Radio X is a British National
commercial radio
Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (an ...
station focused on
alternative music Alternative music may refer to the following types of music:
*Alternative rock
*Alternative pop
*Alternative R&B
*Neo soul, sometimes known as alternative soul
*Alternative reggaeton
*Alternative hip hop
*Alternative dance
*Alternative metal
*Chris ...
, primarily
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
, and owned 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 ...
. Radio X launched in 1989 as a
pirate radio
Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license.
In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...
station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 under the rebranded nand, Xfm.
The station has employed a number of personalities that have since gone on to greater fame including
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...
,
Karl Pilkington
Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, comedian, actor, voice-artist, producer and author.
After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their XFM radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of '' ...
,
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...
,
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer.
Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...
,
Simon Pegg
Simon John Pegg (né Beckingham; born 14 February 1970) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He came to prominence in the UK as the co-creator of the Channel 4 sitcom ''Spaced'' (1999–2001), directed by Edgar Wright. H ...
,
Christian O'Connell
Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is a British radio disc jockey, television host, writer, and comedian living in Australia. He presents ''The Christian O'Connell Show'' on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in ...
,
Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins (born 28 July 1974) is an actor and former radio and television presenter from Bristol, England.
Collins began his career as a stand up comedian in the 1990s when he was in his late teens. He then presented a number of TV sh ...
,
Adam and Joe
Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish are British comedy performers known together as Adam and Joe. They are best known for presenting ''Adam and Joe (radio show), Adam and Joe'' on BBC Radio 6 Music (2007–2009, 2011) and ''The Adam and Joe Show'' on C ...
,
Alex Zane
Alex Zane (born Faris Alexander L. Albayaty; 3 March 1979) is a British television presenter and DJ.
Early and personal life
Zane was born in Leeds and attended Boston Spa School before going on to study Medicine at University College London, ...
,
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings on the ...
,
Dermot O'Leary
Seán Dermot Fintan O'Leary Jr. (born 24 May 1973) is an English broadcaster who currently works for ITV and BBC Radio 2. His radio career began when he worked as a disc jockey at Essex Radio, but he is best known for being the presenter of ''T ...
and
Josh Widdicombe
Joshua Michael Widdicombe (; born 8 April 1983) is an English comedian, presenter and actor. He is best known for his appearances on '' The Last Leg'' (2012–present), ''Fighting Talk'' (2014–2016), '' Insert Name Here'' (2016–2019), ''Mock ...
.
As of September 2022, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 1.9 million, 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 ...
.
History
In 1989, the pirate radio presenter Sammy Jacob, known as DJ Sammy Jay on London's Horizon Radio and Solar Radio, set up an indie music station called Q102,
which started broadcasting rock music on a part-time basis from 1 January 1989, with other hours following the soul format of another local station called CD93.
Jacob was one of the presenters on this forerunner to Xfm alongside Adrian Gibson, Donald Johnson, Steve Lamacq and CD93's Bob Matthews (a DJ also known as Bob Mower), with the format changing to play only indie rock music by 1990. In late 1990,
Fiction Records
Fiction Records is a British record label founded by Chris Parry in 1978, owned by Universal Music Group and based in the United Kingdom. It is best known for being the home of The Cure for over 20 years. It was originally a part of Polydor, ...
founder, and manager of
The Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
,
Chris Parry got involved with the London station, even though at that point it still did not have any official authorisation to operate. The Cure's singer
Robert Smith used the radio as a platform to promote the release of a Cure remix album ''
Mixed Up'' during night-time radio shows, broadcast live on the air
By 1991, Q102 was off-air, with Jacob re-organising this rock station as Xfm in
Clapton, East London.
At this point the station was still a pirate radio station operating out of his parent's flat,
though Jacob had plans to get a number of Restricted Service Licences
for Xfm, which would make Xfm a legal radio station even though it could only be on the capital's airwaves for short periods of time.
