The Sair, in the West Yorkshire town of Linthwaite. All their own beer. Gold Medal is recommended.

I was first a radio presenter – for a short amount of time, and using my real name – on Pennine FM, a radio station in Bradford. Pennine managed to also get the Huddersfield/Halifax franchise from the IBA, but the station was never particularly loved in those areas. Pennine was seen very much as a Bradford radio station; and, after the Metro Radio Group bought it and realised what a pup it was, they rebranded it as The Pulse of West Yorkshire. (Under the stewardship of inspirational programme-director Steve Martin, the rebranded station made number one).

So, it was slightly surprising to hear that the FMer in Huddersfield on 107.9, “Huddersfield FM”, then “Home FM”, had taken the peculiar decision to rebrand itself as “The New Pennine FM“. Fittingly, the first time I tuned into it was during a recent visit to Huddersfield.

I recognised the voices on the air instantly, even if they never namechecked themselves. Ray Stroud and Margaret were staples of Radio Aire when I listened to it, a long, long time ago. Ray was famous for his warm way with his audience and his quizzes – and his most famous, the slightly innuendo-ridden “What have I got in my hand” was a feature of the station for a long while. Along with someone I can only suppose is his wife or partner, Ray was in full swing when I tuned in on Saturday morning, with a different quiz – and sadly, one that was innuendo-free. Where’s the fun in that?

“The New Pennine FM” had a resung jingle package (with English singers, though using a bed from the US – the giveaway being the way that “Pennine” was cocentated into the space that a station like WBUR would have fitted one initial). It was incredibly well branded – from the FM RDS to the jingles and segues. At no point was I left wondering what this station was called.

Questionable was the news jingle – “The New Pennine FM – first for local news” led straight into a national news bulletin with no local content at all; and the FM signal was awful as I drove around the area. Tuning in after a nice light lunch, I was slightly surprised to still hear Ray on-air, telling me (regularly) that I could listen to the station online on penninefm.com. I’m guessing at least part of his shift must be voicetracked – but it was good to hear the website regularly promoted, albeit only as a way to listen to the station using a signal slightly clearer than the one I got in my car.

The station is mostly golden-oldies – a format that’s worked well in the area before – and it had a sensible amount of local commercials. I didn’t feel it had an awful lot of local content, but then, I wasn’t listening too closely. Tuning in on the Sunday afternoon, I was “treated” to the beginning of what I’ll still call the Network Chart, so left the station earlier than I expected.

I wonder if they’ve still got space for a former Pennine FM radio presenter, who once ‘dumped’ a listener for saying “f**k off” on the air – except I realised a minute later that it was actually “I’ve got a cough”. My co-presenter Rol Hirst found this very confusing, I seem to remember. The phrase “What are you doing?!” was broadcast at least twice, as I manfully and nervously gave a timecheck and jumped early into some Aztec Camera.

On second thoughts, perhaps this reincarnation of Pennine FM is better off without me.

[Later - Pennine FM closed down on 16 April 2008. It became the fifth commercial radio station to close in 2008 alone.]

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