The station was launched on 1 September 1981 by presenter Graham Thornton and the first song played was Pilot of the Airwaves by Charlie Dore. Radio Aire originally broadcast on 362 metres medium wave and 94.6 VHF but was moved to 96.3 FM in 1986. Radio Aire is situated on Burley Road, overlooking Kirkstall Road next to ITV Yorkshire's studios and was the first Independent Local Radio station to have studios especially built for the purpose of radio transmission. In the late 1980s, the studios were used for The James Whale Radio Show, which was a late night TV show, broadcast on ITV, Radio Aire and Red Rose Radio. On 17 July 1990, Radio Aire split frequencies, forming Aire FM and Magic 828. In 1992, the name was changed to Radio Aire FM and then, 96.3 Aire FM in 1995. A change of format in 1996 saw another station name change to The New 96.3 Aire FM before The New was dropped in 1998. By March 2001, Radio Aire had reverted to its original name. The station together with Magic 828 was bought by EMAP in 1995 and it became part of their Big City Network of stations. It has maintained a generic branding with sister stations across Northern England since about 2000. Following the acquisition of EMAP Radio, the station is now part of Bauer Radio.
Rebrand
On 16 July 2020, it was announced that Radio Aire will join Bauer's Greatest Hits Radio network, as part of a wider overhaul. On 1 September 2020, the station will rebrand as Greatest Hits Radio and merge with twelve stations in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.. The station's local breakfast show will be replaced by a regional drivetime show, broadcast from the Leeds studios.. Localised news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising for West Yorkshire will be retained. As neighbouring station, Pulse 1 has recently been taken over by Bauer, Radio Aire’s DAB slot on the Leeds multiplex will be taken over by Pulse 1, with a local Breakfast Show for West Yorkshire on weekdays, followed by networked programmes from Hits Radio Manchester.
Transmitter information
The station's FM transmission is located at the Tingley site in Morley, close to the A653 and junction 28 of the M62. The adjacent mast, known as Morley, is former home of the station's FM transmissions. It continues to broadcast sister station Greatest Hits Radio on 828 KHz medium wave and the Leeds DAB multiplex.
Programming
Local programming is produced and broadcast from the Radio Aire studios on weekdays between 6:00am and 10:00am, with Caroline Verdon and Ant Arthur. The remainder of the schedule is networked and originates from Hits Radio Manchester.
News
Bauer’s Leeds newsroom broadcasts local hourly news bulletins from 6:00am to 7:00pm on weekdays and from 7:00am to 1:00 pm on weekends. Headlines are broadcast on the half-hour during weekday breakfast and drivetime shows, alongside sport and traffic bulletins. National bulletins from Sky News Radio are carried overnight. Bespoke networked bulletins on weekend afternoons are generally produced by Bauer’s Leeds newsroom for the Hits Radio network in England.
