Country 1035 launched across London and the South East of England 30 years ago TODAY on 1st September 1994.
Country music was enjoying a massive resurgence of popularity in the United States at the time and was doing pretty well in Ireland. In the UK, the genre was still somewhat tainted with 10 gallon hats, spit & sawdust, broken relationships and dead dogs. The sexiness of the likes of The Dixie Chicks, Tim McGraw, Kenny Chesney, Kathy Mattea and SHeDAISY were yet to make an impression in the British Market So it was a brave move to launch such a station – especially on AM only. Initially backed by Allied Radio, the CMA and some American country radio experts, the station launched to just shy of half a million listeners according to JICRAR (pre-cursor to RAJAR).
In this day and age launching a station in London, such an audience would be inconceivably large but, at the time, the industry perceived it as ‘luke warm’. Subsequent owners CLT (RTL) and Ritz Records were never able to surpass this audience. The really big let-down was the lack of support from the major record labels who had promised everything prior to launch, but ultimately did nothing. The launch was held at London’s Planet Hollywood rather than at the studios, which were just south of Fulham. Veteran broadcaster and Chairman of the station, John Wellington, was the first voice to be heard on the station alongside a special welcome message from Garth Brooks in the US who honoured Country 1035 with the first record played ‘Friends in Low Places’.
The original line-up featured Jon Scragg on breakfast, Randall Lee Rose mid-mornings and Chris Grant on afternoons. Dave Cash joined the team shortly after the launch. Evenings were helmed by David Allan and Bryan Chalker. Notable weekend presenters included Paul Hollingdale, Laura Penn and Phil Miles. There can be no doubt that the station paved the way for the numerous country stations, which have followed.
Unusually, Country 1035 launched with two jingles packages that ran alongside each other from TM Century and Thompson Creative with some great station imaging voiced by Jim Merkel.
As time went on, Country 1035 rebranded to RTL Country 1035 AM and Ritz 1035.
**All audio is downloadable – enjoy**
A big thank you to John, David and Jim for the help with this page.
DISCLAIMER: All audio featured on this website remains the IP of the respective companies and is protected under copyright.
NEW: Country 1035 ‘London’ (1994) – Station Sound Promo – Jim Merkel
NEW: TM Century Mini Mix #77 – Country 1035 ‘London’ (1994) (Composite)
NEW: Country 1035 ‘London’ (1994) – Demo – Thompson Creative
NEW: Thompson Creative Mini Mix #4 – Country 1035 ‘London’ (1994) (Orlando 2)
NEW: Country 1035 ‘London’ (1994) – Music Promo – Jim Merkel
NEW: Aircheck – Country 1035 ‘London’ – John Brocks (December 1994)
NEW: Thompson Creative Mini Mix #20 – RTL Country 1035 AM ‘London’ (1996) (Composite)
NEW: RTL Country 1035 AM ‘London’ (1996) – News – Jim Merkel
RTL Country 1035 AM ‘London’ (1996) – Travel & Weather (With Sponsor) – Jim Merkel
NEW: JAM Mini Mix #177 – Ritz 1035 ‘London’ (1999) (Composite)