Gold is a regional AM station in the west of England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

The station carries the Gold programming, except for a local 4-hour afternoon programme from 12pm to 4pm, which is different in the stations two sub-regions.

Programmes

• Breakfast
• Gold Afternoons (local programme)
• Gold Late Night
• From the Bottom to the Top
• Gold Albums

History

The stations frequencies were originally used to simulcast

Simulcast

Simulcast, shorthand for "simultaneous broadcast", refers to programs or events broadcast across more than one medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at the same time. For example, Absolute Radio is simulcast on both AM and on satellite radio, and the BBC's Prom concerts are often...

 GWR Radio, but the British Government declared its desire to end simulcasting on both FM and AM. So GWR had to split the frequencies, GWR continued on VHF/FM and became more and more music-led, playing Top 40 chart music during the daytime. On AM, GWR Radio launched Brunel Radio, a golden oldies station on 1260 kHz in Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, and 936/1161 kHz AM in Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

. In the early 1990s Brunel started networking programming to 2CR Radio in Bournemouth

Bournemouth

Bournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...

 and Radio 210 in Reading, Berkshire

Reading, Berkshire

Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

. Each station had "Classic Gold" appended to the end of their names (e.g. "Brunel Classic Gold", "210 Classic Gold" etc). Local news and shows was combined with networked programmes in each of its areas, this was the start of the what was to become the "Classic Gold Network".

Nowadays the Brunel name has been completely dropped by the station

Radio station

Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...

, even during local programming and the Brunel region

Region

Region is most commonly found as a term used in terrestrial and astrophysics sciences also an area, notably among the different sub-disciplines of geography, studied by regional geographers. Regions consist of subregions that contain clusters of like areas that are distinctive by their uniformity...

 has been split into two regions, Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

 & Bath and Swindon

Swindon

Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...

 & west Wiltshire

Wiltshire

Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...

. Locally the stations are usually referred to as Classic Gold

Classic Gold Digital Network

Classic Gold Digital Network was one of the biggest 'gold' formatted radio networks in the United Kingdom, with a potential audience of 47 million. Classic Gold was broadcast on analogue and DAB digital platforms, as well as Sky channel 0189.-History:...

 and then the frequency. The station was sold to UBC in 2000, however in 2007 Gcap took control again after purchasing all Classic Gold stations. The station rebranded as 'Gold' in August 2007 after the mergers between the Classic Gold Digital Network

Classic Gold Digital Network

Classic Gold Digital Network was one of the biggest 'gold' formatted radio networks in the United Kingdom, with a potential audience of 47 million. Classic Gold was broadcast on analogue and DAB digital platforms, as well as Sky channel 0189.-History:...

 and Capital Gold

Capital Gold

Gold is a network of oldies radio stations which was formed by the merger of the Capital Gold network and the Classic Gold Network in August 2007...

.