Xfm was officially created in London in 1992 by Jacob and Parry, with the station broadcasting at festivals and legally from Fiction's Charlotte Street headquarters on short-term licences. When the station faced difficulties in 1993, Smith and Parry organised a one-off open air festival titled ''XFM Great Expectations'' in London's
Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park is a public park in the London neighbourhood of Harringay. It is in the area formerly covered by the historic parish of Hornsey, succeeded by the Municipal Borough of Hornsey. It was one of the first of the great London parks ...
on 13 June, with the Cure at the top of the bill. The ''XFM Great Expectations'' event was covered by the media including TV channels which talked about the XFM radio in interviews with Smith.
In 1996, Xfm was awarded the licence for what was to be the final London-wide FM licence, and the station went on air on a permanment basis on 1 September 1997. During the following year the station played a range of music from its studios in 97
Charlotte Street
Charlotte Street is a street in Fitzrovia, historically part of the parish and borough of St Pancras, in central London. It has been described, together with its northern and southern extensions (Fitzroy Street and Rathbone Place), as the ''s ...
. Jacob would later go on to co-found
NME Radio and CDNX (Camden Experience) in 2008 and 2015 respectively.
In 1998, Xfm was acquired by the
Capital Radio Group
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 ...
(now part of
Global Radio) and relocated from Charlotte Street to Capital's headquarters at
Leicester Square
Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leicester House, itself named after Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester ...
, where it remains today. On 23 August of that year, Xfm was closed down for four days, during which a test tape featuring mainstream soft-rock acts was looped. The station subsequently relaunched with a more mainstream format, and a new advert featuring a cartoon radio saying "Don't be afraid!", which referred to the perceived inaccessibility of its old format. The soft-rock revamp was not a success, culminating in listener-led protests outside the Capital Radio studios. Listeners also lodged objections with the
Radio Authority
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...
, which found XFM to be acting in a manner contrary to its licence requirements, and a degree of alternative output was eventually restored, particularly through night-time playlists and specialist shows.
Following the take-over by Capital, the station dropped its wide-ranging music policy, which was replaced by a format based on USA college stations. The first audience figures after this change showed a sharp decline. The DJs were no longer able to select some of their own tracks, and specialist shows were dropped. The station soon became more male-orientated and featured
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
coverage and "laddish" output. This came to an end after the Radio Authority fined XFM £50,000 for breakfast presenter
Tom Binns
Christopher Thomas Binns (born 1970) is a British comedian, best known for his character Hospital Radio DJ Ivan Brackenbury.
Career
Binns was nominated at the Edinburgh Festival for the Edinburgh Comedy Award 2007 for his hospital radio DJ ch ...
's joking about
bestiality on air.
Capital Radio attempted to increase XFM's listening figures, recruiting DJs such as
Zoe Ball
Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' and ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & K ...
, former
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
presenter, and re-recruiting comedians
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...
and
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer.
Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...
who took voluntary redundancy when Capital bought the station, after the pair rose to significance with the first airing of ''
The Office
''The Office'' is a mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, first made in the United Kingdom, then Germany, and subsequently the United States. It has since been remade in ten other countries.
The original series of ...
''. Together with talent such as
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
and
Christian O'Connell
Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is a British radio disc jockey, television host, writer, and comedian living in Australia. He presents ''The Christian O'Connell Show'' on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in ...
, this yielded growing listening figures. The music was, and is today, a play-listed mix of popular indie and soft rock.
In 2012 Host John Kennedy was the only member of the presenter lineup that had been with the radio station since its first broadcasts. His new music show, X-Posure is the station's longest running show and is credited as being the first to give radio play to artists including
Adele
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a reco ...
,
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and ...
,
Razorlight
Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Delemo ...
and
Mumford & Sons
Mumford & Sons is a British folk rock band formed in London in 2007. The band currently consists of Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums), Ted Dwane (vocals, bass guitar, double bass), and Ben Lovett (vocals, key ...
.
Expansion of the Xfm network
Xfm has held 28-day
Restricted Service Licence
A UK Restricted Service Licence (often called an RSL), is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event. Licences are granted by the broadcasting authority Ofc ...
FM broadcasts in a number of British cities, including
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 ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
and
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
.
