Eagle Radio

Eagle Radio was an Independent Local Radio station in the Surrey and North East Hampshire area of England. Based in Guildford in the Guildford College campus, Eagle Radio was part of the UKRD Group of radio stations.

Eagle Radio
Broadcast areaSurrey and North-East Hampshire
FrequencyFM: 96.4 MHz
DAB
Programming
FormatHot AC
NetworkGreatest Hits Radio
Ownership
OwnerBauer Radio
Formerly: eagle80s
eagle70s
History
First air date
4 January 1996 (1996-01-04)
Last air date
1 September 2020 (2020-09-01)
Former names
  • 96.4 The Eagle
  • 96.4 Eagle Radio
Technical information
Transmitter coordinates
51.2284°N 0.6054°W / 51.2284; -0.6054

Launch

Peter Gordon launched 96.4 The Eagle at 7:45am on 4 January 1996, with the words "Hey, I've landed", an allusion to "the Eagle has Landed", spoken by Neil Armstrong after the Apollo 11 mission had reached the surface of the Moon.[1] The first song played was "Uptown Girl" by Billy Joel and the second song was "Dreams" by Fleetwood Mac.

History

The station changed its name from 96.4 The Eagle to 96.4 Eagle Radio in February 2007 and later changed to solely Eagle Radio. It launched on DAB Digital Radio on 12 December 2013.

Until 2018, Eagle Radio broadcast The Vodafone Big Top 40 chart show (previously The Pepsi Chart & Hit40UK) which was produced from Capital FM in London and syndicated across over 140 commercial radio stations in the UK. However, the show was withdrawn from syndication in 2018 and now broadcasts solely on Heart & Capital stations.[2]

Sister stations eagle70s and eagle80s were launched on DAB in 2017 and 2018 respectively.[3]

Closure

Eagle Radio was purchased by Bauer Media in 2019 along with other stations in the UKRD group.[4] On 27 May 2020 it was announced that Eagle Radio would become Greatest Hits Radio[5] from early September 2020. The station went through a transitional period where its playlist was changed over to the 70s, 80s and 90s era, and jingles changed to reflect the station playing "greatest hits". Eagle Radio was finally rebranded to Greatest Hits Radio at 6:00am on 1 September 2020.

Notable past presenters

References
  1. Clarkson, Stuart (7 August 2020). "Peter Gordon does final show on Eagle Radio after 25 years". Radio Today. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  2. Martin, Roy (19 September 2018). "Bauer stations to drop Vodafone Big Top 40 show". Radio Today. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  3. "Eagle Radio launches DAB spin-off Eagle 80s". Radio Today. 18 April 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  4. Waterson, Jim (27 May 2020). "Dozens of local radio stations to vanish across England". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  5. Shaw, Neil (27 May 2020). "40 radio station names across the UK to disappear". SurreyLive. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
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