Latest news about Smooth Radio

David Kid Jensen gets six part series on Jazz FM

Kid Jensen is joining the team at Jazz FM to host a six-part series about his love for jazz music and to highlight the work of Parkinson’s UK. The former BBC Radio 1, Radio 2, Capital FM, The Jazz and Smooth Radio presenter, who is also an ambassador of Parkinson’s UK, starts his weekly show on Sunday 21st February. Of his new Jazz FM show and passion for the music he will play, David says: “I made my BOAC maiden flight in 1968, landing in London with a toothbrush and a pocket full of dreams and I used to love strolling down Wardour Street, loving venues like Revolution, Ronnie Scott’s, The Cromwellian and the Speakeasy...

Smooth ends AM transmission in Luton and Bedford

Global has handed back the AM licence for Smooth Radio’s frequencies in Luton and Bedford. It follows Network Rail taking over one of the transmitter sites. The two frequencies – 792 and 828 AM were originally home to Chiltern Radio and the Supergold brand, and more recently broadcast Gold then Smooth. The transmitters were officially launched in October 1981 and the station had five years left on its Ofcom licence...

Presenter Kate Garraway returns to Smooth Radio

Smooth Radio’s mid-morning presenter Kate Garraway is returning to the schedule from 14th September after a few months off. Kate took time off the 10am till 1pm show after her husband Derek was hospitalised with coronavirus, but she says the time is right to get back on the radio. Myleene Klass has been covering the 10am till 1pm show and will now return to her weekend show each Saturday afternoon show from 4pm to 7pm. Newspaper reports today say Derek remains in a minimally conscious state in hospital, and Kate has shared her family’s story over the last few weeks with OK magazine...

RAJAR Q1 2020: Regional and local radio facts and figures

XS Manchester has doubled its listening hours year-on-year after the station was saved from closure. The Communicorp station now has 132,000 weekly reach (last year 94,000) and 1.28 million hours (last year 546k), giving it more total hours than Manchester’s heritage station Hits Radio. Also in the north west, Radio City Talk, which will close at the end of this month, leaves with 32,000 weekly listeners, down from 45,000 a year ago. Sticking with Bauer, local stations are mostly on the up. Of the 15 local services for Greatest Hits Radio in Scotland and England, eight are up and seven are down...

RAJAR Q1 2020: London and national brands roundup

BBC Radio 2 has lost almost a million listeners in the last year, according to the Q1/2020 audience research from RAJAR. The reach of the UK’s biggest radio station fell from 15.356m at the start of 2019 to 14.362m over the first three months of this year. The two biggest commercial radio networks – Heart and Capital – both lost significant reach over the 12 months too. The Heart network lost 787,000 listeners to leave a reach of 7.737m, while Capital dropped 815,000 to 6.386m. When you add in the other Heart and Capital branded stations – 70s, 80s, 90s, Dance, Xtra and Xtra Reloaded – the Heart brand reaches 9.365m and the Capital brand 7.502m...

Global radio stations join in with mass applause

LBC, Heart, Capital, Capital XTRA, Smooth, Classic FM, Radio X and Gold will pause for a mass applause to thank NHS workers this week. All the Global stations will join the show of appreciation at 8pm on Thursday 26th March, encouraging people up and down the country to stand and clap at their windows, front doors, balconies and in their living rooms. The call-to-action, which will amplify the sentiment of the online ‘Clap for our Carers’ campaign, was launched this morning at 0815 on-air...

RAJAR Q4 2019: Regional and local radio facts and figures

The big stories from around the regions this quarter include Capital Scotland shedding 104,000 listeners, whilst Hits Radio and Greatest Hits Radio increased listeners in the North of England. Global brands - The majority of regional and local Capital stations are down – including Capital Scotland which falls from 513,000 to 409,000 weekly reach, Capital South Wales going from 213,000 to 180,000, Manchester down from 493,000 to 437,000 and Yorkshire down to its lowest figure of 849,000. Recently acquired and...

Jenni Falconer moves from Heart to Smooth Radio

Jenni Falconer joining Smooth Radio to present the breakfast show in London and nationwide on Smooth Extra after leaving Heart last year. She takes over from Gary King, who will present Smooth’s new, national early breakfast show from Monday to Friday, as well as continuing to host Saturday afternoons across the network. Angie Greaves, who joined Smooth last September to host the brand-new nationwide Smooth Drive Home, will present a new three-hour Sunday morning show. The Smooth Sanctuary at Seven will now run seven days a week till 10pm hosted by Gary Vincent from Sunday to Friday and Tina Hobley every Saturday...

Opinion: RadioToday industry predictions for 2020

One thing is for sure – radio is changing at an incredible pace. Keeping up with emerging products and making full use of smart technology is key. But whilst the art of ‘input’ is changing, the ‘output’ has remained fairly static for many decades. Listeners can still hear a friendly voice on the radio at all hours of the day – the major difference is where the voice is located and when they were recorded. But let’s dig deeper down into the industry and see what 2020 might bring...

£850,000 raised at Global’s Make Some Noise gala

A number of presenters from Global’s radio brands hosted the Make Some Noise annual charity gala at London’s Finsbury Square on Monday. The event raised £850,000 for charity, as music artists including Robbie Williams, Tom Walker and Freya Ridings took to the stage to perform live in front of almost 500 special guests. Global united all its radio brands for the event – Heart, Capital, Smooth, Classic FM, LBC, Radio X, Capital XTRA and Gold – to help children and young people living with illness, disability or lack of opportunity.