In 2000, Xfm London was added to a number of
DAB multiplexes around the country, and in January 2006 its reach expanded when it replaced
The Storm on a number of other local multiplexes, creating near-national coverage. It was at one point reported that this 'national' version of Xfm London (known as ''Xfm UK'') would have local content drop-ins within it (e.g. news, travel) over time, but this ultimately never came to pass. Most
DAB coverage of XFM carried the London version of the station, but for a time some multiplexes in the North of England instead received a feed of XFM Manchester.
In 2001, Xfm rehired Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant to run the Saturday afternoon show. Karl Pilkington joined them to 'just push the buttons' but eventually became the focal point of the show. The trio often called the station a 'tin pot station', 'shoddy' and 'not just a small station in London but the smallest station in that building'.
By 2002, the station had added many specialist shows, such as 'London Express', 'The A-X of Alternative Music' and 'The Remix'. Afternoon and early-evening shows with Zane Lowe and
Tim Lovejoy
Timothy Paul Lovejoy (born 28 March 1968) is an English television presenter best known for hosting Saturday morning football programme '' Soccer AM'' with Helen Chamberlain for over a decade and ''BT Sports Panel'' on Saturday mornings on the ...
were innovative and although the daytime playlist consisted of 40 current releases, these were changed frequently, and the overall playlist contained about 90 records. However, in time the specialist shows gradually declined in number, and the playlist was again restricted in number.
On 9 June 2005, the group was awarded a permanent FM broadcasting licence to serve the city of
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 ...
as Xfm Manchester. This station went on air in March 2006. Also in 2005, Xfm was among the bidders for the regional North East franchise on 97.5 FM, but this licence was ultimately awarded to
Smooth Radio by
Ofcom
The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom.
Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...
.
On 4 January 2006,
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. ...
relaunched its Central Scotland regional station
Beat 106 as Xfm Scotland.
In 2007, a fourth station joined the network with the launch of a new regional Xfm for south Wales, based at the
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
studio also home to Red Dragon FM (now
Capital South Wales
Capital South Wales is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to Cardiff and Newport and the surrounding areas from studios in Cardiff Bay.
History
The station ...
).
Output changes
In May 2007, in an attempt to cut costs, the parent company of Xfm,
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. ...
, announced that they would be removing all presenters from the daytime (10 am–4 pm) lineup and replacing them with a jukebox based upon listener requests through their websites. On 6 March 2008 an announcement was made reversing the decision to remove daytime presenters. From 25 March 2008 a new schedule restoring daytime schedules was put in place.
A new schedule was launched on 12 January 2009. Changes at this date included
Jo Good
Jo Good is a British broadcaster.
Career
A radio 'anorak' since her early teens, Jo joined the radio industry straight out of school, aged 17. At this point she moved from Alnwick, Northumberland to Manchester. Working first as a travel reporte ...
leaving the ''Afternoon Show, including Afternoon X List'', and new signing
Richard Skinner taking over the ''Morning Show'' from Rick Shaw. The times of the shows were also adjusted, with the morning show only becoming a two-hour show (previously a three-hour show) and the afternoon show becoming a four-hour show (previously a 3-hour show). The weekend schedule was also adjusted at this time, with Rick Shaw moving to present the ''Weekend Morning Show'' on Saturday and Sunday from 10 am to 2 pm and
Lliana Bird
Choose Love (formerly Help Refugees) is a UK-based non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides humanitarian aid to, and advocacy for, refugees around the world. In 2016, it became the largest grassroots distributor of aid in Europe.
Cho ...
taking over the afternoon slots. This led to other changes in the weekend schedule, such as
Marsha Shandur
Marsha Shandur (born 1977) is a former radio presenter best known for presenting on Xfm London and Xfm Manchester (as ''Marsha'').
Career
Shandur presented numerous shows on Xfm during her 8 years at the station before announcing that she ...
's ''Sunday Brunch'' ending, and the air times of
Marc Haynes
Marc Haynes is an English comedy writer, radio broadcaster and podcaster.
Biography
Marc Haynes was brought up in London and won the 1998 edition of the Daily Telegraph Open Mic Award for stand-up comedy, the finals of which also featured Ste ...
''Certificate X'' changing (from 1 pm – 3 pm to 6 pm – 8 pm). Jo Good left the station during these changes, but rejoined at the end of 2012.
