The station was formed on 31 October 1988 when Viking Radio split its 1161 medium wave frequency from its FM service. It has had many name changes, including "Viking Gold", "Classic Gold", "Classic Gold Radio", "Great Yorkshire Gold" and "Great Yorkshire Radio". Most of these formats, with the exception of "Viking Gold", shared programmes with the AM stations of the "Yorkshire Radio Network". At the start of 1997, new owners Emap decided to scrap the regional Classic Gold station and replaced it with local stations under the brandname of Magic, with a new format of Hot Adult Contemporary music. Magic 1161 launched on 12 February 1997. In December 2001, EMAP decided that it was more economical for the Magic network to share off-peak programmes and in line with the other Magic AM stations began networking between 10am-2pm, and 7pm-6am. During these hours it was simply known as Magic, although there were local commercial breaks, and local newson the hour. In January 2003, after a sharp decline in listening, the station ceased networking with the London station, Magic 105.4, and a regional northern network was created with Magic 1152 at the hub at the weekend and the Newcastle station of the same name during the week. During networked hours, local adverts are aired, as well as a local news summary on the hour. From July 2006, more networking was introduced across the Northern Magic AM network, leaving weekday breakfast as the only locally produced show. The local show was replaced with a regional breakfast programme from Leeds, which ran from March 2013 to December 2014. On 5 January 2015, Magic 1161 was rebranded as Viking 2 as part of a revamp of the Bauer network and the station is now entirely networked with the other Bauer AM stations in the North although local news, weather and travel continue to be broadcast as opt-outs during the day. On 7 January 2019, Viking 2 rebranded as Greatest Hits East Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire.
Programming
The station carries primarily a schedule of networked programming, produced and broadcast from Bauer's Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham and Glasgow studios, and from Bauer's Golden Square headquarters in Soho.
News
Bauer’s Sheffield newsroom broadcasts local news bulletins for East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire hourly from 06:00 to 19:00 on weekdays and from 07:00 to 13:00 at weekends. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside traffic bulletins. National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried at other times.
