Arqiva ( /ɑrˈkiːvə/) is a telecommunications company which provides infrastructure and broadcast transmission facilities in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The present company, with headquarters located at Crawley Court in the village of Crawley, Hampshire, was formed by National Grid Wireless combining with Arqiva in September 2008. Its main customers are broadcasters and mobile phone network operators, and its main asset is a network of over 1,000 radio and television transmission sites. It is owned by a consortium of investors led by CPP (Canadian Pension Plan) and the Australian investment house Macquarie Bank. Arqiva is a patron of The Radio Academy.

The company, as it stands in 2011, has a history that dates back to the beginning of regular public broadcasting in the United Kingdom, in 1922. Below is a potted history of the various organisations that are now part of Arqiva.

Responsibility for the transmitter assets of the BBC lay solely within the corporation until 1997. The assets were then split into a separate company, prior to being sold.

Simon Hirst (born Simon Neil Hirst in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, 31 July 1975) is a British radio presenter best known for hosting Hit40UK, the former national commercial chart show. He currently hosts the weekday breakfast show on Capital Yorkshire called Hirsty's Daily Dose with Danny Oakes and Jo Kelly.

Hirst started his career aged 12 at 96.3 Radio Aire in Leeds as a helper making tea for Dj's, he soon moved up the ranks and was on the overnight show at 16. Soon after he moved onto Minster FM in York, then onto The Pulse of West Yorkshire in Bradford in 1995 to present the evening show, where he claims in an interview "I stopped being a bland DJ whilst doing evenings, and realised there was more to radio than just playing the hits".

In 1997 he moved to Hallam FM in Sheffield, his local station, where he hosted the drivetime programme for three years. He then returned to The Pulse of West Yorkshire to co-host the breakfast show with Elisa Hilton, but quickly left to take over the breakfast show at Viking FM in Hull - the one area of Yorkshire which had yet to hear him - after the departure of JK and Joel. He and his breakfast team (Darren Lethem, Danny Oakes (known on-air as "Pimp Daddy Dogg") and Jamie York) won a bronze Sony Award in 2002.

Alan Dedicoat (born 1 December 1954) is an English announcer for programmes on BBC One and BBC Radio 2; he is probably best known as the "Voice of the Balls" on the National Lottery programmes on BBC One. He also reads the news on BBC Radio 2 where he is nicknamed Deadly.

He was born on 1 December 1954 in Hollywood, Worcestershire. The son of a newsagent, Dedicoat was educated at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys in Birmingham, and the University of Birmingham. Dedicoat originally worked in the Civil Service as an Executive Officer before joining the BBC

Dedicoat joined BBC Radio Birmingham at Pebble Mill in 1079 as a presenter, before moving to BBC Radio Devon four years later. After his time in the West Country, he moved to London to join the Presentation Department of BBC Radio 2 at Broadcasting House, and later became its head, a position he retains. As part of this job, he read the news on BBC Radio 2's weekday breakfast programme, Wake Up to Wogan, before its demise in December 2009, as well as on Sarah Kennedy's show until she left the station in 2010.

Jessica Ellen Cornish (born 27 March 1988), better known by her stage name Jessie J, is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, she studied at the BRIT School before signing with Gut Records and striking a songwriting deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing where she wrote for artists such as Chris Brown and Miley Cyrus.

Signed with Universal, Jessie J came to prominence following the release of her debut single "Do It Like a Dude" which peaked at number two on the UK Singles Charts. After scoring her first number one in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and New Zealand with the song "Price Tag", she released her debut album Who You Are (2011) which charted at number two in the UK. Other releases from the album include "Nobody's Perfect", "Who's Laughing Now" and "Who You Are" which charted within the top 20 in the UK but the release of fifth single "Domino" spawned international chart success, peaking at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, and becoming her second UK number one. Aside from her musical career, Jessie J is currently a coach and mentor on television show The Voice UK.

Stacey Solomon (born 4 October 1989) is an English singer, television presenter and reality TV star. She rose to fame during her time on the sixth series of The X Factor, coming third overall on the show. She gained a number one single on both the UK Singles Chart and the Irish Singles Chart when her fellow The X Factor finalists released a cover of "You Are Not Alone".

Solomon won the tenth series of reality television show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!. and was named "Queen of the Jungle". Solomon's debut single, a cover of "Driving Home for Christmas", was released on 19 December 2011.

Solomon was born in Essex to a Jewish family. Solomon attended King Solomon High School. At the age of 17, Solomon became pregnant by her boyfriend of the time (Dean Cox). The young couple split sometime before the birth of their son Zachary on 21 March 2008. Since 2009, Solomon had been dating boyfriend Aaron Barham who she met on holiday in Greece. The couple became engaged on 4 December 2011 - shortly after it was announced that they were due to have a baby in the Spring. Solomon gave birth to her second son, named Leighton, on 5 May 2012.