On 11 February 2008 GCap Media announced that they would be selling the analogue licence for the Manchester, Scotland and South Wales stations, retaining only XFM London. This decision was made in an attempt to shore up profits and concentrate on 'winning brands', calling the former nationalisation strategy into question. After this announcement, in early 2008, breakfast show host Alex Zane admitted on air that the future of the London station was also being reviewed, even making jokey references to perhaps being out of a job soon. The sale of the South Wales station went ahead, with
Town and Country Broadcasting
Nation Broadcasting is a British media company headquartered in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. It currently owns and operates twelve Independent Local Radio stations across the United Kingdom.
History
Originally known as Town and Country Broa ...
relaunching this as
Nation Radio
A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by those ...
; the sale of the Scotland and Manchester stations was suspended when Global Radio entered into discussions to purchase GCap Media.
The re-appointment of a previous Programme Controller in 2011 led to a number of changes to Xfm's output. Specialist shows such as ''Music:Response'' and ''Mix Master Mike Show'' returned, as did presenter
Danny Wallace. In September 2011 a new Xfm schedule began, and included
Mary Anne Hobbs
Mary Anne Hobbs (born 16 May 1964) is an English DJ and music journalist from Lancashire, England. She currently hosts the BBC Radio 6 Music weekday mid-morning show, Monday to Friday, 10:30am1pm, and her ''6 Music Recommends'' show, Wednesday ...
moving to a re-launched evening show, ''Music:Response''. A new "local" slot was introduced. Broadcaster
Richard Skinner left the station after two years.
The show ''Import:Export'', produced and directed by Redefined Media, was resurrected and linked to
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock").
The stat ...
Los Angeles.
Further weekend signings included ''
The Sun'' journalist
Gordon Smart
Gordon Smart (born 31 March 1980 in Edinburgh and raised in Kinross) is a Scottish broadcaster and former journalist and editor of ''The Scottish Sun''.
Journalism career
Smart's career in journalism started at DC Thomson in Dundee where he wa ...
starting a three-hour Sunday show. Smart's show ended in October 2013 when he left to join the ''Scottish Sun'' as editor. As part of the 2013 schedule
Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes (born 24 April 1973) is a British comedian, writer, presenter and broadcaster known for his work on such programmes as ''The Now Show'', '' Listen Against'' (for BBC Radio 4), along with both music and spoken word radio. He has ap ...
took over the breakfast show. Comedian
Josh Widdicombe
Joshua Michael Widdicombe (; born 8 April 1983) is an English comedian, presenter and actor. He is best known for his appearances on '' The Last Leg'' (2012–present), ''Fighting Talk'' (2014–2016), '' Insert Name Here'' (2016–2019), ''Mock ...
presented a show on Saturdays between 10 am and 1 pm. It was announced in March 2015 that
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...
would be hosting a new Sunday night show, which was to first air on 15 March.
Following Heart and Galaxy owner Global's takeover of GCap Media, Xfm Scotland became Galaxy (it went on to become
Capital Scotland
Capital Scotland (formerly known as Beat 106, XFM Scotland, and later Galaxy Scotland) is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global. It broadcasts to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two citie ...
in 2011), leaving just Manchester and London with local Xfm stations.
Following Global's acquisition of
Real and Smooth Ltd, the Paisley/Renfrewshire 96.3 FM service previously broadcast as Real Radio XS became a new XFM Scotland in 2014. This service was available across central Scotland over DAB.
Up until the end of the Xfm branding, the London, Manchester and Scotland stations broadcast 43 hours a week of local programming – weekday breakfast and drive, and four hours a day at weekends – with networked programming, primarily from London, at other times. TV platforms followed the London output and all three stations were streamed online.
Rebrand as Radio X
Xfm rebranded as Radio X on 21 September 2015. The rebrand was carried out in partnership with creative agency We Are MBC. The rebranded station launched with new presenters including
Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X.
Previously he has presented ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 20 ...
,
Vernon Kay
Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English television and radio presenter, and former model. He presented Channel 4's ''T4'' (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV, including ''All Star Family Fortunes'' (2 ...
