express programme a few years after Mercia Sound initially went on the air.  He ran 'Tom's Pyjama Club' whereby listeners could join his late night listeners club and receive a certificate. 

"THE SATURDAY THING"

By 1981 the schedules had been fine-tuned and were changed slightly.  On Saturday mornings there was a new programme for the younger audience called "THE SATURDAY THING" presented by the mad-cap duo of John Warwick and Dave Jamieson.  They ran silly competitions such as Find The Phone Box, where they gave out clues as to the whereabouts of a particular phone box and listeners had to locate it and be there to pick up the receiver when Dave and John rang through to the phone box.

Dave also was keen on collecting donkeys and received many postcards with pictures of donkeys on from holidaying Mercia Sound listeners.  They also celebrated The Saturday Thing Christmas in the middle of summer! Quite mad!

Centre Front: Peter Lowe (News Editor);
Left To Right, Kay Oliver, Gary Hudson, Andy Armitage, Jan Lynch, Alan Turner, Julie Carter.
Photo 1982 - IBA

In the summer of 1981 our family took a holiday to Cornwall and I, being the unrelenting radio enthusiast, obviously took a portable radio!  I had fashioned an external VHF aerial that could be clipped to the rear window of the car - held in place when the window was fully wound up.  Medium wave reception was almost impossible inside the car, but with this external aerial it was amazing to find that Mercia Sound could be heard on the M5 motorway in Worcestershire, and right down to Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire on 95.9 MHz VHF!

Then, when Mercia Sound's signal disappeared, I tuned the radio around the dial and found another new station, SEVERN SOUND, on 95.0 MHz VHF and 388 meters (774 kHz) medium wave, another ILR station that had come on air in 1980, and this could be heard all the way down the M5 past Bristol!  When we approached in Devon it was a nice surprise to find yet another new radio station - DEVON AIR.  This was advertised on hoardings alongside the motorway, so we tuned to 450 meters medium wave (or 95.8 VHF) as we approached and drove past Exeter, and then to 314 meters (or 95.1 VHF) as we went past Torbay.  When we arrived in Cornwall I tuned into Plymouth Sound on 261 meters.  At night I tried a spot of DXing in an attempt to receive Mercia Sound on 220 meters, but all I heard was a very strong MANX RADIO from the Isle Of Man on 219 meters (1368 kHz) - amazing in itself, but I was dispappointed not to hear MERCIA.

However, the great news was that we saw several cars on the way to, and around and about the South West that, like our own car, had a MERCIA SOUND sticker in the back window.  It caused quite a stir when other MERCIA SOUND listeners saw us, or we saw them - it caused a lot of smiles, laughter, waving and tooting of horns!

MERCIA ACTION

Mercia Sound operated the special community service unit, Mercia Action', since it began broadcasting in 1980. The scheme was funded originally by the Manpower Services Commission (MSC), and began with worthwhile but limited intentions: as a simple message-taking service staffed by one person helping distressed owners to find lost pets, assisting charities with appeals for much needed items, and so on. This information was then broadcast in hourly bulletins throughout the day on Mercia Sound.

It soon became apparent that the potential was much greater than this, that there was a need for Mercia Action to take the initiative within the community, calling local voluntary groups to ask how the service might help them.  In 1984 the service was re-launched as an MSC funded Community Programme, employing five people - a full-time project leader, a full-time secretary and three part-time project assistants.

The scheme continued on that basis until the middle of 1986, when its administration was taken on by Community  Service Volunteers (CSV) with a commitment to reviewing and increasing the scope of the project further still. CSV have also undertaken responsibility for securing the funding required to ensure the longterm continuation of Mercia Action.

Mercia Action mounted a number of special projects through the year, working alongside the radio station's presentation team. These ranged from a No-Smoking week to a Job Creation fortnight. A lot of detailed planning was involved and the photo below shows Mercia Sound's Managing Director and Programme Controller, Stuart Linnell at the head of the table leading the discussion.  On Stuart's left and right are Mercia presenters Dave Simms and Annie Othen with members of the Mercia Action team.

An integral part of the work of Mercia Action is the on-air promotion of its activities. The above photo shows project leader Steve Lee records a 'promo' giving details of a special project. Acquiring new skills, such as those required for broadcasting, is also a part of the Mercia Action brief. It tries to widen the experience of its own staff so that they may find subsequent employment.

Each week, a day was set aside for a team of experts in a specialist area to come to Mercia Sound and provide advice and information to listeners in a special off-air phone-in called the 'Helpline'. The 'Helpline' features often required fact-packs giving important follow-up information. They could be requested by telephone or letter - but listeners often call in to collect them personally.  The photo above shows Steve Lee handing out a Mercia Action Fact Pack.

MERCIA SOUND
MAKES YOUR DAY!

Happy Christmas From Mercia Sound in 1986


"220 Mercia Sound
Even Though It's Cold All Around
Step Inside And Close The Door
You'll Find We Give You So Much More"

The MERCIA SOUND Information Panel from the IBA's publication 'TV & Radio 1987'

WEEKDAY PRGRAMMES in August 1988

A newspaper advert placed by Mercia Sound in The Coventry Evening Telegraph in 1989

The Mercia Sound Roadshow at the 1989 Town and Country Show in Kenilworth

WEEKDAY PROGRAMMES In December 1991

Rob Jordan - presented several programmes on Mercia, including the
South Warwickshire programme on the 102.9 transmitter

MERCIA SOUND BECOMES 'MERCIA FM'

In 1988 Mercia Sound joined forces with neighbouring BRMB Radio in Birmingham to form a group called Midlands Radio plc.  Some experimental split AM / FM programming was carried out on both BRMB and Mercia Sound leading to the launch of a new AM only station which was created using the 220 meters (1359 kHz) transmitter of Mercia Sound and the 261 meters (1152 kHz) transmitter of BRMB called XTRA AM which launched on 4th April 1989.  Mercia Sound (and BRMB) became FM only radio stations.  Mercia Sound was renamed 'MERCIA FM' and gained a new VHF / FM relay for the Leamington and Warwick area on 102.9 MHz.

In 1990 / 1991 Rob Jordan presented a daily South Warwickshire afternoon show (carried separately from 97.0) on the 102.9 Leamington Spa transmitter.  This programme had ceased by 1993 as Mercia Sound seemed to contract and re-focus, with more music and shorter news bulletins, in the face of competition from new national and regional radio stations.  The Midlands Radio group was taken over by Capital radio plc in 1993 who kept BRMB and, within a year, sold Mercia to GWR, a deal that was complete by 1994.

My very own "Mercia Sound 220 Makes Your Day" Mug !

A Reception Report QSL Card Issued By The Mercia Sound Engineer Laurence Frayne

MERCIA SOUND AUDIO PAGE > >

MERCIA MESSAGES > >

MARK KEEN > >

LINKS

A detailed look at MERCIA SOUND by Kevin Sykes

MERCIA FM official website