Latest news about Smooth Radio

Stars come out to perform for Global’s Make Some Noise Night

Last night, Tom Grennan, Charlie Puth, Sam Ryder and Olly Murs joined Global’s presenters for the charity gala night. Chart-topping BRIT-nominated musician Tom Grennan; multi-platinum hit singer-songwriter Charlie Puth, multi-award-winner and Eurovision star Sam Ryder, and one of the UK’s most popular singers and entertainers Olly Murs, took to the stage at The Londoner hotel in Leicester Square to perform in front of almost 400 special guests...

George Michael is number one on Smooth’s All Time Top 500

More than 68,000 votes were cast by the public in Smooth’s All Time Top 500 – the radio station’s countdown of the nation’s favourite songs, which were revealed on air across the May Bank Holiday weekend. The song voted number one by listeners is George Michael’s Careless Whisper, which he wrote when he was just 17 years old and the timeless classic reached the number one spot in 25 countries...

New Year Honours announced for radio presenters and volunteers

Presenters Moira Stuart, Kate Garraway, Margherita Taylor and Mark Murphy, plus Choice FM co-founder Neil Kenlock have been recognised in the New Year Honours. Radio Tyneside Chairman Dave Nicholson is also honoured, along with David Sharp, Station Manager at Academy FM in Folkestone and former Radiocentre CEO Siobhan Kenny. Dave Nicholson MBE has been awarded the OBE for his work with the station and the community... He was awarded the MBE in 1997 for his 28 years of work with the Civil Service.

Weekend changes at Smooth Radio as Kirsty Gallacher joins

A new weekend schedule at Smooth Radio sees Kirsty Gallacher and Simon Clarke hosting weekend shows on a permanent basis. Kirsty, who has been covering shows recently at the Global brand, will be on-air from 1pm to 4pm starting this Saturday. The ex-Sky Sports presenter also recently joined GB News to co-host the breakfast programme...

Winners announced for the Global Awards 2021

The winners of The Global Awards 2021 have been revealed with Dua Lipa picking up three awards. Now in its fourth year, The Global Awards brings together Capital, Heart, Smooth, Classic FM, LBC, Radio X, Capital XTRA and Gold, to honour the stars of music, news and entertainment. However, this year the LBC Award, previously won by Steve Allen, has been removed as a category, along the Best Podcast. The awards ceremony was unable to take place this year...

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...