Country 1035

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Country 1035 was a London, England radio station launched on 1st September 1994. After airing test transmissions the first voice officially heard on air was the stations chairman John Wellington. In his opening words he noted that the station will "fulfill a long awaited need". It was the first terrestrial station in the country to broadcast Country music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (although TV and Radio stations had been broadcasting the genre daily for sometime). Garth Brooks, who was at the peak of his fame, officially opened the station after Wellington's speech with the words "On behalf of all the Country music artists and Country music fans. Hi folks, this is Garth Brooks and you've got it tuned to the newest radio station in London. It's Country 1035 and I officially declare it open. I wish you guys a long success and a lot of happiness, cause that's the true measure of success".

The first song played was Brooks' Friends In Low Places (which was voted #1 country song ever by listeners of the station a few months later), the second was another Brooks song The Dance. The station's early line up included such well-known presenters such as Jon Scragg, Randall Lee Rose, Paul Hollingdale, David Allan and Bryan Chalker. Chalker was fired from the station not, as has been suggested, for playing songs that were too old but for disciplinary reasons. David Allen left the station, going back to BBC Radio 2 and in an article for Country Music People magazine he criticized the station for not playing enough true country music.

As presenters and managers alike bickered about what was "true" Country music, the operation began to run out of money and Country 1035 faced closure. After much heart-searching, the station was sold to media giant RTL who made attempts for nearly three years to turn it around. An initial over-formulaic, heavy-rotation playlist cut ratings, but a subsequent, more audience-friendly format saw station share rise, and at one time, even exceed its competitor Jazz FM.

After attempts to run it on a skeleton basis from sister station Talk Radio (itself a serial radio casualty) RTL in turn sold 'RTL Country 1035' to Ritz Records, at one time the UK record label for Daniel O'Donnell. Ritz sold it on to Mean Radio, part of Vince Power's Mean Fiddler group. It was then purchased, in turn by Asian radio tycoon Avtar Lit, owner of Sunrise Radio, who re-named it Easy 1035. After a year or so of broadcasting a mixed easy listening / country format, Mr Lit applied to Ofcom to transfer Easy to a digital platform, thus freeing the 1035 frequency for a further Asian language station. "Easy 1035" stopped broadcasting on the terrestrial AM service in 2003 but is still broadcasting (now called Easy Radio London) via its digital frequency.

There is still a market for country music radio in the UK, but the advent of digital platforms means it is unlikely such a station would ever again be licensed on a terrestrial frequency.