Media UK

The Pulse of West Yorkshire

The Pulse of West Yorkshire has the franchise for Bradford, Huddersfield and Halifax.

Pennine FM was a loss-making part of the Yorkshire Radio Network when, in 1990, it was purchased by the Metro Radio Group. The station suffered from its transmission area which comprised of three disparate geographical communities, and a feeling that the station was allied to closely to Bradford. It had also had a variety of relaunches and music policies.

One way of fixing the station was considered to be, ironically, splitting it. The more powerful 102.5FM transmitter had been considered as the chief asset of the station. A new name had been considered - 'KCB FM' - and an american-sounding presenter, the Bermudan Jayne Young, had been hired to head up the new presentation staff, before the idea fell through.

Alan Ross, the programme controller of the successful Classic Gold, was drafted in to breathe new life into the station, and proceeded to revamp its music policy to make it play much more familiar, and older, songs. Then, Yorkshire Radio Network was sold to the Metro Radio Group.

Metro had seen considerable success in rebranding another of its ailing stations, Radio Tees, into TFM, and was determined to do the same to Pennine.

With a large relaunch budget, new presenters were hired for the station, and a futuristic new name and logo was used. This was probably the first station that dropped 'Radio' or 'FM' from its name; among the original presenters was Seymour Segnit (announced as simply 'Seymour'), Wyvern's Elliott Webb, Chiltern's Geoff Hemming, Phil Butler and Metro's Alex Roland.

As relaunch plans continued, the station got a new postcode, and a new phone-in number (0274 740110 - incidentally, never "Bradford 740110"). A few days before launch, Pennine FM presenters began playing static during their links, and complained about massive interference. During Paul Bromley's show one evening, the static became so bad that the entire station "fell off the air" - and near non-stop music was played on the station for the next three or four days: presenters continued to do traffic and travel, weather, and standard local features needed to maintain the station's promise of performance, but didn't ident the station at all. ('A great song there on... the radio', announced one presenter, John Uphoff, showing how difficult it was to break the habit).

A brand new jingle package was produced for 'The Pulse', though some jingles sang 'Pulse FM'. The first track played was Summertime by DJ Jazzy Jeff, played by new breakfast host Seymour Segnit.

Seymour's breakfast show was not universally popular, and lasted around nine months until a new programme controller, Steve Martin, was appointed. The breakfast show was replaced by Elliott Webb, who presented the show with Debbie Lindley, a local Huddersfield girl just out of college who had won a talent contest to present on the station. The evening show was given to an ex-Radio Luxembourg presenter, Chris Moyles, and the drivetime show then given to James Andrews. Alex Hall moved from TFM to the station to present the late-night phone-in, replacing Phil Butler.

Steve Martin also tightened up the station name (banning the use of 'Pulse FM'), and introduced a number of innovative local tie-ups: Bradford FC's "Valley Parade" was re-named "The Pulse Stadium"; the station sponsored Halifax rugby club's shorts (being the first to ever sponsor anything other than shirts); and sponsored Huddersfield Town's shirts during their promotion season of 1992-3. The station also sponsored the back of all Bradford Council event tickets, including The Alhambra and St George's Hall. Virtually no actual advertising was ever bought, showing the power of association with local events and businesses.

The Pulse's licence was concerning to the Metro Radio Group. Firstly, it was the first licence to be re-advertised; and the station, while increasing slowly in popularity, was not showing many signs of recovery - either financially or in audience figures. During a show taking listeners from News Year's Eve 1993 into New Year's Day 1994, Chris Moyles and James Andrews were on the air. Fuelled by youthful exuberance, Chris decided to broadcast a special message for ex-PC Alan Ross, along the lines of that he sent a tape into Alan a while back and got rejected, and now he'd got a great job and Alan was now unemployed. This terrified an already jittery management, who were under the impression that Alan was applying for the licence that the station was defending. Chris's contract was ceased immediately. In the end, The Pulse retained its licence; and in fact Alan Ross's name was not connected to any licence application.

Under the capable stewardship of Steve Martin, who was awarded a Sony Radio Award for the best programme controller, the once ailing station became the most listened-to station in the area by the late 1990s.

An interesting fact: even though you'll never hear the name "Pulse FM" on the air, the station's operating company is called 'Pulse FM Ltd'.