Media UK

Melody FM

Melody FM launched on 9th July 1990 on 104.9 in Greater London, as part of the Independent Broadcasting Authority's creation of seven capital-wide services at the time. The station was owned by the late Lord Hanson, chairman of Hanson PLC, who created Melody as a service he himself would wish to listen to - and was particularly keen on keeping speech to an absolute minimum, as well as providing regular financial updates, the former remaining a key feature of the station to this day. In its early years, the music predominately catered for those aged 50 and over; Frank Sinatra and Annunzio Mantovani prime examples of the artists featured. Long-running programmes included a nightly Classic Hour and Melody Showtime. Unusually, presenters acted as newsreaders, and continued to read bulletins themselves until 2003.

In 1996, the station changed frequencies, moving to 105.4 FM, having received numerous complaints from listeners in South West London of interference from BBC Southern Counties Radio. The 104.9 frequency was, after technical corrections, reallocated to Xfm.

The Radio Authority permitted the sale of Melody FM to Emap in June 1998, who rebranded the station as Magic 105.4 at the end of the year, as part of the company's newly-created network of soft adult contemporary music stations, following the acquisition of several AM services in the north of England. Subsequently the station modernised its sound, and lost most of its distinctive identity on London's dial.

Presenters included Peter Marshall, David Hamilton, Dave Gillbee, Tony Myatt and David Allan - the latter four all having since found work on Saga's network of radio stations.