| City of license | Manchester |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | United Kingdom: National (DAB); North West, London, West Midlands, North East, Scotland & East Midlands (FM & DAB) |
| Slogan | "Love Life. Love Music" |
| Frequency | FM 100.4 MHz, 101.4 MHz, 102.2 MHz, 105.7 MHz, 97.5 MHz, 105.2 MHz & 106.6 MHz DAB - 11D (England & Wales) - 12A (Scotland) - 12A (West Midlands) - 12C (North West) - 12C (North East) - 12C (Nottinghamshire) Sky: 0128 Virgin Media: 916 Freeview: 718 Freesat: 732 |
| First air date | As Jazz FM 4 March 1990 As Smooth Radio 1 October 2010 |
| Format | Adult contemporary |
| Owner | GMG Radio |
| Sister stations | Real Radio 106.1 Real Radio XS Jazz FM |
| Website | SmoothRadio.com |
Smooth Radio is an Independent National Radio station in the United Kingdom owned by GMG Radio. It broadcasts on the DAB Digital Radio Digital 1 national multiplex and on Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media and online as well as regional FM and DAB frequencies in the North West, London, North East, West Midlands, Scotland and East Midlands.
As Smooth FM 100.4, the station was the first in the network of independent local radio stations to use the Smooth brand. Following the publication of John Myers' recommendations of a regulatory overhaul in commercial radio, and the passing of the Digital Economy Act, which allowed stations to co-locate or drop local shows and broadcast, Smooth Radio merged its five England stations into one quasi-national station, with local news feeds produced from GMG Radio's headquarters in Salford Quays. 105.2 Smooth Radio in Scotland produces its own breakfast and drivetime shows, carrying networked programming at other times.
Contents |
The station launched on 4 March 1990 as Jazz FM, playing mainly soul and jazz music in London. It also launched a sister station in Manchester on 1 September 1994 called 100.4 Jazz FM.
In 2003, the Guardian Media Group did extensive research into the type of music that listeners in the north-west wanted to hear. They concluded that many people were dissuaded by the name "jazz", and as a result, 100.4 Jazz FM closed on 13 February 2004 and relaunched as Smooth FM on 1 March 2004. Similarly, in 2005, GMG made the decision to rebrand the London station from 102.2 Jazz FM to 102.2 Smooth FM. The two stations relaunched playing middle of the road music, soul and R&B during the day and, as part of its licence requirements, focused on jazz music at night.
On 20 October 2006, GMG Radio announced that it was requesting a change of format for 102.2 and 100.4 Smooth FM from Ofcom, moving the station away from its daytime soul and R&B remit which had, until that point, formed an integral part of the licence. GMG proposed an easy listening music service mixed with speech for the over 50s, coupled with an improved local news service. Ofcom approved the changes on 8 December 2006, with the condition that GMG retained the 45 hours of jazz per week that constituted part of the former licence requirement.[1][2] As a result of the format change, GMG agreed to adhere to a minimum of 20% of its music during daytime being over 40 years old, to distance the station from its London rivals Magic and Heart 106.2.
In December 2006 Guardian Media Group expanded the Smooth Network by acquiring the Saga Radio Group, who owned stations in the West Midlands, East Midlands and Scotland, together with a licence to begin broadcasting to the North East. Along with the Smooth FM stations in London and Manchester, all Saga stations were relaunched under the Smooth Radio brand on 26 March 2007. Saga 105.7 FM in the West Midlands became 105.7 Smooth Radio, Saga 106.6 FM in the East Midlands became 106.6 Smooth Radio and Glasgow based Saga 105.2 FM became 105.2 Smooth Radio. A service for the North East, 97.5 Smooth Radio, was launched in January 2008. To begin with most programming for these stations was produced locally with a few networked shows from London. However, smooth gradually increased its networked programmes until most programming was simulcast from London or Manchester.
In March 2008, GMG requested a format change to remove the 45 hour jazz commitment it had in place for its London and Manchester stations. Part of the plans included a relaunch of Jazz FM from the jazzfm.com service (at the time broadcasting on DAB in Glasgow and online) onto a DAB multiplex in London.[3] In a meeting on 22 April 2008 Ofcom declined GMG's request to drop its jazz commitments.[4] GMG, under licence to The Local Radio Company relaunched Jazz FM despite the decision.[5]
Following the publication of John Myers' recommendations of a regulatory overhaul in commercial radio, and the passing of the Digital Economy Act, which allowed stations to co-locate or drop all local shows and broadcast on national DAB, Smooth Radio merged its five England stations into one quasi-national station, with local news feeds produced from GMG Radio's headquarters in Salford Quays.[6] GMG made the announcement on 29 June 2010, that it wanted to rival BBC Radio 2 by broadcasting on the Digital 1 multiplex on DAB Digital Radio to the whole of England and Wales, as well as Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media and online. A regional flavour would be kept with split news, travel and weather bulletins broadcasting in the FM and DAB regional stations in the North East, North West, West Midlands and East Midlands. London listeners and those tuning nationally would hear national information. 105.2 Smooth Radio in Scotland had to keep its Breakfast and Drivetime Local but networked the rest of the time. The Jazz commitments for London and the North West were also dropped. The new Smooth Radio was launched on 1 October 2010. Most of the shows are broadcast from Salford Quays with other shows from London.
On 1 November 2011, GMG Radio launched a dedicated station playing nothing but Christmas music, under the brand "Smooth Christmas". The station had no news or advertisements but did promote Smooth Radio and broadcast until 27 December 2011.[7]