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97.4 Rock FM - news archive

This is an archive of news about 97.4 Rock FM. Some links may no longer work, due to the transient nature of the internet.

Rock FM team goes green
From Radio Today. Posted June 24 2008, 9.59pm
The Street Team from Bauer Radio's Lancashire station Rock FM have unveiled their new collection of station vehicles - four branded 49cc mopeds. (more)

Presenter says I Do on-air
From Radio Today. Posted May 19 2008, 9.45pm
Gemma Dee, one half of Rock FM's breakfast show and currently living in a shop window in Preston for the station's latest charity event, has said yes to her partner who proposed live on-air. (more)

Rock FM presenters arrested
From Radio Today. Posted May 17 2008, 5.05pm
Bauer's Lancashire breakfast show presenter Adam Caterall and sidekick Gemma Dee have been arrested by local police and taken to local shop windows in a bid to raise £20,000 for charity. (more)

Bauer extends local job site
From Radio Today. Posted April 22 2008, 3.23am
Bauer Radio is launching a station-branded recruitment service at two more north west radio stations. Rock FM in Preston and Radio City in Liverpool will follow Key 103's lead in Manchester to offer online classifieds and jobs, powered by Bauer's own Workmoose service. (more)

New Zealand Radio Station Admits April Fool's Concert Hoax
From radio.about.com. Posted April 1 2008, 3.48am
Auckland, New Zealand radio station, The Rock FM, had to back down from an April Fool's gag when things started getting a bit too heated. The station originally promised listeners an... (more)

New PC for 107.6 Juice FM
From Radio Today. Posted March 28 2008, 8.33am
Rock FM and Magic 999's deputy programme director and station sound producer Gillian Hall has joined UTV Radio's Juice FM in Liverpool as programme controller. (more)

Preston gets fourth station
From Radio Today. Posted January 24 2008, 10.10am
Ofcom has awarded three new community radio licences for the North Wales and the North West of England - including another station for Preston. The award comes just months before the launch of UTV's Proud FM, and adds to established services from Rock FM and Magic 999. (more)

Rick leaves Rock for Juice
From Radio Today. Posted January 19 2008, 11.01am
Rock FM's drive-time presenter Rick Houghton is leaving Emap to join UTV as programme controller of Juice FM in Liverpool. (more)

Ex-Red Rose boss joins Wish
From Radio Today. Posted December 4 2007, 1.05pm
Ex-Rock FM managing director Paul Jordan has joined former rival station Wish FM as mid-morning presenter. Paul has been freelancing at Tower FM and is a director of UTV Radio's new Preston radio station, Proud FM, due to launch in the next 12 months. (more)

Star swears at Rock FM event
From Radio Today. Posted November 22 2007, 5.56pm
Former Hollyoaks actor Paul Danan was given a fixed penalty fine By Lancashire Police at Wednesday night’s Christmas Lights switch on in Preston City Centre. (more)

Big City makes a loss
From Radio Today. Posted August 16 2007, 10.11am
Whilst Emap are celebrating the top two spots in London, based on market share, the Big City network has taken a bit of a dip. Overall figures are down slightly but some individual stations such as Rock FM and TFM Radio lose average hours. Magic, on the other hand show a slight rise in listeners. (more)

Do you remember Red Rose?
From Radio Today. Posted August 6 2007, 9.15am
Red Rose Radio, operators of Rock FM and Magic 999 are asking the industry for help in celebrating their 25th birthday later this year. The Emap station aims to uncover some hidden gems and dig up some dirt on the past from previous presenters and staff. (more)

Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards
From Radio Today. Posted July 2 2007, 3.46pm
UTV's national speech station talkSPORT is the toast of commercial radio after picking up 4 awards at this year's Arqivas. talkSPORT took the Gold Award - plus Station of the Year (over 1 million TSA), Programmer of the Year and the Technical Innovation Award. Presenter of the Year was Rock FM's Adam Caterall, whilst Manchester Emap station Key 103 picked up the News award. (more)

Rock FM Breakfast Host Signs 2 Year Deal
From Merry Media. Posted June 30 2007, 12.45pm
Adam Catterall has signed a new contract to continue as the breakfast show presenter at 97.4 Rock FM for another 2 years.. (more)

