History of Emap

Magazines:
1947= Emap was formed as a regional newspaper company, operating out of Peterborough (where the head office still is).
1953= Emap's first consumer magazine Angling Times was published
1956= Motor Cycle News was obtained for just £100.
1978=Smash!Hits was launched.




Radio:

1990: Emap's first achievement in radio was Kiss FM

1991= with Tim Schoonmaker in control, Emap's next foray into radio was buying Radio City in Liverpool, and taking over Owen Oyston's Trans World Communication group (Preston's Red Rose Radio, Manchester's Piccadilly Radio, and Leeds's Radio Aire).
1992= Kiss FM's Gordon Mac sold most of his shares to Emap and the station continued to have an arms-length relationship with their new owners for many years, finally moving from their studios in Holloway Road to Mappin House in 1999.

Mid 1990s= The Metro Radio Group was taken over by Emap, creating a problem for Emap executives. Bradford's The Pulse, and their AMer Great Yorkshire Radio, overlapped a large percentage of Aire FM and Magic 828 from Leeds, which blocked their purchase on regulatory grounds. The Pulse was disposed of, to a management buyout mostly formed out of ex Metro Radio Group management,The Radio Partnership.

Television

• Emap's first purchase in television was cable music channel The Box, which was purchased in 1996 - the year the group sold their newspaper business to Johnston Press .
• 'Middle youth women' were all the rage in 1997. Emap launched Red, a magazine aimed at 30-something 'feel-young' women; and a 1998 takeover of Melody FM was followed by its re-branding to a radio station aimed at a similar audience - Magic. The AM stations the group inherited in the northern cities were also re-branded. The 'less talk, more music' format was initially not too successful, replacing oldies stations.
• In 1998, Emap acquired Petersen, a publisher in the US - much to the concern of some staff, Petersen published such politically-correct titles as "Guns'n'Ammo" - and launched FHM there two years later. However, the US experience was not a good one. Emap ended up closing their USA operations in 2001: gaining £366m for the sale. (Petersen's purchase price was £1bn).
• 2000 to 2002 saw large expansion in music television and digital radio.
  Emap won its first analogue radio franchise in its own right in 2003, with Kerrang! 105.2 in the West Midlands.
  2004 saw Emap acquire 28% of shares in SRH from SMG; a full takeover of the company occurred the next year.