 In May 2009, Riley purchased BRMB, Mercia, Wyvern, Beacon in the West Midlands and Gem 106 in the East Midlands from Global Radio for a sale price worth £37.5 million.In January 2012, Riley announced that all these stations apart from Gem 106 would be rebranded as 'Free Radio' in order to give Orion better marketing opportunities.On Thursday 3 July 2014, Riley received a Special Award at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards.