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 Breakfast (hosted by Peter Tait) and Drive (hosted by Andy Siddell) came from the Leeds studios, although the news, weather, travel and commercials remained local.
From February 2002, Carl Kingston covered Breakfast, as Peter Tait had taken ill and needed time off air to recover. Unfortunately, Peter did not return to the station, as he passed away in September 2002. He had presented the show for 10 years.
By 2003, the station had reverted to an oldies format.
The Magic Network no longer came from London and started to broadcast from the Metro Radio / Magic 1152 studios in Newcastle.
Paul Carrington had taken over the Breakfast Show and Andy Siddell continued to present Drive from the Leeds studios. Carl Kingston remained at the station presenting shows over the weekend and covering holiday.
In 2006, more networking was introduced, as the Magic stations started to only broadcast their Breakfast shows from their local studios.
By then, Glenn Pinder had taken over the Breakfast Show after previously presenting on Radio Aire and Andy Siddell moved to Newcastle to host the networked Drive programme on an afternoon.
Carl Kingston and Nick Babb hosted Weekend Breakfast, with Tony Collins providing cover when required. Carl left the station in 2008, after presenting on Radio Aire and Magic 828 for 23 years.
Glenn Pinder (centre), Carl Kingston and Nick Babb
Andy Siddell left the Magic Network in 2009 and moved to Canada, after being heard on Radio Aire and Magic 828 for around 21 years.
Glenn Pinder (centre), Tony Collins-Fogarty and Nick Babb
From 2014, Magic 828 Breakfast started to be simulcast with Magic 1161 in Hull and Magic AM in Sheffield. Glenn Pinder continued to host the show for all 3 stations, until he left in late 2014.
Nick Babb subsequently took over the show for the 3 Yorkshire stations, whilst the rest of the programming came from the network.
In January 2015, the Magic name was removed from all the northern Medium Wave stations. Magic 828 rebranded to Radio Aire 2, with all programming being networked.