,
Johnny Vaughan
Jonathan Randal Vaughan (born 16 July 1966) is an English television and radio presenter and a film critic. He was the main presenter of ''Capital Breakfast'' alongside Lisa Snowdon on 95.8 Capital FM between 2004 and 2011.
Vaughan currently pr ...
and
Ricky Wilson joining some existing XFM presenters on a refreshed schedule.
XFM aired its last day of programming on Sunday 13 September 2015. XFM Scotland ceased broadcasting entirely on the same day with Global Radio handing back the Paisley licence to Ofcom. A 'holding' service of music and announcements began transmitting on national DAB under the Radio X title the following day, with this service also taking the place of XFM on FM, TV and online until the full launch of the new Radio X at 6:30am on Monday 21 September 2015.
The first song played on the rebranded Radio X, by Chris Moyles just before 7am on 21 September, was "
Love Machine" by
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...
, an off-format nod to media reports of a male bias by the new station.
Radio X is now available nationally via
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 cont ...
national
DAB, with all local-layer XFM carriage dropped (replaced in many cases 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 ...
). The new national Radio X also replaced XFM on FM in London and Manchester, and on other platforms including TV and online. There is no longer any local output on the Manchester station, and the only variance between the UK, London and Manchester services is split advertising and top-of-the-hour news intros.
In October 2019, Radio X's DAB station switched to DAB+ using a more efficient 40kbps AAC+ stream. This enabled it to broadcast nationally in stereo on DAB for the first time; the previous DAB broadcast used the less efficient MP2 coding, so although a higher bitrate (80kbps), it was broadcast in mono. The change was made to make room for
LBC News
LBC News is a rolling news radio station based in the United Kingdom. It broadcasts in Greater London on AM and UK wide on DAB and online.
History
The 1152 AM frequency in London has a complicated history of format and ownership. Continuous ...
on the Digital One multiplex.
During the 2010s, the station progressively included more "classic" records in its output. By 2021, except for six hours of
John Kennedy's 'Xposure' programme, only about 12 recent releases would be playlisted in any one week.
Stations
The stations which formerly comprised the Xfm network were:
*XFM London, which has been broadcasting on 104.9 FM in the Greater London area full-time since 1997 (and by Restricted Service Licence from 1992).
*
XFM Manchester, which was launched on 97.7 FM on 15 March 2006.
Current and former presenters
*
Current Presenters on the network include:
*
Chris Moyles
Christopher David Moyles (born 22 February 1974) is an English radio and television presenter, author and presenter of ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on Radio X.
Previously he has presented ''The Chris Moyles Show'' on BBC Radio 1 from 2004 to 20 ...
*
Dominic Byrne
Dominic Anthony Byrne (born 10 November 1972) is a British newsreader and presenter. He currently works on the Chris Moyles Breakfast show on Radio X, having previously worked as the newsreader for Capital London on the Capital FM Breakfast ...
*
Pippa Taylor
Philippa Claire Tarrant (born 7 December 1977) is a British radio producer, presenter, and book author. She works as Executive Producer on the Chris Moyles Breakfast show on Radio X since the show started on 21 September 2015. Previously she ha ...
*
Toby Tarrant
Tobias Charles Tarrant (born 29 October 1991) is an English radio broadcaster on Radio X.
Career
Tarrant started his national radio broadcasting career on Capital FM, presenting the early breakfast show in 2014.
In October 2016, he moved to ...
*
Johnny Vaughan
Jonathan Randal Vaughan (born 16 July 1966) is an English television and radio presenter and a film critic. He was the main presenter of ''Capital Breakfast'' alongside Lisa Snowdon on 95.8 Capital FM between 2004 and 2011.
Vaughan currently pr ...
*
John Kennedy
*
Dan Gasser
*
Ed Gamble
Edward Stephenson Jamison Gamble (born 11 March 1986) is an English comedian, known for co-presenting '' The Peacock and Gamble Podcast'' and his regular appearances on ''Mock the Week''. He studied at Durham University, where he began his come ...
*
Matthew Crosby
Matthew Crosby (born 12 February 1980) is an English comedian and writer.
