Latest news about Smooth Radio

RAJAR Q1 2019 – Zoe & Chris plus national and London radio round-up

Chris Evans and Virgin Radio both reached over a million listeners in the first quarter of 2019. The digital station’s audience has almost trebled compared with the last period of 2018 thanks to the arrival of Evans from Radio 2. In Q1/2019 it posts a weekly reach of 1.3m and total hours of 7.765m. A year ago those figures were 427,000 and 1.632m. Last quarter they were 447,000 and 1.686m.

Global just launched a country music station from Smooth Radio

Smooth Country has just appeared on the Global Player app, and online via the Smooth Radio website. The new service plays “the most relaxing country songs” and is part of the “playlists” section in the Global Player. It features the same jingles and voice-overs as the main service. Global says: “Smooth Country celebrates the very best of relaxing country music, to make you feel as if you’re chilling with the top down of a Chevy on a long drive across the heart of Nashville.

Global to network Capital, Heart and Smooth breakfast shows

Global will broadcast national breakfast shows on the Capital, Heart and Smooth networks by the end of this year, RadioToday can reveal. Capital will go first with the London output replacing 14 breakfast programmes on the Capital network in England, Scotland and Wales on April 8th. Due to deregulation and larger ‘approved areas’, only nine drivetime shows will be provided instead of the current 14.

Opinion: UK commercial radio presenter numbers could drop by more than 250

With news that Global is to introduce networked breakfast shows and have just a handful of local drive shows across Capital, Heart and Smooth, RadioToday’s Stuart Clarkson has done the maths on what it means for presenter roles across commercial radio. Our exclusive figures show that presenter numbers could drop by more than 250 if both Global and Bauer take full advantage of the recent changes in localness guidelines from Ofcom.

Global Awards hosts return for second year

Heart’s Rochelle Humes, Capital Breakfast’s Roman Kemp and Classic FM and Smooth presenter Myleene Klass will host The Global Awards once again this year. The ceremony takes place at London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith on Thursday March 7th featuring performances from Mark Ronson, Little Mix, Lang Lang, Blossoms, Mabel, Anne-Marie and more.

Performers revealed for Global Awards 2019

DJ and producer Mark Ronson, RnB singer Mabel, Little Mix, pianist Lang Lang, Blossoms and Anne-Marie are all confirmed to perform at the Global Awards on March 7th at London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith. The event brings together Global’s radio stations including Capital, Heart, Classic FM, Smooth, Radio X, Capital XTRA, Gold and LBC to celebrate music, news and entertainment.

Greatest Hits Radio launches with new line-up

Greatest Hits Radio has launched on FM, AM and DAB in a number of regions across England, with Mark Goodier joining the network for a daily programme. The former BBC Radio 1 and Smooth Radio presenter will present the mid-morning show, and joins a team of presenters already established on the network. Here’s how the schedule looks each weekday in England:...

RAJAR Q3 2018: London and national brands update

Nick Grimshaw left the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show with half a million more listeners than a year ago – handing them to Greg James who took over the show halfway through the last quarter. The show now attracts 5.75m listeners (Mon – Fri) and is up 465,000 Year on Year. In London, Capital is back on top with almost 2,100,000 listeners according to Reach in the London commercial radio battle, as Kiss slips back under the 2m listener mark (1,958,000). Magic is in third place (1.5m) whilst Heart comes in 4th (1.4m). But BBC Radio 4 continues to lead the London Reach with 2.4m listeners.

RAJAR Q3 2018: Regional and local radio round-up

Manchester is once again our focus on the local radio round-up, where the station previously known as Key 103 has lost more listeners. Hits Radio (Manchester) is reporting 325,000 weekly reach, compared with 374,000 last quarter. This is half the amount of listeners it had four years ago. Newly rebranded Key Radio (previously Key 2) has 53,000 listeners compared with 81,000 three months ago. Hits Radio’s Market Share has dropped from 5.2% to 3.9% and hours are down by 561,000 in three months.

RAJAR Q2 2018: London and national brands update

Kiss has taken over from Capital as the biggest commercial radio station in London in the latest Q2/2018 RAJAR listening figures. Capital’s audience in the capital is down 10.8% year on year to 2.063m, while Kiss has had a great quarter, hitting 2.087m weekly listeners – 24,000 more than its rival. In third place is Magic (1.667m), which leapfrogs rival Heart this quarter (1.404m). LBC is in fifth on reach with 1.280m listeners in the capital (down 9.3% year on year).