Viking 2 (radio)

Viking 2 is a local radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio as part of the City 2 network. It broadcasts to the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire from studios in Hull.

It is the AM sister station of Viking FM, playing classic pop and rock music from the 1960s to the 1980s.

History

The station was formed on 31 October 1988 when Viking Radio split its 1161 (originally said "Double-One-Six-One") medium wave frequency from its FM service. It has had many name changes, including "Viking Gold", "Classic Gold" (not to be confused with the service operated by UBC), "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".

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 news on the hour.