Catterall commits to Rock FM
From Radio Today. Posted June 29 2007, 12.23pm
Adam Catterall has signed a two year contract with Emap station Rock FM to continue to host the breakfast show. The news follows a nomination for Presenter of the Year alongside Virgin Radio's Christian O'Connell and Trent FM's Jo and Twiggy at Monday's Arqiva Awards. (more)

Emap to network evening show
From Radio Today. Posted April 12 2007, 5.18pm
The cash-strapped Emap radio group is to a launch a new networked evening show across its 9 FM stations in the North of England from later this month. RadioToday.co.uk has learnt that Rich and Luce, who currently present evenings on Rock FM and Key 103, are to front the new "In Demand" show from April 23rd. (more)

Rock FM Brings Back Former Presenter
From Merry Media. Posted March 9 2007, 12.36pm
Rock FM are celebrating the return of local lad, Rick Houghton, as he re-joins the line-up after 9 years away, providing the station now with over 50 years worth of accomplished programming experience.. (more)

Rock FM Bring Back Former Presenter
From Merry Media. Posted March 9 2007, 12.36pm
Rock FM are celebrating the return of local lad, Rick Houghton, as he re-joins the line-up after 9 years away, providing the station now with over 50 years worth of accomplished programming experience.. (more)

Rock FM DJ Suspended
From Merry Media. Posted March 2 2007, 4.33pm
Rock FM Breakfast DJ, was contacted earlier this week from the local paper,  appealing for his backing in their latest campaign to support chicken farmers in Lancashire.. (more)

Rick Vaughn Joins 96.4 BRMB
From Merry Media. Posted February 6 2007, 10.05am
Rick Vaughn is joining BRMB in Birmingham to present the drivetime show, shortly after leaving Rock FM.. (more)

New drivetime host for BRMB
From Radio Today. Posted February 6 2007, 9.26am
Following the sudden binning of Tom Binns from BRMB Drivetime last week, Rick Vaughn, a former evening show host at the station, is to take over the show from February 14th. Rick most recently presented Drive Time on Emap station Rock FM in Lancashire. (more)

Emap to network on FM
From Radio Today. Posted January 5 2007, 4.42pm
RadioToday.co.uk can reveal that two of Emap's North West radio stations, Key 103 and Rock FM, are to be networked in the evenings. "North West's Most Wanted" will also be broadcast on digital station The Hits and will be presented by Rich and Luce, who are joining from GCap's Trent FM. (more)

Rock FM victim of hoax bids
From Breaking Radio. Posted November 14 2006, 6.21pm
Rock FM bosses have blasted Internet hoaxers who are trying to wreck the online sale of their station's famous Thundertruck. (more)

Rock FM Thundertruck on eBay
From Radio Today. Posted November 6 2006, 10.44am
Preston-based Emap station Rock FM are selling their own promotional vehicle, known as the ThunderTruck in an eBay auction launched this morning.It is an all-American Ford and comes complete with 20 inch chrome wheels and a massive Rock FM logo splashed across the pink paintwork. (more)

Mark Story explains job losses
From Radio Today. Posted August 9 2006, 9.00am
In the August edition of The Radio Today Show Podcast, MD of programming for Emap Radio Mark Story talks about the recent RAJAR figures for the Emap brands including how Magic is still number one in London, and Plus, when asked about the recent management changes at Rock FM and Magic 999 in Preston, Mark explained that MD Paul Jordon was looking for a fresh challenge and left by mutual agreement, whilst his replacement Michelle Surrell wanted to do something a bit different in the programming department and brought in Anthony Gay to replace Brian Paige. (more)

Gary Stein joins Key 103
From Radio Today. Posted August 3 2006, 6.00pm
Gary Stein is the new PD of Manchester's Key 103, replacing Anthony Gay who joins Rock FM. And Radiojam can reveal that Emap is planning a complete makeover of the Preston station, including a new station sound, a new 'younger' playlist, new schedules and a possible name change. Gay replaces Brian Paige, who had been at Rock FM and Magic 999 for three years. (more)

