Legendary DJ Dave Lee Travis proved the oldies are still the best when he arrived in Bradford to re-launch a radio station - nearly two years after it was dumped.

The DJ, nicknamed the Hairy Cornflake, is one of the star names broadcasting on the Classic Gold Radio Station across the region from this week.

The station was dumped in January 2000 and replaced by Big AM, a sister station of Bradford's Pulse radio, as bosses thought veteran DJs, including DLT and 'Diddy' David Hamilton, were 'old hat'. But listeners used to hearing classics from the 60s and 70s started reaching for the off-switch when the new station began broadcasting music by more modern stars.

Official figures released in August showed Big AM could only scrape together 1.1 per cent of the regional listening market in the six months leading up to June, about a third of the corresponding figure last year and barely one-fifth of the 1999 figure for Classic Gold.

A radio insider said: "Listeners started turning off in droves and what was once one of the most successful AM stations in the country dropped down the audience charts like a stone.

"The same bosses who scrapped Classic Gold for being old hat two years ago, are bringing it back!"

Programme controller at the Pulse, Simon Walkington, yesterday admitted Big AM had flopped.

Mr Walkington said the station had 'disenfranchised' listeners when it had switched from Classic Gold to Big AM and people still wanted to 'hear the oldies' rather than new music from new bands.

Speaking at the station launch, Mr Travis said: "I'm delighted to be back in this region. I'm looking forward to being back on the airwaves, playing some good music, and doing what we do best, which is communicating with the public."

The majority of the relaunched station will be broadcast from its studios in Dunstable.