The Magic brand in UK radio originated with
Magic 828, the sister station of
Radio Aire in Leeds which was launched in July 1990, although no other stations were branded 'Magic' until the Emap group purchased the
Metro Radio Group in 1995. It can be regarded as the successor to
Great North Radio which was a small network in the
North East that consisted of what became
Magic 1170 and
Magic 1152.
Preston's
Red Rose Gold was the last to be converted to the Magic brand, in 2000, two or so years since the conversion of the majority of the stations. In London,
Melody FM was rebranded
Magic 105.4 in 1998. The northern AM stations played
Hot Adult Contemporary music. The playlists of these Magic stations predominantly consisted of hits from the 1960s and 1970s, although music from other decades was included in the mix. The London station is more laid-back and its playlist more contemporary, playing
soft adult contemporary hits from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. The London station is branded with the tagline, "More music, less talk". On 5 January 2015, the network merged with the Greatest Hits Network of Scottish AM stations to form the
Bauer City 2 network. The London-based
Magic became available nationally via
DAB at the same time. ==Directory of stations==