Anthony Gay joins Rock FM
From Radio Today. Posted August 1 2006, 11.15am
Former Programme Director of Key 103 and Magic 1152 in Manchester Anthony Gay is joining sister stations Rock FM and Magic 999 in Preston. He replaces Brian Paige who has been PD at St Paul's Square for over three years. The news comes just weeks after Managing Director Paul Jordan also left the building. Emap told us: "This will be a new challenge for Ant. His role will primarily focus on driving the programming strategy forward and this position will also allow him to take on extra management responsibility within the station." (more)

Paul Jordan exits Rock FM
From Radio Today. Posted July 20 2006, 9.15am
Emap has regionalised station management in the North West, after managing director Paul Jordan was sacked from Emap's Rock FM in Preston last week. He will be replaced by Michelle Surrell, who will now manage both Rock FM and Key 103 in Manchester. Surrell has worked at Emap Radio for almost 20 years, having started with the sales team at TFM. Most recently she has been appointed MD of Key 103 in Manchester as well as overseeing the web and interactive strategies for Emap's stations across the North of England and Scotland. (more)

Ofcom advertise Preston licence
From Radio Today. Posted June 6 2006, 11.30am
Ofcom has advertised a new local commercial radio licence to cover the city of Preston and surrounding towns such as Chorley and Leyland. The area is already home to Emap stations Rock FM and Magic 999 which broadcast to the entire county. The new licence, expected to use two frequencies of 106.5 and 96.3 FM, is estimated to cover an adult population of around 270,000. Expected applicants include CLR, who recently broadcast an RSL to the Chorley and Leyland area, and The Radio Business who operated an RSL in Preston called Ribble FM in January 2002. Industry experts suggest UTV Radio will also apply for the licence to compliment neighbouring stations in Bolton, Blackpool, Wigan and Warrington. (more)

Red Rose Radio Returns
From Radio Today. Posted April 1 2006, 7.30am
In a leaked memo to RadioToday.co.uk, we can reveal that Emap have agreed to change the name of their Preston-based 'Big City' radio station from Rock FM back to the old on-air name of Red Rose Radio. Red Rose Radio launched originally in October 1982 but split frequency on June 1st 1990 to create Red Rose Gold on medium wave, and Red Rose Rock FM. The change will happen 16 years to the date as June 1st 2006 will see the return of the popular name. This is in-line with other stations in the group returning to their original names such as Radio City and Metro Radio. Managing Director Paul Jordan.. (more)

Ofcom release latest complaints
From Radio Today. Posted February 6 2006, 11.06am
The Ofcom broadcast bulletin for Monday 6th February contains details of complaints and comments made against recent programmes on BBC and Commercial Radio. The complaints includes a phone call broadcast on Emap's 97.4 Rock FM by Adam Caterall who admits to setting up a phone call talking to about their imaginary sexual activity. Two listeners complained that the telephone conversation between the presenter and the woman contained crude and offensive sexual remarks, which they thought were unacceptable. Another complaint was to the Mark and Jo show on Beacon Radio where a listener thought that the presenter’s use of the word “poof” when she referred to a band was homophobic. (more)

Xfm announce Manchester launch
From Radio Today. Posted January 30 2006, 11.15am
The date has been set for the launch of the Manchester's newest radio station. 97.7 Xfm will launch on March 15th 2006 and will feature an impressive line-up including Andy Rourke and Tony Wilson at weekends. The daytime line up includes Comedian Paul Tonkinson on breakfast and former-Rock FM jock Mark Kaye on afternoon drive. Clint Boon, who has been presenting the mid-morning show on The Revolution in Oldham will host the weekday evening show called Music:Response whilst former Galaxy 102 Breakfast jock Adam Cole will also form part of the line-up. (more)

Complaints for Emap stations
From Radio Today. Posted January 9 2006, 11.22pm
In the latest Broadcast Bulletin from Ofcom, two complaints were made against two Emap Big City stations. Rock FM in Preston received a complaint that a listener, who was listening to the station with his young child heard the presenter use the word 'bastard', whilst Metro Radio has been quizzed about a sponsorship strapline which claims that 'no one saves you more money' than Factory Direct windows. A competitor questioned whether the claim could be substantiated or not. (more)