History
The company was established in 1983 after successfully acquiring a local radio licence to broadcast Marcher Sound to Wrexham, Deeside and Chester on 95.4 MHz FM/VHF (from the Wrexham-Rhos Relay) and 1260 kHz AM/Mediumwave. The station launched on 5 September 1983. After a review, the frequency changed to the more familiar 103.4 MHz.
In 1989 the station opened an FM relay to cover the coastal areas of north east Wales and The Wirral on 97.1 MHz from the Moel-y-Parc transmitting station.
Due to IBA rulings, the company ceased simulcasting and started broadcasting different services on each frequency. The newer 103.4 FM frequency became MFM 103.4, the 97.1 FM frequency became MFM 97.1, and the 1260 AM frequency became Marcher Gold.
In 1993, the company acquired the rights to broadcast to the north Wales coast on 96.3FM, including Llandudno, Holywell and eastern Anglesey, and named the service Marcher Coast FM.
In 1998, Marcher launched Champion 103 broadcasting to Anglesey and Gwynedd from the Arfon transmitting station.
In 1999, MFM 97.1 was re-branded Buzz 97.1, and it moved from Moel-y-Parc to the Storeton transmitter, to specifically target listeners in The Wirral. At the same time, Marcher Coast FM was re-branded "Coast 96.3".
Recent re-brands have seen Buzz 97.1 become branded as "Wirral's Buzz", Champion FM 103 becoming simply "Champion", Coast 96.3 again becoming simply "Coast" and MFM 103.4 becoming Marcher Sound. In August 2007, 18 stations of the former Classic Gold Digital Network including Classic Gold Marcher were sold back to GCap Media, merging it with its own Capital Gold network. At this point Classic Gold Marcher was re-branded to simply "Wrexham and Chester Gold".
Read more about this topic: Marcher Radio Group
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