Peak FM (North Derbyshire)

53.267446°N 1.439902°W / 53.267446; -1.439902

Peak FM
Broadcast areaNorth Derbyshire
FrequencyFM: 102.0, 107.4 MHz
RDSPEAK FM
Programming
FormatAdult contemporary
Ownership
OwnerBauer
History
First air date
7 October 1998
Last air date
31 August 2020
Former names
Peak 107 (1998–2004)

Peak FM was an Independent Local Radio station serving north Derbyshire. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, as part of a rebrand, on 1 September 2020.

Coverage area

Peak FM's coverage area included the towns of Alfreton, Bakewell, Bolsover, Clay Cross, Dronfield, Matlock, Pinxton, Ripley, Shirebrook, South Normanton and Staveley. Southern districts of the City of Sheffield were also included, though the topography of the area made reception unreliable in certain parts.

Frequencies
  • 107.4 FM covered Chesterfield, south Sheffield, north Alfreton, north-eastern Derbyshire, Mansfield and Worksop from the Chesterfield transmitter at Unstone.
  • 102.0 FM covered Matlock, Bakewell, the Derbyshire Dales and central Alfreton from the Stanton Moor transmitter.

Peak FM was also available as an audio stream on the internet.

History

The station began broadcasting to Chesterfield as Peak 107 FM on 7 October 1998, at 08:00, with the Simple Minds song "Alive and Kicking". The Radio Authority had awarded Grand Central Broadcasting the licence earlier in the spring.

The station was launched by Dave Kilner, with the (then) Mayor and Mayoress of Chesterfield. Mark Burrows presented Breakfast after the launch, followed by Dave Kilner on mid-mornings, James Hilton on drive, Trev Parsons one hour of drive and the evening show and Richard Spinks on Late Night Love.

At the same time, the authority also awarded licences for two other small stations, in nearby Bassetlaw and Mansfield.

Forever Broadcasting

In 2001, Forever Broadcasting bought Grand Central Broadcasting and Peak 107 was rebranded with "The 50/50 Music Mix of Yesterday and Today", tagline, accompanying change in music policy.

Forever sold three of its stations in 2003: with three remaining- Peak, Tower FM in Bolton and Wolverhampton's 107.7 The Wolf. In early 2004, Forever Broadcasting was itself bought by The Wireless Group, run by former newspaper editor Kelvin MacKenzie.

Wireless Group and UTV Radio
Former Logo

Under the new regime, the station's name changed from 'Peak 107' to 'Peak FM' in Summer 2004. The station had always broadcast on two frequencies.

Station output did not change dramatically after the takeover, but presenters were occasionally required to promote other stations and services offered by The Wireless Group, which was itself taken over by UTV Radio in June 2005.

Bauer

On 8 February 2019, the Wireless Group's local radio stations (including Peak FM) were sold to Bauer.

The sale was ratified in March 2020, following an inquiry by the Competition and Markets Authority, [1] and on 27 May 2020, Bauer announced Peak FM would become part of the Greatest Hits Radio network.[2]

On 13 July 2020, local programming outwith breakfast was replaced by networked output from GHR, resulting in redundancies among most of the presentation team.[3][4]

In September 2020, Peak FM ended its local breakfast show and closed its Chesterfield studios as it completed rebranding to Greatest Hits Radio. The station was folded into Greatest Hits Radio Yorkshire, which provides a regional afternoon show from Bauer's Leeds studios. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising were retained.[2]

References
  1. https://www.bauermedia.co.uk/newsroom/press-releases/cma-today-clears-the-acquisitions-of-lincs-fm-celador-radio-ukrd-and-wireless-local-stations CMA today clears the acquisitions of Lincs FM, Celador Radio, UKRD and Wireless local stations, Bauer Media, 12 March 2020
  2. Most of acquired Bauer stations to become Greatest Hits Radio Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 27 May 2020
  3. Bauer starts to roll out Hits and Greatest Hits to new radio stations Stuart Clarkson, Radio Today, 9 July 2020
  4. Broomhead, Michael (13 July 2020). "Presenter jobs lost at Chesterfield's Peak FM as station transitions to Greatest Hits Radio". Derbyshire Times. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
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