Magic 828 Archive

The History of Magic 828

1990 - 2015

Magic 828 began on 17th July 1990, when Radio Aire split it's AM and FM frequencies to form 2 different radio stations.

Magic 828 Archive takes you through the 25 year history of one of the UK's most successful Medium Wave radio stations.

View the specific eras, by selecting the logos below...

Magic 828 changed to Radio Aire 2 on 5th January 2015, but continued to play an 'oldies' format of music. The local Breakfast Show was removed, meaning the entire output was networked with the other ex-Magic stations across the North of England.

The Magic name has not gone forever, as Magic 105.4 FM in London is now National on the DAB Multiplex, known as Magic.

On 7th January 2019, the station was relaunched as Greatest Hits Radio (West Yorkshire) and plays music from the 70's, 80's and 90's.

Ex Radio Aire presenter Simon 'Rossie' Ross (pictured below) presents the Breakfast Show.

The station is mainly broadcast from Manchester and London as a national service. Until November 2024, a regional afternoon show for Yorkshire was presented by Steve Priestley from the Leeds Burley Road studios. Local opt-outs are used for news, weather, and travel (and commercials).

Since 1 September 2020, Radio Aire has also become Greatest Hits Radio West Yorkshire, together with Ridings FM and Pulse 2.

As the station is available on 96.3 and 106.8 FM in West Yorkshire, the 828 kHz Medium Wave transmitter was turned off in April 2021. The transmitters were also switched off for the former Medium Wave frequencies of Red Rose Radio (Rock FM) in Preston, Piccadilly Radio (Key 103) in Manchester and Viking Radio (Viking FM) in Hull.