Radio Aire Archive - Magic 828 1998

Magic 1998 - 2015

By the late 90's, Magic 828 had changed it's music policy and began to play easy listening music from the 60's to present. The station slogan was 'The Big Easy' and a new logo was introduced.

Around this time, other AM stations across the north of England within the Emap group (now taken over by Bauer) had changed their names to 'Magic' and played music of the same format.

Peter Tait continued to present Breakfast and Andy Siddell had taken over Mid-Mornings, after Ray Stroud left the station to become Programme Controller of Stray FM in Harrogate.

Previously presenting on Radio Aire FM, Daragh Corcoran moved across to present Drive, Sara Fellows joined to present the late show and Paul Stead presented some weekend shows.

From 2001, much of Magic 828's programming came from Magic 105.4 in London, together with other Magic stations within the group.

Through the week, only Peter Tait's Breakfast Show and Andy Siddell's Afternoon Show came from the Leeds studios. The news, weather, travel and commercials remained local throughout the day.

In February 2002, Peter Tait had taken ill and needed time off air to recover, so Carl Kingston covered his show for several months. Unfortunately, Peter did not return to the station, as he passed away in September 2002. He had presented the show for 10 years after previously presenting on Radio Aire since 1984 and hosting the Afternoon Show on Magic 828 from the station launch.

By 2003, the station had reverted to an oldies format.

The Magic Network no longer came from London and started to broadcast from the Magic 1152 (Metro Radio) studios in Newcastle.

Paul Carrington had taken over the Breakfast Show and Andy Siddell continued to present the Afternoon Show from the Leeds studios. Carl Kingston presented shows on a weekend and covered holiday.

In 2006, more networking was introduced, as the Magic stations started to only broadcast their Breakfast Shows from their local studios.

Andy Siddell moved to Newcastle to host the networked Afternoon Show from Magic 1152. This meant that Andy was still on Magic 828, but was also on all the other Magic stations in the North of England.

Glenn Pinder had taken over the Breakfast Show by 2007 and Carl Kingston and Nick Babb hosted Weekend Breakfast, with Tony Collins providing cover when required.

Carl Kingston left the station in 2008 and moved to Switzerland. He had been a presenter on Radio Aire and Magic 828 for 23 years, meaning he was the longest serving presenter in the station's history. Carl passed away in Leeds in September 2024.

Andy Siddell left the Magic Network in 2009 and moved to Canada, after being heard on Radio Aire and Magic 828 for 21 years.

Carl Kingston, Nick Babb and Glenn Pinder

Tony Collins-Fogarty, Nick Babb and Glenn Pinder

From 2014, the Glenn Pinder Breakfast Show started to be simulcast with Magic 1161 in Hull and Magic AM in Sheffield.

Glenn left the station in late 2014 after presenting on Radio Aire and Magic 828 for 18 years. He had also been Head of Magic 828 for 7 years, following Andy Siddell's move to Newcastle. He is now Head of Operations for a successful audio production company in Leeds.

Nick Babb briefly took over the Breakfast Show for the 3 Yorkshire stations, until January 2015 when the Magic name was removed from all the northern Medium Wave stations. At this point, Magic 828 rebranded to Radio Aire 2, Magic 1161 was Viking 2 and Magic AM changed to Hallam 2. All programming was networked, with only the news, weather, travel and commercials being local.