Early life
Matthew Crosby was born in Bromley. He attended St Olave's Grammar School., and went on to study English and American Literature with Film Studies at the U ...
*
Danny Wallace
*
Lliana Bird
Choose Love (formerly Help Refugees) is a UK-based non-governmental organization (NGO) which provides humanitarian aid to, and advocacy for, refugees around the world. In 2016, it became the largest grassroots distributor of aid in Europe.
Cho ...
Former presenters on the network include:
*
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...
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Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant (born 24 November 1974) is an English comedian, actor, director, presenter and writer.
Alongside Ricky Gervais, Merchant was the co-writer and co-director of the British TV comedy series ''The Office'' (2001–2003), and ...
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Karl Pilkington
Karl Pilkington (born 23 September 1972) is an English presenter, comedian, actor, voice-artist, producer and author.
After working with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as producer on their XFM radio show, Pilkington became a co-host of '' ...
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Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand (born 4 June 1975) is an English comedian and actor known for his flamboyant, loquacious style and manner. Brand has received three British Comedy Awards: Best Newcomer (2006), Best Live Stand-Up (2008), and the award for ...
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Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
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Dave Rowntree, whose final show was on 13 September 2015.
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Dermot O'Leary
Seán Dermot Fintan O'Leary Jr. (born 24 May 1973) is an English broadcaster who currently works for ITV and BBC Radio 2. His radio career began when he worked as a disc jockey at Essex Radio, but he is best known for being the presenter of ''T ...
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Shaun Keaveny
Shaun William Keaveny (born 14 June 1972) is a British broadcaster who presented the Breakfast Show on radio station BBC Radio 6 Music for 11 years, and the afternoon show for a further 3 years.
Education and early life
Keaveny grew up on the ...
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Claire Sturgess
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Zoe Ball
Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' and ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & K ...
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Pete Mitchell
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Eddy Temple-Morris
Edward Owen Kayvan Temple-Morris (born 26 April 1965 in Cardiff) is a British DJ, record producer and TV presenter. He hosted London radio station XFM's specialist show ''The Remix'' for 15 years,[Soho Radio
Soho Radio is an independent online radio station that broadcasts over two channels, Soho and NYC + Culture. The studios are based in Soho, London, and on Lexington Avenue in New York It was founded in 2014, with the New York branch opening in N ...]
.
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Josh Widdicombe
Joshua Michael Widdicombe (; born 8 April 1983) is an English comedian, presenter and actor. He is best known for his appearances on '' The Last Leg'' (2012–present), ''Fighting Talk'' (2014–2016), '' Insert Name Here'' (2016–2019), ''Mock ...
, who alternated on Saturday & Sunday mornings from February 2013 until July 2015.
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Iain Baker
Jesus Jones are a British alternative rock band from Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, formed in late 1988, who continue to record and perform, as of 2021. Their track " Right Here, Right Now" was an international hit, and was subsequently globall ...
, who worked at XFM for 7 years presenting a number of different shows
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Alex Zane
Alex Zane (born Faris Alexander L. Albayaty; 3 March 1979) is a British television presenter and DJ.
Early and personal life
Zane was born in Leeds and attended Boston Spa School before going on to study Medicine at University College London, ...
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Christian O'Connell
Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is a British radio disc jockey, television host, writer, and comedian living in Australia. He presents ''The Christian O'Connell Show'' on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in ...
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Dave Berry
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Lauren Laverne
Lauren Cecilia Fisher (née Gofton; born 28 April 1978), known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, model, television presenter, author and singer. She was the lead singer and additional guitarist in the alternative rock ba ...
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Eoghan McDermott, now on
RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio is a division of the Irish national broadcasting organisation Raidió Teilifís Éireann. RTÉ Radio broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels nationwide.
Founded in January 1926 as 2RN, the first broadcaster in t ...
.
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Scroobius Pip
David Peter Meads (born 3 August 1981), known professionally and personally as Scroobius Pip (Dave), is an English actor and podcaster as well as a former spoken word poet and hip hop recording artist from Stanford-le-Hope, Essex. He first ga ...
