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.

The station began life in 1990 as 102.2 Jazz FM in London, with a second Jazz FM branded station launched four years later in Manchester. As Smooth FM 100.4, the Manchester station was the first in the network of independent local radio stations to use the Smooth brand in 2004. The network was expanded in the mid-2000s with GMG's acquisition of the Saga Radio Group and all stations were given the Smooth insignia. Following the publication of John Myers' recommendations of a regulatory overhaul in commercial radio, and the passing of the 2010 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 in October 2010, 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.

Smooth has recruited many well known British radio personalities to its line-up. Current and former presenters on the network include Simon Bates, Tony Blackburn, Mark Goodier, David Jensen, Andy Peebles, Lynn Parsons, Kevin Greening, Emma B and Graham Torrington. The station's flagship breakfast show is presented by Simon Bates, who left Classic FM after more than a decade to join Smooth, and who has revived some of his popular features from his days at BBC Radio 1, including Our Tune. In November 2011 Smooth launched a second station on the Digital One platform dedicated to Christmas music, and later replaced this with "Smooth 70s", which plays music from the 1970s.

History[link]

Early years as Jazz FM[link]

The station launched on 4 March 1990 as Jazz FM, playing mainly soul and jazz music in London.^[1][2] It also launched a sister station in Manchester on 1 September 1994 called 100.4 Jazz FM.^[3]

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",^[4] and as a result, 100.4 Jazz FM closed on 13 February 2004 and relaunched as Smooth FM on 1 March 2004.^[5] 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.^[6][7][8]

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.^[9][10] 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.^[11]

Change of identity and expansion[link]

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.^[12] Along with the Smooth FM stations in London and Manchester, all Saga stations were relaunched under the Smooth Radio brand on 26 March 2007.^[13][14] 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.^[15][16] A service for the North East, 97.5 Smooth Radio, was launched in January 2008.^[17] 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.^[18]

The decrease of local output lead to criticism from the former managing director of Saga 105.2 FM, after GMG Radio decided to sack six local Scottish presenters in August 2008 in favour of increased networking of shows from Smooth stations in London and Manchester. The station had operated a 24-hour schedule of local programming until that point, and Quirk labelled the sackings as "disgraceful", and expressed his fears that the station would not be in a position to serve the needs and interests of the Scottish people as well as Saga had done.^[19]

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.^[20] In a meeting on 22 April 2008 Ofcom declined GMG's request to drop its jazz commitments.^[21] GMG, under licence to The Local Radio Company relaunched Jazz FM despite the decision.^[22]

Going national[link]

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.^[23] 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.^[24][25] 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.^[26] The Jazz commitments for London and the North West were also dropped. The new Smooth Radio was launched on 4 October 2010. Most of the shows are broadcast from Salford Quays with other shows from London.^[27]

On 1 November 2011, GMG Radio launched a dedicated station playing nothing but Christmas music, under the brand "Smooth Christmas". The station, on the Digital One multiplex, had no news or advertisements but did promote Smooth Radio and broadcast until 27 December 2011.^[28] Smooth Christmas was subsequently replaced on a trial basis by Smooth 70s, playing tracks from the 1970s.^[29] The station was warmly received by listeners, and in January 2012 GMG Radio confirmed a deal with US syndication firm Premiere Networks to air 1970s editions of the original American Top 40 show presented by Casey Kasem at weekends. The station also features Disco Lunch and Late Night Love Songs among its weekday programming.^[30]

In September 2011 Breakfast Show presenter Simon Bates broadcast a week of programmes from South Australia as part of a promotion to give away at holiday to the country,^[31] while in December he travelled to Afghanistan for a series of shows with British troops from Camp Bastion. The programmes featured Christmas messages to loved ones from soldiers serving in Afghanistan, while Bates – who had previously presented shows from Iraq – explored the future of Afghanistan as coalition forces prepared to hand over control to the Afghan National Army.^[32][33][34] On 8 April 2012, Easter Sunday, the forces broadcaster BFBS simulcast a two hour show with Smooth, presented jointly by Simon Bates and BFBS's Rachel Cochrane allowing family and friends of serving troops to connect with their loved ones.^[35] On 27 May 2012 Bates presented a special programme ahead of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant, previewing Elizabeth II's journey along the Thames on the Spirit of Chartwell. Given special access to the vessel chosen as the royal barge he spoke to the boat's owner, Philip Morrell as well as composer Debbie Wiseman who was commissioned to write the music for the event.^[36]

On 16 January 2012 Smooth Radio launched a phone-in competition titled the Smooth Secret Songs in which listeners were invited to call in to identify a short excerpt from three songs, winning a cash prize if they could name the tracks correctly. The prize money started at £5,000, with each wrong answer generating a £100 increase until they are guessed correctly. A contestant from Birmingham won £18,000 on 3 February after identifying the songs as Got to Be There by Michael Jackson, Smooth Operator by Sade and On the Radio by Donna Summer.^[37] A previous version of the competition requiring contestants to guess one song correctly was separately held by London's 102.2 Smooth FM and Manchester's 100.4 Smooth FM in 2006. A listener to the London station won £118,454 after identifying Diana Ross's My Old Piano, while a contestant in the Northwest picked up £86,500 after correctly guessing the track as Quincy Jones's Razzamatazz.^[38][39]

