The Arrow was a British digital

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 ...

playing classic and contemporary

rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...

. It broadcast on

DAB Digital Radio 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 syst ...

(in London) and was also streamed over digital satellite TV and online. The station was operated by

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 ...

; prior to Global's formation it was owned by their predecessor Chrysalis Radio.

Changes and relocations

Launched in July 2001, The Arrow was at one point presenter-led, with programmes hosted by DJs (though usually voicetracked rather than live). There were also hourly news bulletins and the ability to opt out for local travel bulletins. The news, travel and on-air presenters have now been removed, with the station switching to non-stop music. In May 2008, The Arrow ceased broadcasting on London's DRG digital radio multiplex. A portion of the Arrow's space, along with a smaller slot that was previously used by Bauer Group's

Smash Hits Radio Smash Hits Radio was a UK-based digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Radio based in Manchester. It was available throughout the UK on Freeview channel 712. The format was based on the now defunct Smash Hits Magazine. It was a Conte ...

, was reused to launch Bauer-owned alternative/rock station

Q Radio Q Radio was an online, DAB and DTV radio station, broadcasting on digital television across the UK and online. The station launched in June 2008 as an alternative to the UK's rock and alternative stations, with a strong relationship with Q ...

onto the DRG multiplex. The Arrow was removed from

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

channel 921 on 21 June 2009 and

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, ...

channel 0161 on 22 June 2009. In February 2009, The Arrow was removed from the Switch Scotland regional DAB service, and replaced by

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 ...

. In Yorkshire, the station has been moved from the regional DAB multiplex to local multiplexes; the move was to make way for

XFM London Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...

, which moved in the other direction. In February 2010 The Arrow was removed from the MXR Severn Estuary multiplex. Although DAB radios within the reach of that multiplex still displayed The Arrow as the received station, in fact XFM now broadcast on that channel. In November 2010, The Arrow returned to London on

DRG London DRG London is a Digital Audio Broadcasting multiplex available in the London area that has been broadcasting since January 2002. It is also referred to as the Greater London 3 multiplex. The station operates from ten transmitters: Croydon, Alex ...

replacing Galaxy Digital, following the decision to combine the Galaxy Network with

95.8 Capital FM Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. I ...

(and

The Hit Music Network The Hit Music Network was a collection of five Independent Local Radio stations operating in the United Kingdom and owned by Global Radio. Created on 25 June 2008, the stations were formerly owned by GCap Media prior to its takeover by Global an ...

) to form the new Capital FM Network, a change which came into force from January 2011. The Arrow was chosen to replace Galaxy as it was the only Global Radio station not already available on DAB in London. In the East Midlands, where the Hit Music Network stations became Capital, Galaxy was replaced with

Heart London History Heart London is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts a hot adult contemporary radio format. Across London and its neighbouring counties, it can be heard on 106.2 MHz. ...

(this was tied in with

Gem 106 Gem is an Independent Local Radio station based in Nottingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 318,000 liste ...

replacing Heart East Midlands). In December 2010,

Bauer Radio Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of the Bauer Media Group. History In early 2008, German magazine publisher Bauer bought the radio division of British company Emap, which had been established as East Midland Allied Press in ...

removed Global's oldies music service

(which competed with Bauer's own Magic stations) from its local multiplexes in Central Lancashire, Humberside, Leeds, Liverpool, South Yorkshire, Teesside and Tyne and Wear, and replaced it with Absolute Classic Rock after signing a new deal with

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 ...

for the space. Global retaliated by withdrawing The Arrow from the three Bauer multiplexes it broadcast on - Bauer Humberside, Bauer Leeds and Bauer South Yorkshire - and from MXR North East and MXR North West, replacing it in all these locations with Gold. This allowed coverage of Gold to continue in all these areas, though it created an overlap 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 ...

(where Gold would be available both on

CE Manchester CE Digital is an operator of digital radio in the United Kingdom. It is the licensee for local DAB ensembles in London, Birmingham, and Manchester, and is a joint venture between Bauer Radio and Global Radio. It was originally a joint venture be ...

and MXR North West) - this overlap continued until the cessation of the MXR service in 2013. The move also resulted in The Arrow's DAB service being available solely in London. Many of these changes have come about as part of Global rearranging its digital assets following their acquisition of

GCap Media GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. O ...

; Global have also made changes to the distribution and availability of other stations in their portfolio, including

Galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

Chill In computing, CHILL (an acronym for CCITT High Level Language) is a procedural programming language designed for use in telecommunication switches (the hardware used inside telephone exchanges). The language is still used for legacy systems i ...

, XFM and

since the merger. On 22 April 2014,

Real Radio (Wales) Heart South Wales is an regional radio station that broadcasts to South and West Wales from studios in Cardiff Bay. The station is owned and operated by Global Radio and forms part of the expanded Heart radio network of stations. Background ...

was withdrawn from digital satellite TV, due to the impending integration (due on 6 May) of Real stations into the

network (with

already being provided on satellite.) The satellite broadcast, which occupied Sky channel 0146, was replaced with a relay of The Arrow, returning to national satellite transmission after nearly five years away. Following the launch of

Smooth Extra 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 ...

, 0146 was turned over to the new station and withdrawn from The Arrow: broadcast of The Arrow to DAB in London and online continued as before. Following the switch to an automated service, spot advertising breaks on The Arrow ceased for a time: advertisements returned to The Arrow in late 2016. It finally closed on 1 September 2019, with the DAB space it inhabited being used by a replacement station by its owners, Global. The last track played was "End of the line" by the

Traveling Wilburys The Traveling Wilburys were a British-American supergroup consisting of Bob Dylan, George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty. Originating from an idea discussed by Harrison and Lynne during the sessions for Harrison's 1987 album ...

Ownership

On 25 June 2007 it was announced that The Arrow along with its sister stations

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadca ...

and

were to be sold for £170 million to Global Radio from

Chrysalis Radio Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrys ...

.Chrysalis sells three radio stations
/ref>

References

External links

thearrow.co.uk Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrow, The Digital-only radio stations Rock radio stations in the United Kingdom Global Radio Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 2001 Radio stations disestablished in 2019