From 2010 to 2014, Smooth Radio was an independent, commercial, national radio station in the United Kingdom. Owned by Real and Smootha company formerly known as GMG Radiothe station was aimed at the over-40 demographic, and competed for its audience with BBC Radio 2. It was broadcast on the DAB Digital Radio Digital 1 national multiplex, Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media, online and on regional FM and DAB frequencies in the North West, London, North East, West Midlands, Scotland and East Midlands. Nationally the station attracted a weekly average audience of 3 million.
The station opened in 1990 as 102.2 Jazz FM in London, and a second Jazz FM branded station was launched four years later in Manchester. The Manchester station became Smooth FM 100.4 in 2004, and was the first in the network of independent local radio stations to use the Smooth brand. The London station followed suit a year later. The network's parent company, GMG Radioa subsidiary of the Guardian Media Groupacquired the Saga Radio Group in the mid-2000s, and all Saga stations were given the Smooth name. After the publication of John Myers' recommendations of a regulatory overhaul in commercial radio, and the passing of the Digital Economy Act 2010 allowing stations to co-locate or discontinue local shows and broadcasts, Smooth Radio merged its five English stations into a single, quasi-national station in October 2010; local news feeds were produced at GMG Radio's headquarters in Salford Quays. 105.2 Smooth Radio in Scotland produced its own breakfast and drivetime shows, but carried networked programming at other times. As part of their licence agreement, the London and Manchester stations were required to continue their commitment to jazz music after dropping the Jazz FM name, and the UK's broadcasting industry regulator Office of Communications (Ofcom) stipulated they must broadcast 45 hours of jazz programming per week, but this requirement was ended shortly before the merger took place.
Smooth recruited many well-known British radio personalities to its line-up. Presenters on the network included Emma B, Simon Bates, Tony Blackburn, Mark Goodier, David Jensen and Chris Tarrant. The station's flagship breakfast show was presented by Simon Bates, who left Classic FM after more than a decade. It broadcast occasional documentaries on subjects relating to music, news and media events; some of these won the station radio industry awards. 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 played music from the 1970s. The Christmas station returned in 2012, and Smooth 70s closed in September 2013. Along with its sister station, Real Radio, Smooth was an official host of the Blackpool Illuminations switch-on ceremony from 2010, and staged regular, free live music events. The station signed a number of sponsorship deals with companies such as Tetley Tea and ATS Euromaster, and held annual fundraising events in aid of the charities Help for Heroes and Macmillan Cancer Support.
GMG Radio was taken over by rival Global Radio in June 2012. Global's purchase of the company was referred to Ofcom, the Office of Fair Trading and the Competition Commission amid concerns that Global's market share may be disproportionately large as a result of the deal, and consequently not in the public interest. GMG Radio subsequently changed its name to Real and Smooth Radio Ltd. A report issued by the Competition Commission in May 2013 highlighted competitiveness issues and recommended a full or partial sale of Real and Smooth. Real and Smooth Radio Ltd and Global continued to operate as separate companies while the takeover was investigated. Smooth moved its operations from Manchester to Global's London headquarters in October 2013. In February 2014, Global were given permission to remove Smooth from the Digital One platform and replace it with another station. Global also sold eight of its regional stations, including three operated under the Smooth brand, and announced that Smooth would replace much of its Gold network on the medium wave frequency. The Smooth brand was relaunched as a network of regional stations in March 2014.
History
Early years as Jazz FM
thumb|left|London's [[Royal Albert Hall was the venue for Jazz FM's launch night which featured a performance by Ella Fitzgerald.]]
London station 102.2 Jazz FM was launched on 4 March 1990 with a concert performed by Ella Fitzgerald at the Royal Albert Hall. Jazz FM played mainly soul and jazz music and was broadcast to the London area. A sister station in Manchester called 100.4 Jazz FM was launched on 1 September 1994. and became part of the company's radio division, GMG Radio Holdings Ltd.
In 2003, GMG radio conducted market research into the type of music that listeners in the north-west of England wanted to hear on the radio. The study 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. In 2005, GMG rebranded the London station 102.2 Smooth FM. The two renamed stations played middle of the road music, soul and R&B during the day and as part of their licence requirements, 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, to remove the stations' daytime soul and R&B licence commitments. GMG Radio proposed an easy listening music service mixed with speech for the over 50s, and 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. As a result of the format change and to distance the station from its London rivals Magic and Heart 106.2, GMG Radio agreed that a minimum of 20% of its daytime music output would be over 40 years old.
