XFM

For other uses, see Xfm (disambiguation).

Xfm is a brand of two commercial radio stations focused on alternative music, primarily indie pop, and owned by Global Radio.

History

Xfm was created in London in 1992 by Sammy Jacob, who later co-founded NME Radio in 2008. Xfm subsequently expanded to a network of four stations; there are currently two main Xfm services. Xfm is now also available across most of the country via DAB digital radio.

The station has previously employed a number of DJs that have since gone on to even greater fame including Ricky Gervais, Karl Pilkington, Stephen Merchant, Simon Pegg, Christian O'Connell, Russell Brand, Justin Lee Collins, Adam and Joe, Alex Zane and Dermot O'Leary

On 11 February 2008 GCap Media announced that they would be selling the analogue licences for the Manchester, Scotland and South Wales stations,^[1] retaining only XFM London. This was decided in an attempt to shore-up profits and concentrate on 'winning brands'. However, although the sale of the South Wales station went ahead, the sale of the Scotland and Manchester stations was suspended when Global Radio entered into discussions to purchase GCap.

The station became the first ever to release a band's album for free via their website. The album was You Cross My Path by The Charlatans. The station has since entered into arrangements with various other bands to offer free promotional downloads and offers.

Stations

The current stations in the Xfm network are:

• Xfm London, which has been broadcasting on 104.9 FM in the Greater London area officially since 1997 (and unofficially since 1992).
• Xfm Manchester, which was launched on 97.7 FM on 15 March 2006.

These two stations now network the vast majority of content, though separate local daily breakfast shows and weekday drivetime shows remain.

The London variation is also broadcast on numerous Digital Radio multiplexes across the country, allowing Xfm to reach near-national coverage.^[2]

Proposed expansion of the Xfm Network

In recent years, Xfm has held 28-day Restricted Service Licence broadcasts in a number of British cities, including Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow and on 9 June 2005, the group was awarded a permanent FM broadcasting licence to serve the city of Manchester as Xfm Manchester. Also on 4 January 2006, GCap Media relaunched its Central Scotland regional station Beat 106 as Xfm Scotland.

In 2000, Xfm London was added to a number of DAB multiplexes around the country, and in January 2006 it replaced The Storm on a number of local multiplexes, creating near-national coverage. It is reported that this 'national' version of Xfm London (known as Xfm UK) will have local content on it (e.g. News, Travel) increasing with time. However, on 11 February 2008 GCap Media announced that they would be selling the analogue license for the Manchester, Scotland and South Wales stations,^[3] retaining only Xfm London.

This decision was made in an attempt to shore-up profits and concentrate on 'winning brands', calling the former nationalisation strategy into question. After this announcement, in early 2008, breakfast show host Alex Zane admitted on air that the future of the London station was also being reviewed, even making jokey references to perhaps being out of a job soon.

On 7 November 2008, Xfm Scotland became part of the Galaxy Network and was renamed Galaxy Scotland now 105-106 Capital FM Scotland.

Former Stations

Former stations in the network included:

• Xfm Scotland, formerly Beat 106, which was launched on 4 January 2006. It was then renamed again, to Galaxy Scotland on 8 November 2008.
• Xfm South Wales which broadcast to Cardiff & South Wales between 29 November 2007 and 30 May 2008, was sold to Town and Country Broadcasting who launched Nation Radio on its frequency.

In 2005, Xfm was among the bidders for the regional North East franchise on 97.5 FM,^[4] but this licence was ultimately awarded to Smooth Radio by Ofcom.

References

External links

• Xfm.co.uk