radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
Absolute Radio Network
The Absolute Radio Network is a network of ten radio stations owned and operated by Bauer Radio. Bauer purchased the TIML Radio Limited network of stations in 2013. Most of the Absolute Radio stations are decade-themed services, alongside t ...
. It broadcasts locally to parts of the UK on DAB radio multiplexes. It broadcasts nationally via Smart Speaker and online web streaming. Its output is non-stop 1970s hits.
History
Details of Absolute Radio's plan to extend their decade-themed radio stations were released in October 2010, and following the success of
Absolute Radio 80s
Absolute Radio 80s is a national digital radio station, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network.
History
Absolute Radio 80s launched at 7.00pm on 4 December 2009, replacing Absolute Xtreme.
The marketing plan for Abs ...
and
Absolute Radio 90s
Absolute Radio 90s is a semi-national digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. Its output is non-stop 1990s hits.
The station launched on DAB in London in June 2010 and on the Digital One platfo ...
, the former of which was ranked eleventh in terms of listener numbers. Two new stations were announced,
Absolute Radio 60s
Absolute Radio 60s is a semi-national Digital radio station in the United Kingdom owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts locally on Bauer's 11B Inverness DAB Multiplex. It broadcasts nationally via Smar ...
and Absolute Radio 70s, both of which would be dedicated to the music of their respective decades. Initially the 70s station would be available on DAB in London only, but would be accessible nationally and internationally through an online service. A website holding page was opened at absoluteradio70s.co.uk in line with the announcement of the station, which carries station information and an indicative schedule. The 60s service went on air on 22 November 2011, with Absolute Radio 70s launching a week later on 29 November.
Absolute Radio 70s shares the DAB slot currently used by
Absolute Radio 00s
Absolute Radio 00s is a semi-national digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts locally on Bauer's Inverness DAB Multiplex. It broadcasts nationally via smart speaker streaming an ...
, with 00s cutting its broadcast capacity (and switching to broadcast in mono) to release space for the 70s service.
At the time of its launch Absolute Radio 70s branded itself as "The UK's only 70s radio station", but was joined on DAB within a few weeks by
Smooth 70s
Smooth 70s was a British radio station dedicated to music from the 1970s. Launched by GMG Radio as a sister station to Smooth Radio, it first aired on 27 December 2011, replacing a temporary station GMG had launched for the Christmas period. Th ...
, a similarly themed station from
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 Rad ...
which was launched nationally on DAB on 27 December 2011. However, in spite of its competitor, Absolute 70s continued to style itself as the UK's only 1970s-themed radio station. Smooth 70s subsequently ceased transmission on 6 October 2013, and its national frequency was taken over by
Capital XTRA
Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a Global Media & Entertainment, Global-owned radio station that broadcasts on 96.9 FM broadcasting, FM and 107.1 FM in Greater London. Nationally, it is heard on Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB Digital Ra ...
. Six years later,
Global
Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003
* ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007
* ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989
* ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015
* Bruno ...
resumed transmission of a national 70s music service with the launch of
Heart 70s
Heart 70s is a national digital radio station owned and operated by Global as a spin-off from Heart.Pirate 70s have existed in the interim, but generally to a smaller broadcast area - in Pirate's case,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
).
Format
Although a separate entity, Absolute Radio 70s takes a limited amount of programming from the main
Absolute Radio
Absolute Radio is a British National radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via Digital audio broadcasting and on 1215 kHz MW.
History
1993–1997: Virg ...
station, chiefly ''The Dave Berry Breakfast Show'' and ''The Frank Skinner Show''. ''Hometime with Bush and Richie'' was added to the schedule of Absolute's digital stations from 23 September 2019. The station itself was originally fronted by former
Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to:
*BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC
** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music
*CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...
presenter Richard Skinner, who presented an afternoon programme. Following the station's 2018 downgrading, there were no presenters outside of shows shared with Absolute Radio and some specials; in summer 2019, former
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
breakfast presenter Tony Dibbin joined Bauer to present a weekday daytime show on Absolute Radio 70s, which became the only presented programme exclusive to the 70s station.
