Zerah Colburn (locomotive designer) to England to take up a job as editor of "The Engineer", Britain’s leading weekly technical journal. In this position, Colburn made friends with members of the Institutions of Civil and Mechanical Engineers and became a member of both. He gave frequent lectures and contributed at meetings. It is almost certain that while in London Colburn met Isambard Kingdom Brunel. In 1860, Colburn returned to America on the maiden voyage of the "Great Eastern", Brunel's leviathan steamship. In America he launched a new weekly engineering newspaper, "The Engineer", but this lasted only a few months and Colburn returned to England
Brunel FM renamed the station to Brunel FM, after Isambard Kingdom Brunel whose railway network had developed Swindon from a small village on the top of a hill, to a large town. Brunel Radio was also the previous name for Classic Gold Radio (now DAB Station Gold) when Wiltshire Radio/GWR (now Heart Wiltshire) launched on FM. However Brunel FM and Brunel Radio/Brunel Classic Gold had no connection other than their names and where their studios were based. The station launched at 10am on 2 September 2006, to the sound of many people from around the coverage area wishing the station luck. In