Smooth Radio (2014)
Smooth Radio is a network of local radio stations broadcasting on FM and MW stations in the United Kingdom. Smooth Radio features a Soft Adult Contemporary radio format. Launched in March 2014, it replaced the national Smooth Radio that had launched in 2010 on FM, and most outlets of Gold on MW. Each FM station broadcasts localised breakfast with networked shows simulcast from London at all other times. Three of the six FM stations, and all eighteen AM frequencies, are owned and operated by Global, with the remaining three FM licences owned by Bauer Media Audio Ireland and run as a franchise. According to RAJAR, the network broadcasts to a combined weekly audience of 4.8 million with a listening share of 3.4% as of September 2022. Background Having previously operated under a number of regional licences, Smooth Radio's owners, GMG Radio merged its five English stations into one quasi-national station, launching the brand on the Digital One national DAB network on 4 Octo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for two millennia. The City of London, its ancient core and financial centre, was founded by the Romans as '' Londinium'' and retains its medieval boundaries.See also: Independent city § National capitals The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has for centuries hosted the national government and parliament. Since the 19th century, the name "London" has also referred to the metropolis around this core, historically split between the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Surrey, Kent, and Hertfordshire, which largely comprises Greater London, governed by the Greater London Authority.The Greater London Authority consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Mayor is distinguished fr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gold (British Radio Network)
Gold is a network of oldies radio stations in the United Kingdom, which was formed by the merger of the Capital Gold network and the Classic Gold network in August 2007. The station relaunched in March 2014 as a partly-automated service, broadcasting in fewer areas, after many of Gold's local AM/DAB frequencies were transferred to Smooth Radio. Most programming is broadcast from the Global Radio's studios in Leicester Square, London. As of September 2022, the network broadcasts to a combined weekly audience of 1.6 million, according to RAJAR. History The Capital Gold network started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, as the Government urged radio stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on AM and FM) and threatened to remove one of their frequencies if simulcasting continued. The Classic Gold network was similarly formed from the AM transmissions of the former GWR Group's station licence areas. (Many of the FM pop stati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jeremy Hunt (politician)
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt (born 1 November 1966) is a British politician who has served as Chancellor of the Exchequer since 14 October 2022. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2012, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2012 to 2018 and Foreign Secretary from 2018 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Surrey since 2005. The son of a senior officer in the Royal Navy, Hunt was born in Kennington and studied Philosophy, politics and economics at Magdalen College, Oxford, where he was President of the Oxford University Conservative Association. He was first elected to the House of Commons in 2005 and was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Disabled People and later as Shadow Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Hunt served in the Coalition Government as Secretary of State for Culture, Olymp ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Secretary Of State For Culture, Media And Sport
The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The incumbent is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office has been dubbed "Minister of Fun". Responsibilities The secretary has overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Responsibilities include: * Arts and Culture * Broadcasting * Creative industries * Creative Industries Council * Cultural property, heritage and the historic environment * Cultural Renewal Taskforce * Culture, sports and arts sector recovery from COVID-19 * Data Protection Regulator - the ICO (Information Commissioners Office) * Gambling and racing * Libraries * Media ownership and mergers * Museums and galleries * The National Lottery * Sport * Tel ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Guardian Media Group
Guardian Media Group plc (GMG) is a British-based mass media company owning various media operations including ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer''. The group is wholly owned by the Scott Trust Limited, which exists to secure the financial and editorial independence of ''The Guardian'' in perpetuity. The Group's 2018 annual report (year ending 1 April 2018) indicated that the Scott Trust Endowment Fund was valued at £1.01 billion (2017: £1.03bn). History The company was founded as the Manchester Guardian Ltd. in 1907 when C.P. Scott bought ''The Manchester Guardian'' (founded in 1821) from the estate of his cousin Edward Taylor. It became the Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd when it bought out the ''Manchester Evening News'' in 1924, later becoming the Guardian and Manchester Evening News Ltd to reflect the change in the morning paper's title. It adopted its current name in 1993. In 1991, it had a 20% stake in a consortium which included London Weekend Television, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two cities and the surrounding towns form one of the United Kingdom's most populous conurbations, the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87 million. The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort ('' castra'') of ''Mamucium'' or ''Mancunium'', established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically part of Lancashire, areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century, including Wythenshawe in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchest ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Salford Quays
