Media UK

Chrysalis Radio

The roots of Chrysalis stretch back to a tiny flat in West London in 1967, when former university social secretaries, Chris Wright, then 22, and Terry Ellis, 23, linked their flair for managing and booking bands to form the Ellis Wright Agency. In 1968, they formed their own record label - Chrysalis (formed from their names: "Chris-Ellis").

On Chrysalis Records's books in the 1970s were names like Jethro Tull, Steeleye Span, Leo Sayer, Ultravox and Blondie.

In early 1985, Terry Ellis sold his share of the company to Chris Wright; and, in 1989 the record label was sold to Thorn EMI (while Chris Wright retained many publishing interests).

Chrysalis Sport was set up in 1991 to service the Italian Football TV production contract; out of this came production-company Chrysalis TV, sold in August 2003.

In 1993, Chrysalis Radio was established under Richard Huntingford, with the first station 100.7 Heart FM being launched in September 1994 in Birmingham, followed a year later with the launch of Heart 106.2 in London. The Galaxy brand rapidly followed, with the acquisition of stations in Bristol/South Wales (since sold), Manchester, Yorkshire, Birmingham and the North East. In September 2002, Chrysalis also bought LBC in London.

Chrysalis has also been successful in winning digital licences through the MXR consortium (Chrysalis Radio, Capital Radio and Guardian Media Group), with quasi-national coverage obtained for its analogue brands as well as a digital-only brand, The Arrow, providing a classic rock format.

In 1998, Chrysalis also moved into books, and in March 2004, Chrysalis Mobile was formed to take advantage of mobile devices.

A fuller history is at http://www.chrysalis.com/index.php?object=36 from which this condensed version is based.