Buzz Asia was a rhythmic contemporary Asian music radio service, broadcasting to

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 majo ...

on 963 and 972

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is the part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytime ...

. As of mid-2013 the name used on its Web site was "Buzz Radio". It is the fourth station to occupy that position, following Viva,

Liberty Radio Liberty Radio is a UK radio broadcaster and company based in London, England that, , is transmitted free to air from the Astra 2F satellite at 28.2° East to most of Europe, and on the Internet, but not on analog or DAB terrestrial radio. . Li ...

and Club Asia.

Sunrise Radio Sunrise Radio is a 24-hour commercial radio station, focusing on entertainment, music and news from the Indian subcontinent. It broadcasts to the Greater London area on 963/972 AM, on DAB (SDL National), and via the internet. History Sunrise ...

is currently broadcasting on this frequency

History

Prior to 2002, the frequencies had been occupied by a light pop music and female-skewing talk service initially named "Viva 963", which was renamed "

" in 1996 following its takeover by

Mohamed Al-Fayed Mohamed Al-Fayed (; arz, محمد الفايد ; born 27 January 1929) is an Egyptian-born businessman whose residence and chief business interests have been in the United Kingdom since the late 1960s. His business interests include ownership of ...

. The station was then sold again, to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian religious group the

Universal Church of the Kingdom of God The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG; pt, Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus, IURD) is an evangelical charismatic Christian denomination with its headquarters at the Temple of Solomon in São Paulo, Brazil. The church was founded in ...

(UCKG). Liberty did not become available on

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 ...

(due to regulations at the time preventing stations owned by religious groups from launching onto DAB); as a result their licence was not eligible for the automatic renewal which was granted to operators carrying their existing AM/FM stations on DAB. It was re-advertised, and awarded in November 2002 to Club Asia, a service proposing a rhythmic dance and urban music service aimed at London's

Asian Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

population. Liberty Radio ceased broadcasting on

(MW) in July 2003, and live transmission of the Club Asia service began in September of that year following three months of automated programming. Club Asia collapsed into administration in August 2009, and the station stopped live programming and played only back-to-back music, resulting in it being found in breach of its licence obligations 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 ...

. The operators of Club Asia subsequently negotiated a takeover of the frequencies by the parent firm of

and

Kismat Radio Kismat Radio was a radio station broadcasting from the Crystal Palace Transmitter in south-east London. Background Kismat Radio was part of the Sunrise Radio Group, aimed at an audience of British Asians and South Asian expats aged 30+. Pro ...

, the Litt Corporation, and the new owners relaunched the station as Buzz Asia. Following the takeover and the resumption of presented content, Ofcom ruled the station had returned to compliance with its licence conditions.Ofcom content sampling report
/ref> Buzz Asia continued to broadcast on

and online; it had not at that time secured a digital radio licence (its siblings

and

were available on DAB in London, Sunrise on

CE London 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 Kismat 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, Alexan ...

, with a third Litt service, Punjabi Radio, carried on

Switch London Switch London is a DAB ensemble operated by Switchdigital; it broadcasts from a variety of sites in and around London (Alexandra Palace transmitting station, Alexandra Palace, Arkley, Bluebell Hill transmitting station, Bluebell Hill, BT Tower, ...

having replaced

Yarr Radio Yarr Radio was a British music radio station aimed at a young Asian audience, which broadcast from 2003 until 2008 on digital radio in various regions of the United Kingdom, and on Sky Channel 187. Launched in 2003 by Indo-Canadian singer Jazz ...

References

{{coord missing, London Asian mass media in the United Kingdom Radio stations in London