, who presented ''The Beatdown'', a late-night spoken-word and hip hop show, from April 2013 to August 2014
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Jon Holmes
Jon Holmes (born 24 April 1973) is a British comedian, writer, presenter and broadcaster known for his work on such programmes as ''The Now Show'', '' Listen Against'' (for BBC Radio 4), along with both music and spoken word radio. He has ap ...
(2013–2016)
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Phil Clifton
Phil Clifton is a British television and Sony nominated radio presenter, appearing on MTV (UK and Ireland), Radio X and formerly Channel 4.
Career
Radio
Phil began presenting on Xfm London and Xfm Manchester in 2008. He was later nominated for ...
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Ricky Wilson
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Vernon Kay
Vernon Charles Kay (born 28 April 1974) is an English television and radio presenter, and former model. He presented Channel 4's ''T4'' (2000–2005) and has presented various television shows for ITV, including ''All Star Family Fortunes'' (2 ...
(2015–2017)
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Clint Boon
Clinton David Boon (born 28 June 1959) is an English musician, DJ and radio presenter. Boon originally rose to fame as the keyboard player (and sometimes vocalist) of Inspiral Carpets.
Music career
Born in Oldham, Lancashire, Boon joined the Ins ...
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Jo Good
Jo Good is a British broadcaster.
Career
A radio 'anorak' since her early teens, Jo joined the radio industry straight out of school, aged 17. At this point she moved from Alnwick, Northumberland to Manchester. Working first as a travel reporte ...
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Mary Anne Hobbs
Mary Anne Hobbs (born 16 May 1964) is an English DJ and music journalist from Lancashire, England. She currently hosts the BBC Radio 6 Music weekday mid-morning show, Monday to Friday, 10:30am1pm, and her ''6 Music Recommends'' show, Wednesday ...
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Janice Long
Janice Berry ( Chegwin; 5 April 1955 – 25 December 2021), known professionally by her first married name Janice Long, was an English broadcaster who was best known for her work in British music radio. In a career that spanned five decades, s ...
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Richard Skinner
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Kevin Greening
Kevin Greening (30 December 1962 – 29 December 2007) was a British radio presenter, who co-hosted ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 with Zoe Ball from 13 October 1997 to 25 September 1998.
Early career
Kevin Greening grew up in Bristol whe ...
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Alan Freeman
Alan Leslie Freeman, MBE (6 July 1927 – 27 November 2006), nicknamed "Fluff", was an Australian-born British disc jockey and radio personality in the United Kingdom for 40 years, best known for presenting ''Pick of the Pops'' from 1961 to 200 ...
*
Elis James
Owain Elis James (born 3 November 1980) is a Welsh comedian, broadcaster and actor originally from Haverfordwest. He grew up in Carmarthen and later lived in Cardiff. He is now based in South London. He is bilingual in Welsh and English and ha ...
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John Robins
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Jimmy Hill
James William Thomas Hill, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including player, trade union leader, coach, manager, director ...
*
Gordon Smart
Gordon Smart (born 31 March 1980 in Edinburgh and raised in Kinross) is a Scottish broadcaster and former journalist and editor of ''The Scottish Sun''.
Journalism career
Smart's career in journalism started at DC Thomson in Dundee where he wa ...
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Liam Gallagher
William John Paul Gallagher (born 21 September 1972) is an English singer and songwriter. He achieved fame as the lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis from 1991 to 2009, and later fronted the rock band Beady Eye from 2009 to 2014, before starti ...
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Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher (born 29 May 1967) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the chief songwriter, lead guitarist, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band Oasis until their split in 2009. After leaving Oasis, he formed ...
''Kick Out the Jams: The Story of XFM''
In 2022, Signature Entertainment released ''Kick Out the Jams: The Story of XFM'',
a documentary by ''The Wee Man's'' Ray Burdis co-directed with Ian Jefferies, about the history of Xfm. The film features interviews with former Xfm presenters like Gary Crowley, Ricky Gervais, Steve Lamacq, Stephen Merchant and Claire Sturgess, as well as musicians like The Libertines' Pete Doherty and Carl Barat, Alan McGee and Sonya Madan.
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Radio stations in England
British radio networks
Radio stations established in 1997
Rock radio stations in the United Kingdom
Adult album alternative radio stations