St Johns Beacon

St Johns Beacon (also known as the Radio City Tower) is a radio and observation tower in Liverpool, England. Designed by James A. Roberts Associates, it was built in 1969 and opened by Queen Elizabeth II. The tower is 138 m tall, and is the second-tallest free-standing structure in Liverpool. It has a 10 m long antenna on the roof, making it the tallest structure in Liverpool when antennas are included.

As testament to the importance of its design, which was described by Historic England as "embodying the technological bravura and spirit of the space age", the building was listed at Grade II in November 2020.

The tower has served as the base of the local commercial radio station Hits Radio Liverpool (formerly Radio City) since 2000. Its sister station, Greatest Hits Radio, also broadcasts from the building.

Early history
At the top of the tower was a luxury five-star revolving restaurant, the façade and floor of the restaurant revolving as one unit, while the roof was used as an observation platform for visitors. There are 558 stairs up to the top, and two lift shafts with lifts reaching the top in 30 seconds.

The tower is structurally independent of the adjacent shopping centre, with a simple foundation onto sandstone. The foundation is 60 ft in diameter, 17 ft deep and begins 40 ft below Houghton Street. It has a tapering shaft that was built using slip-formed concrete. The crow's nest structure at the top was added after the shaft was formed.

The original restaurant closed in 1979 for health and safety issues. It was re-opened, with a reduced capacity and additional fire prevention measures, during the early 1980s. The restaurant was eventually re-fitted as a Buck Rogers space-themed restaurant in 1983, but closed again for lack of business. After this the observation deck and the restaurant remained closed.

In the following years, the tower lay empty and derelict. Often considered to be an eyesore or a White elephant by fellow Liverpudlians, blue "UFO style" neon strip lights were added to the perimeter of the tower in 1994 in an attempt to increase its attractiveness. These were later removed upon the refurbishment of the tower.

In late 1998, Radio City, owned and operated by the then Emap Radio, expressed interest in refurbishing the tower to house Radio City and Magic 1548, including their studios and required office space.

Work commenced in 1999 and was completed in the summer of 2000.

Later history
The tower was refurbished between 1999 and 2000 at a cost of £5 million. It reopened as Radio City 96.7 (and Magic 1548) in August 2000. The outdoor observation deck, which had been located on the roof of the restaurant, was transformed into a second floor. It now holds the offices for the radio station. The studios are on the lower floor, which was previously the restaurant. The original revolving structure and machinery were left intact during the refurbishment. Brackets were added to lock the moving structure in place.

The tower has been known to sway in heavy winds. This is a design feature and common in construction within skyscrapers and tall buildings in order to prevent structural damage from wind pressure.

During the refurbishment between the first and second floors, the Radio City 96.7 lettering was added. Until 17 April 2024 it was illuminated in yellow at night. Following the rebranding of Radio City as Hits Radio, the signage is no longer illuminated.

Lights were added under the base of the crow's nest structure, which are illuminated all day and periodically change colour. The second floor windows are sometimes illuminated at night, often with a particular colour to mark certain events.

The refurbishment added an advertising framework at the top of the tower, designed for both a fabric banner and illuminated light boxes.

Window cleaning and exterior maintenance is performed by specialist teams, who abseil down the side of the tower from the roof.

The roof houses the local 10C Digital Audio Broadcasting multiplex for Liverpool. Hits Radio Liverpool and Greatest Hits Radio do not directly broadcast from the roof. Their FM signal is transmitted by the Allerton Park Transmitter, along with BBC Radio Merseyside on 95.8FM.

In 2017, the Liverpool-based tech startup Scan and Make organised the first edition of the art contest exhibition "Making Art 4.0" in the Radio offices.

In 2018, an artwork banner was displayed on the beacon's advertisement framework. It was titled Liverpool 2018, celebrating 10 years since the city's 2008 European Capital Of Culture events.

Radio City Talk ceased broadcasting on 31 May 2020, after it was deemed not financially viable due to low listening figures.

The tower now houses the studios and offices for the regional programming of Hits Radio Liverpool and Hits Radio Lancashire, as well as the national weekday breakfast show for Greatest Hits Radio.

St Johns Beacon Viewing Gallery
In 2010, the building's first floor was opened full-time to members of the public upon paying an entrance fee. As of 2024, this fee is £7.50 for adults and £5.50 for children. Visitors can spend as long as they wish in the tower. The gallery gives the opportunity to view Liverpool from a 360° panoramic view 452 ft above the ground.

Radio
Initially, Radio City and Magic 1548 began broadcasting from the tower. However, the tower was actually refurbished with five studios and a news booth.

In 2008, the then City Talk 105.9 began broadcasting from the building.

In 2015, Bauer extended their heritage name brands into three networks: Bauer City 1, Bauer City 2 and Bauer City 3. Magic 1548 became Radio City 2, City Talk 105.9 became Radio City Talk and swapped frequencies with Radio City 2. A new station, Radio City 3 launched on 19 January 2015. This station did not need a dedicated studio as all output came from The Hits in Manchester but retained local advertisements. It was later dropped from the lineup in 2017 and eventually, The Hits became Hits Radio UK in 2018.

In January 2019, Bauer launched Greatest Hits Radio across the UK with Bauer City 2 stations becoming localised outputs. Radio City 2 was rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio Liverpool & The North West. The national weekday breakfast show, as well as local news for Liverpool originates from the tower.

Radio City Talk ceased broadcasting on 31 May 2020 due to becoming unprofitable to run.

In September 2020 with changes to Greatest Hits Radio across the UK, Greatest Hits Radio Liverpool and The North West merged with several other stations across the north west, including Wire FM.

Hits Radio Liverpool and Hits Radio Lancashire broadcast a shared weekday breakfast show across the North West. This originates from the St Johns Beacon studio.

On 17 April 2024, Radio City and Rock FM became Hits Radio Liverpool and Hits Radio Lancashire respectively.

Failed zip wire proposal
In late June 2020, ZipWorldUK proposed plans for a permanent £5 million zip wire to be installed in Liverpool City Centre, which would have started from the second floor of the Beacon and end on the roof of the Central Library. The project attracted mixed public opinions, with many people claiming that it would be a permanent defacing of one of the city's world famous landmarks. Others expressed concerns that the noise of the zip wire could disturb library users. The plan went before Liverpool City Council and on 30 June 2020 the plans were approved, however, on 2 September 2020 it was reported that Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson was withdrawing permission for this use of the Central Library, effectively vetoing the proposal.