Change of identity and expansion
thumb|right|The former studios of [[97.5 Smooth Radio in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, seen here in January 2008 shortly after it went on air. The station was broadcast to the north-east of England.]]
In December 2006, GMG Radio acquired the Saga Radio Group, which owned stations in the West Midlands, East Midlands and Scotland, and a licence to begin broadcasting to the North East, and expanded the Smooth Network. 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 of England, 97.5 Smooth Radio, was launched in January 2008. To begin with, most programming for these stations was produced locally and some shows were networked from London. However, Smooth gradually increased its networked programming until most content was originated in London or Manchester.
In March 2008, GMG Radio requested that Ofcom remove the 45-hour jazz commitment for its London and Manchester stations. The company planned to relaunch Jazz FM from the jazzfm.com service which broadcast on DAB in Glasgow, online and on a DAB multiplex in London. In a meeting on 22 April 2008, Ofcom declined the request. GMG relaunched Jazz FM despite having to retain the jazz commitment.
The decrease of local output lead to criticism from Norman Quirk, the former managing director of Saga 105.2 FM in Glasgow, after GMG Radio dismissed six Scottish presenters in August 2008 in favour of increased networked content from its stations in London and Manchester. The station had operated a 24-hour schedule of local programming. Quirk labelled the dismissals "disgraceful" and expressed his fears that the station would not be able to serve the needs and interests of the Scottish people as well as Saga had done.
Further expansion
After John Myers' recommendations of a regulatory overhaul in commercial radio were published, and the Digital Economy Act 2010 allowing stations to co-locate or discontinue local shows and to broadcast on national DAB was passed, Smooth Radio merged its five English stations into one quasi-national station, and local news feeds were produced from GMG Radio's headquarters in Salford Quays. GMG Radio announced on 29 June 2010 that it wanted to compete with BBC Radio 2 by broadcasting on the Digital One multiplex on DAB to the whole of England and Wales, and Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media and online. Regional content would be kept; split news, travel and weather bulletins would be broadcast on the FM and regional DAB stations in the North East, North West, West Midlands and East Midlands. Listeners in London and those tuning to the national output would hear national information. 105.2 Smooth Radio in Scotland would keep its local breakfast and drivetime programmes because of the rules governing its broadcast licence, but networked content would be broadcast the rest of the time.
On 1 November 2011, GMG Radio launched "Smooth Christmas" on the Digital One multiplex, a dedicated station playing only Christmas music with no news or advertisements. It promoted Smooth Radio and broadcast until 27 December 2011. Smooth Christmas was replaced on a trial basis by Smooth 70s, playing tracks from the 1970s. 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 American Top 40 show presented by Casey Kasem, which would be broadcast at weekends. Smooth 70s' weekday programming included Disco Lunch and Late Night Love Songs. Due to its popularity, Smooth Christmas was relaunched in November 2012 on the Digital One multiplex alongside Smooth 70s.
New ownership
In June 2012 it was reported that Guardian Media Group was seeking to sell GMG Radio in order to restructure itself to stem losses being made by The Guardian and The Observer newspapers. Several offers were received for the subsidiary, valuing it at £50 million. GMG Radio was sold to Global Radio on 25 June, at an estimated price of between £50 million and £70 million. Global renamed GMG Radio "Real and Smooth Radio Ltd." The deal prompted speculation about the possible disappearance of the Smooth Radio brand as a result of a possible merger with Global's Gold network, which was aimed at a similar audience. It was announced that in the short term GMG Radio and Global would continue to operate as separate entities while a review of the sale was carried out by Ofcom.
On 3 August the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt instructed Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to examine Global Radio's purchase of GMG, which gave Global over 50% of the UK radio market because of concerns the takeover may not be in the public interest. On 11 October, the OFT agreed to fast-track the investigation. Hunt's successor Maria Miller said the deal would not be investigated for media plurality. The OFT concluded that the merger could lead to a rise in local advertising costs because of the decrease in competitors, and forwarded the matter to the Competition Commission, which oversees business mergers and takeovers. On the same day the Competition Commission announced it would publish its findings into the takeover by 27 March 2013.
On 21 February 2013, the Competition Commission confirmed it would delay its decision until May, and issued a statement in which it said, "The range of possible remedies to be considered in this case is complex and that all possible remedies need to be explored with the parties to the merger and third parties". The Commission published its final report into the acquisition on 21 May, requiring Global to sell radio stations in seven locations.