105.2 Smooth Radio is a Scottish Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to Glasgow and the surrounding area, owned and operated by Real and Smooth and broadcasting from studios at Baillieston in the East End of Glasgow. The station replaced Saga 105.2 FM at 6am on Monday 26 March 2007 and competes with BBC Radio 2, aiming its music at listeners aged 35 and over. Smooth Radio Scotland is part of the national Smooth Radio network, which encompasses London, the North West of England, the East Midlands, the West Midlands & the North East of England.
As well as being carried on FM in the Glasgow area, the station is also broadcast on DAB digital radio to the East of Scotland and online via a streaming service. It is also carried on FM in Wester Ross during non-local broadcast hours of Two Lochs Radio for which it forms a sustaining service.
Origins [edit]
The station came into being following GMG Radio's purchase of the Saga Radio Group in December 2006, and the granting of permission from the regulator Ofcom to change the format of its Smooth FM stations in London and the North West of England. The decision was made to change both the Smooth FM and Saga stations to Smooth Radio and Saga 105.2 FM was closed at 6pm on Friday 23 March 2007. This was then followed by a preview weekend for the new Smooth Radio giving listeners the opportunity to hear the presenters and music which would be featured on the new station.
Station Format [edit]
105.2 Smooth Radio plays adult contemporary music, aimed at listeners aged 35 and over. It bears very few similarities to its predecessor. Though some of the presenters who worked on Saga 105.2 FM initially hosted shows on 105.2 Smooth Radio, very few of the specialist shows from the Saga days have survived, and Smooth's initial slogan "Your life, Your music.", which was used on Saga stations, has now been modified to "Love Life, Love Music"
The station operated a 24-hour schedule of local programming until August 2008 when networked output from London and Manchester was introduced, leading to the sackings of six station presenters.[1]
Following the publication of John Myers' recommendations of a regulatory overhaul in commercial radio, and the passing of the 2010 Digital Economy Act, which allowed stations to co-locate or drop all local shows and broadcast on national DAB, Smooth Radio merged its five England-based stations into one quasi-national station, with local news feeds produced from GMG Radio's headquarters in Salford Quays.[2] GMG made the announcement on 29 June 2010, that it wanted to rival BBC Radio 2 by broadcasting on the Digital 1 multiplex on DAB Digital Radio to the whole of England and Wales, as well as Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media and online. A regional flavour would be kept with split news, travel and weather bulletins broadcasting in the FM and DAB regional stations in the North East, North West, West Midlands and East Midlands. London listeners and those tuning nationally would hear national information.
In Scotland, 105.2 Smooth Radio continued to retain some of its local output, but networked evening and overnight shows, as well as some daytime programming. Currently, the weekday breakfast and drivetime shows together with some weekend morning shows are produced locally from Glasgow, while news and traffic bulletins are also produced locally.
Presenters [edit]
- John McCauley and Sharon Oakley - Smooth Breakfast with John and Sharon (Mon-Fri)
- Simon Bates - The Golden Hour (Mon-Fri)[a]
- Mark Goodier - The Mark Goodier Show (Mid Mornings Mon-Fri)
- Gerry Burke - Smooth Afternoon with Gerry Burke (Weekday Afternoons Mon-Fri)
- David Jensen - Drivetime (Mon-Fri)[b] Double Top 20 (Sun)
- Andy Peebles - "Smooth Evenings" (Sat, Mon-Thur)
- Derek Webster - Smooth Nights (Sun-Thur)
- Pete Waterman - Pete Waterman's Friday Night Fever
- Dave Lincoln - Dave Lincoln on Smooth Radio (Fri-Sat)
- Pat Sharp - Smooth Weekend Breakfast
- Jenny Farish - Smooth Saturday morning[c]
- Carlos - Saturday Afternoons with Carlos
- Dave Brown - The Motown Show (Saturday Late Afternoon)
- John Darroch - Smooth Sunday morning
- Emma B - Emma B on Sunday Afternoon
- Donny Osmond - The Donny Osmond Show (Sun)
- Dave Marshall - Dave Marshall on Smooth Radio
Smooth Radio in Glasgow also airs local news bulletins every hour on weekdays with additional bulletins on the half hour during breakfast and drivetime. Heather Kane is the station's head of news, assisted by Corrie Martin.
On 23 January GMG Radio announced it was conducting a "full review" of its news staff. At the time the broadcaster employed 39 journalists, nine of whom were based in Scotland.[3]
- ^ The Golden Hour is part of Simon Bates at Breakfast on the UK-wide version of Smooth Radio.
- ^ Scottish listeners join the show from 5.00pm.
- ^ Includes The Smooth Radio Book Club with Lynn Parsons.
References [edit]
External links [edit]
|
|
|
| FM stations |
|
|
| AM stations |
|
|
| DAB multiplexes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Subsidiaries and
divisions |
|
|
Joint ventures and
shareholdings |
|
|
| Other |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Current presenters |
|
|
| Scotland presenters |
- John McCauley
- Sharon Oakley
- Gerry Burke
- Dave Marshall
- Jenny Farish
- John Darroch
|
|
| Related topics |
|
|
| Former regional stations |
|
|
| External links |
|
|
