Hits Radio UK is a national digital radio station based in

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 t ...

, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the

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 ...

network. It broadcasts to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. As of June 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 1.2 million listeners according to

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 calle ...

Overview

The national station launched on 1 April 2003 as The Hits. The station was rebranded on 4 June 2018 as Hits Radio UK. It relays

Hits Radio Manchester ''For the Network, see Hits Radio. For the National DAB station, see Hits Radio UK.'' Hits Radio Manchester is an Independent local radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester ...

programming but with UK wide news & information, traffic bulletins and advertising.Key 2 on AM and DAB rebrands as Key Radio
Radio Today, 4 June 2018 Hits Radio UK broadcasts on DAB in many parts of the UK, nationally on Freeview and Sky TV platforms and online.

Technical

The launch of Hits Radio UK in 2018 saw the station added to DAB multiplex transmissions in a number of local areas - mostly those served by

Arqiva Arqiva () is a British telecommunications company which provides infrastructure, broadcast transmission and smart meter facilities in the United Kingdom. The company is headquartered at the former Independent Broadcasting Authority headquarters ...

's NOWdigital multiplexes, as well as being made available on the CE Birmingham multiplex (replacing 'Magic Soul') and in stereo in London (replacing

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 ...

and

Absolute Radio 70s Absolute Radio 70s is a Semi-National Digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts locally to parts of the UK on DAB radio multiplexes. It broadcasts nationally via Smart Speaker and on ...

, which were removed on 23 May and replaced with a Hits Radio UK placeholder). Hits Radio UK replaced The Hits on Bauer's DAB multiplexes and on the Arqiva-operated commercial

Freeview Freeview may refer to: * Freeview (Australia), the marketing name for the digital terrestrial television platform in Australia * Freeview (New Zealand), a digital satellite and digital terrestrial television platform in New Zealand *Freeview (UK), ...

multiplex. In addition, the new network was provided over the

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, ...

satellite TV platform, on a channel previously occupied by

Logo history

File:The Hits Radio 2004 logo.jpg, The Hits Radio logo used from 2004 to 2006. File:Hits20062011.png, The Hits Radio logo used from 2006 to 2011. File:The Hits Radio logo.png, The Hits Radio logo used 2011 to 2015. File:The Hits logo 2015.png, The Hits logo used from 2015 to 2018. File:Hits Radio logo (2018 - ).png, Hits Radio logo used from 2018-.

References

External links

Hits Radio
{{Hits Radio British radio networks Bauer Radio Bauer Group (UK) Hits Radio Radio stations in Manchester Radio stations established in 2003