History
The station came into existence 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. The decision was made to change both the Smooth FM and Saga stations to Smooth Radio. Saga 106.6 FM closed at 6pm on Friday 23 March 2007, and was followed by a preview weekend for the new Smooth Radio.
106.6 Smooth Radio played middle-of-the-road, adult contemporary music, aimed at listeners aged 45 and over. It had very few similarities to its predecessor. Though many of the presenters who worked on Saga 106.6 FM initially hosted shows on 106.6 Smooth Radio, many later departed and by the time of its closure none of the specialist shows from the Saga days had survived. Moreover, Smooth's initial slogan "Your life. Your music.", which was used on Saga stations, was modified to "Love life, love music", which continues to be used by the station's successor. The station gradually networked many of its programmes since 2007, and from 28 June 2010 Tony Lyman was the only remaining original presenter from the Saga line up.
On 29 June 2010, GMG announced that it wanted to turn Smooth Radio in to a National Station rivaling 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. Shows would be broadcast nationally, but a regional feel would be kept for each area with news, travel and weather bulletins being tailored for each area and broadcast on the FM and DAB frequencies. Listeners tuning nationally would hear national information. 105.2 Smooth Radio in Scotland would be the exception to this, keeping its Breakfast and Drivetime shows, but networking everything else.
The new service, Smooth Radio, was launched on Monday 4 October. Most of the shows are broadcast from Salford Quays in Manchester, with other shows from London. This was made possible due to the Digital Economy Act which allows stations to co-locate or drop all local shows and broadcast on national DAB Radio.
Read more about this topic: 106.6 Smooth Radio
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