Absolute 70s plays a broad mix of music from the 1970s, ranging from rock and punk to glam and soul. Artists and groups typically heard on the station include
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Kate Bush
Catherine Bush (born 30 July 1958) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer and dancer. In 1978, at the age of 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights (song), Wuthering Heights", ...
,
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
The station's DAB transmission was originally solely to London, in contrast to the wider distribution of its siblings, and the 70s station was not affected by the December 2014/January 2015 changes which impacted many of Absolute's other digital transmissions including those of Absolute Radio 60s.
Absolute Radio 70s has been made available more widely through online transmission via Absolute's website and apps, where it appears alongside the other Absolute network stations.
The 70s service was made available nationally via digital satellite television from 9 February 2015, when the station took over a
Sky
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In the field of astronomy, ...
guide slot previously occupied by
Insight Radio
RNIB Connect Radio (previously Insight Radio) is a British radio station that is part of Royal National Institute of Blind People and was Europe's first radio station for blind and partially sighted listeners. It broadcasts 24 hours a day, 7 day ...
; it joins Absolute's
80s
Ribosomes are a large and complex molecular machine that catalyzes the synthesis of proteins, referred to as translation. The ribosome selects aminoacylated transfer RNAs (tRNAs) based on the sequence of a protein-encoding messenger RNA (mRN ...
,
90s
The 90s ran from 90 AD to 99 AD.
Significant people
* Titus Flavius Domitianus, Roman Emperor (AD 81– 96)
* Nerva, Roman Emperor (AD 96
AD 96 ( XCVI) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Jul ...
and
Classic Rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, primar ...
stations on the Sky lineup. Although Absolute Radio 70s was not guide-listed on
Freesat
Freesat is a British free-to-air satellite television service, first formed as a joint venture between the BBC and ITV plc and now owned by Digital UK. The service was formed as a memorandum in 2007 and has been marketed since 6 May 2008. Free ...
, it could be manually tuned into by Freesat boxes. The station was removed from Sky on 4 June 2018, and was replaced by
Hits Radio
Hits Radio is a network of 25 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK.
As of October 2022, the network has a combined reach of 6.6 million weekly listeners according to RAJAR.
Overv ...
.
May 2018 also saw the station, and
Kerrang! Radio
Kerrang! Radio is a specialist digital rock music radio station owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of the Kiss Network.
As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 341,000 listeners according to RAJAR.
Stations
Hist ...
, removed from London DAB to release space for the addition of Hits Radio; the stations were kept active by relocating to Bauer's Tayside DAB multiplex - a similar 'placeholder' move had shifted DAB transmission of Absolute's 60s and 00s stations to Inverness as part of the 2014/15 reshuffle (00s having previously been broadcast in London alongside the 70s service.)
In early 2021 it was announced that, as part of wider alterations to the Absolute Radio Network's distribution, including Absolute Radio's withdrawal from FM in London and the relaunch of
Country Hits Radio
Absolute Radio Country is a British digital radio station, and is owned and operated by Bauer Radio. It is available in selected areas via DAB, and across the U.K. online, on Smart Speaker and also via the Absolute Radio App as part of the Abs ...
as Absolute Radio Country, that Absolute Radio 70s would, along with
Absolute Radio 10s
Absolute Radio 10s is a spin-off service from Absolute Radio. The station is a rolling music service which airs music from the period 2010–2019. It launched at 10.00am on 18 November 2019. It is the sixth decades themed station to be launch ...
, be made available to listeners in London in the DAB+ format from May of that year."Absolute Radio Network to expand", get digital radio.com /ref> On 26 April 2021, a broadcast of AR70s began, in mono using the DAB standard, on the Switch London multiplex from which it had been removed three years prior, with
Hits Radio
Hits Radio is a network of 25 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK.
As of October 2022, the network has a combined reach of 6.6 million weekly listeners according to RAJAR.
Overv ...
London reducing its bitrate to accommodate the addition - this effectively partly reverses the change made in 2018, when space previously used by AR70s went towards the addition of Hits. In the early hours of 28 April 2021, the mono service was replaced by a stereo DAB+ transmission.