Salford Quays is an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it became one of the first and largest urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom following the closure of the dockyards in 1982. History Built by the Manchester Ship Canal Company, Salford Docks was the larger of two that made up Manchester Docks; the other being Pomona Docks to the east which opened in 1903. They were opened in 1894 by Queen Victoria and spanned of water and of land. At their height the Manchester Docks were the third busiest port in Britain, but after containerisation and the limit placed on vessel size on the Manchester Ship Canal, the docks declined in the 1970s. They closed in 1982, resulting in the loss of 3,000 jobs. In 1983, Salford City Council acquired parts of the docks covering from the Manchester Ship Canal Company with the aid of a derelict land grant. The area was rebranded as Salford ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Digital Audio Broadcasting
Digital radio is the use of digital technology to transmit or receive across the radio spectrum. Digital transmission by radio waves includes digital broadcasting, and especially digital audio radio services. Types In digital broadcasting systems, the analog audio signal is digital audio, digitized, Audio compression (data), compressed using an audio coding format such as AAC+ (MDCT) or MPEG-1 Audio Layer II, MP2, and transmitted using a digital modulation scheme. The aim is to increase the number of radio programs in a given spectrum, to improve the audio quality, to eliminate fading problems in mobile environments, to allow additional datacasting services, and to decrease the transmission power or the number of transmitters required to cover a region. However, analog radio (AM and FM) is still more popular and listening to radio over IP (Internet Protocol) is growing in popularity. In 2012 four digital wireless radio systems are recognized by the International Telecommunicati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Digital One
Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It contains a list of DAB and DAB+ radio stations operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Global and Wireless Group. Stations carried DAB DAB+ History On 24 March 1998, the Radio Authority advertised for the first national ensemble to be broadcast on DAB, with the three national commercial services on FM and medium wave required to be included in the ensemble. This included Classic FM, Talk Radio UK (now Talksport) and Virgin Radio (now Absolute Radio). The licence was awarded to the sole applicant, GWR Group and NTL Broadcast to form Digital One. The original licence application included the following stations: Digital One was due to launch on 1 October 1999, but this was postponed until 15 November 1999. The "Classic Gold Rock" service ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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GMG Radio
GMG Radio, and for a short while Real and Smooth Limited, was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Radio, however pending regulatory review of the merger the company was renamed Real and Smooth Limited and operated as a separate entity, until May 2014. History GMG Radio GMG Radio was Guardian Media Group's radio division, which started in early 1999 when former GMG Chief Executive Sir Robert Phillis enlisted the services of John Myers to establish GMG's radio division after seeing Myers on the documentary programme ''Trouble at the Top''. Myers had featured in an episode that followed Myers as he prepared to launch Century 105 in the North West for Border Radio Holdings. John had left the Century stations and, after a brief spell in charge of Radio Investments Ltd, created GMG Radio Holdings Ltd and became its Managing Director. The ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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RAJAR
Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was called Joint Industry Committee on Radio Audience Research (JICRAR). Prior to this, the BBC and RadioCentre's predecessor CRCA carried out their own measurements independently of each other. Structure The company operates as a Joint Industry Committee (JIC) and its Board is chaired by an independent Chairman. It has shareholder representation from the BBC and the commercial sector, as well as the, Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA). The company is a non- profit making entity. Purpose and methodology RAJAR collects information on behalf of over 300 BBC and Ofcom Licensed commercial radio stations, ranging from very small local services to the national networks. Station listen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Franchising
Franchising is based on a marketing concept which can be adopted by an organization as a strategy for business expansion. Where implemented, a franchisor licenses some or all of its know-how, procedures, intellectual property, use of its business model, brand, and rights to sell its branded products and services to a franchisee. In return, the franchisee pays certain fees and agrees to comply with certain obligations, typically set out in a franchise agreement. The word ''franchise'' is of Anglo-French derivation—from , meaning 'free'—and is used both as a noun and as a (transitive) verb. For the franchisor, use of a franchise system is an alternative business growth strategy, compared to expansion through corporate owned outlets or "chain stores". Adopting a franchise system business growth strategy for the sale and distribution of goods and services minimizes the franchisor's capital investment and liability risk. Franchising is rarely an equal partnership, especially in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |