Atlantic 252
 

The thread about AM radio starting to become very last century, it got me thinking about the time when long wave got a big shot in the arm at the dtar of the 1990s with the launch of Atlantic 252.

I used to listen to it back in the day and I was wondering if others also used to listen to it, especially when it was at its height in the first half of the 1990s.

And who was your favourite presenter(s)? My favourite was mid-morning presenter Henry Owens (real name Henry Condon).

Re: Atlantic 252
 

Well now, let me think …

Favourite memory of it was the newsreader reciting the lyrics to Step On in his newsreader voice over a backing track. Heard one morning on the school bus (a coach, with a sound system, and a driver who loved Atlantic 252).

Around the same time (summer 1990 most likely) discovering exactly what a playlist and heavy rotation meant, as a sixth former supervising younger kids on an orienteering day, sitting next to a car in the sunshine with the radio on all day.

And from 1991 to 1994 listening to it on almost every occasion radio was required because you could pick up precious little else in the corner of south west Wales where I was studying. Including the time they changed the phrase that pays to “I listen to the best music on the Jackson station - Long Wave Radio Atlantic 252” because they utterly lost their minds over Black or White and seemed to have it on some sort of super-heavy rotation.

Fun times. :D

Re: Atlantic 252
 

Only memories I have are listening on the school bus. It used to be on every day on the way to school. Back in the 90's.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

No memories of it at all, I never listened to it. :)
(unless perhaps unknowingly, when it was on in the background).

Re: Atlantic 252
 

I remember discovering Atlantic 252 in the late 90s while on a family holiday near Barmouth. FM reception wasn't great in the village we were staying (Arthog, for anyone who's ever been on a school trip to the area!), but we picked up 252 with no issues as it was broadcast across the Irish Sea.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

I know the area and reception of anything still isn't good. But with scenery like they have around there who cares?
BTW last time I saw, some cheeky schoolboy had renamed Arthog to Warthog with spray paint :)

Re: Atlantic 252
 

Fun (?) fact: 252 jocks had to present their shows standing up. In fact chairs were banned for DJs in the studio completely as the higher-ups wanted them to sound more energetic and believed having them front shows sitting down encouraged them to sound “laid back” and complacent.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

I first heard it on a holiday in North Wales. The lady in an ice cream stall on the sea front at Llandudno had it on in the background. Took me a while to twig it was actually on Long Wave as you instinctively looked for 252 metres rather than Khz.

There is an interesting video on Youtube of the Clarkestown transmitter site. Two water cooled 300Kw Continental Electronics units were used in parallel during the daytime. The electricity bill for running them even in 1990 was £1100 a day, so someone had to have deep pockets to keep the station on the air.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdeFTOjkpzY

Re: Atlantic 252
 

That was a practice Charlie "Wolf Man Jack" Wolf bought over from America. If you are standing up you project your voice a lot more than sitting down.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

IIRC Chris Moyles did it during his stint on Radio 1 breakfast.

I didnt listen either...I listenend to some beacons and all below .500Mhz but no real stations.....

Re: Atlantic 252
 

I think you are right, and many other presenters probably now do the same.

---------- Post added at 12:55 ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 ----------

and I think there's a certain logic to that argument.

I wonder if this was extended to Radio Luxembourg for its final years on air.

---------- Post added at 12:57 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------

In those remote western locations of the British Isles, Atlantic 252 was the only pop music station that was audible with any decent quality.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

and since my most recent posting on this topic, the mast which transmitted Atlantic 252, and later RTE Radio 1, has been demolished.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

Indeed it has.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

I worked on some tall broadcast masts and was told by the Chief Rigger how easy it would be to destroy almost every mast in the UK "with very basic materials and tools". I didn't enquire further, but this video shows the principle.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

It made a bit of a mess of the hedge.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

I lived and worked in Oban in the early 90's and 252 was the only rock orientated station available.

Judging by the regular plays "Wind of Change" got each day I reckon they have a very small library.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

For many parts of rural Scotland, at its peak, Atlantic 252 was the only contemporary music station that people were able to listen to as Radio 1 didn't appear on FM in those areas until well into the 1990s and this will have accelerated the decline in listening to Atlantic 252.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

Despite theoretically being available, BBC FM stations could be tricky to find in the very hilly part of west Wales where I was at university. You could usually get 1FM, as it was styled back in the day, but it was unreliable. You could get Atlantic 252 anywhere, any time. And we did.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

I would imagine that Atlantic 252 had huge audience share in those hilly areas of west Wales and across much of Scotland, especially north of the central belt.

Re: Atlantic 252
 

It has happened. Take a look at this incident that occurred in Bradford in 1986:

http://tx.mb21.co.uk/gallery/gallery...62&pageid=1080