Presenters[link]

Presenter history[link]

Presenters on Smooth Radio have included many who made their names in broadcasting both at national and local level. Prior to his death in 2007 former Radio 1 DJ Kevin Greening was a presenter on 102.2 Smooth Radio,^[40] and had worked for its predecessor, 102.2 Smooth FM. Lynn Parsons, a former Virgin and BBC presenter joined 102.2 Smooth Radio along with Capital FM's Mike Allen in March 2007.^[41][42] Mark Goodier also joined Smooth in London in March 2007 to present his first daily radio programme for a decade, and the show was networked from September of that year.^[43] East Midlands based presenters John Peters and Amanda Bowman fronted shows on 106.6 Smooth Radio in Nottingham for a while having previously worked at Saga, while Carlos (one of the station's current presenters) hosted a show on 105.7 Smooth Radio in Birmingham until joining the national Smooth Radio in 2010.^[44]

After joining 102.2 Smooth Radio in February 2008,^[45] veteran broadcaster Tony Blackburn began presenting a syndicated weekend breakfast show for Smooth later that year.^[46] He hosted the programme until he left the station in October 2010 to present Pick of the Pops on BBC Radio 2, departing because the BBC would not allow him to continue working for a rival broadcaster,^[47] The former GMTV presenter Fiona Phillips made a return to her radio roots when she was signed to present a networked Sunday afternoon show from 23 March 2008,^[48] but after disappointing audience figures she was dropped from the schedule a year later.^[49] 2008 also saw Capital breakfast's Chris Tarrant signed to host a weekly Saturday morning show for several GMG stations, designed to rival Jonathan Ross's programme on Radio 2.^[50] The show aired until 25 July 2009 after which locally-based programming returned in the timeslot occupied by Tarrant.

Another former Radio 1 DJ, Andy Peebles began presenting a networked weekday evening show from March 2009,^[51] having previously brought his Soul Train to 100.4 Smooth Radio upon its launch in 2004.^[52] Former head of music at GMG Radio Terry Underhill joined the network in 2009, but left in 2011 to take up the position at UTV Media as director of programming.^[53] In September 2009 record producer Pete Waterman was signed to present a programme featuring some of his favourite hits from the 1970s and 1980s.^[54]

Since GMG's 2010 decision to launch Smooth as a national station several well known radio personalities have been signed up to join its line-up. In August 2010 it was confirmed that Simon Bates would leave Classic FM after 13 years to join Smooth Radio as its new weekday breakfast presenter from January 2011.^[55] Bates, a former Radio 1 presenter, revived some of his popular features from his Radio 1 days, which included The Golden Hour and Our Tune.^[56] Gold's David "Kid" Jensen was signed in November to front an afternoon show from 2011,^[57] later confirmed to begin from April,^[58] while Pat Sharp was appointed as Tony Blackburn's replacement in January 2012.^[59] Emma B joined the network in March 2011 to host a Sunday afternoon show,^[60] and in January 2012 Graham Torrington joined the station to host his Late Night Love show on Sunday evenings,^[61] but the show was axed after three months in favour of a syndicated programme from the United States presented by Donny Osmond.^[62] Denise Van Outen has hosted one-off shows for Smooth, covering for Emma B in May 2011,^[63] presenting a special programme on Christmas Eve,^[64] and again on Easter Monday 2012.^[65] The former BBC Royal Correspondent Jennie Bond reported on the Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton for Smooth on 29 April 2011.^[66]

Current line-up[link]

The current line-up at Smooth is as follows.

• Simon Bates - Smooth Breakfast (Mon-Fri)
• Mark Goodier - The Mark Goodier Show (Mid Mornings Mon-Fri)
• Carlos - Daytime with Carlos (Weekday Afternoons Mon-Fri) and Saturday Afternoon with Carlos
• David Jensen - Drivetime (Mon-Fri) and Double Top 20 (Sunday evenings)
• Andy Peebles - "Smooth Evenings" (Mon - Thur) and Andy Peebles Soul Train (Sat)
• Derek Webster - Smooth Nights (Mon-Fri)
• Pete Waterman - Pete Waterman's Friday Night Fever
• Dave Lincon - Smooth Nights (Sat-Sun)
• Pat Sharp - Smooth Weekend Breakfast
• Lynn Parsons - Lynn Parsons on Smooth Radio (Saturday & Sunday Mid Mornings)
• Dave Brown - The Motown Show (Saturday Early Evening)
• Emma B - Sunday Afternoons
• Donny Osmond - Sunday evenings
• Stuart Ellis - Stand in presenter
• Chris Best - Stand in presenter
• Steve Collins - Stand in presenter
• David Prevar - Stand in presenter
• Ben Jones - Stand in presenter

Former presenters[link]

• Tony Blackburn (2008-2010)
• Graham Dene (2010)
• Terry Underhill (2009-2011)
• Graham Torrington (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

• SmoothRadio.com