NME Radio is a radio station operated under ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' magazine branding, that broadcast an

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 ...

format. It first began broadcasting on 24 June 2008 and ceased on 25 March 2013. The station was then revived in 2018 on NME's website. There are now two radio stations, NME 1 and NME 2, that broadcast 24 hours a day.

History

Initial plans for an NME-branded radio station were revealed to the media in late 2007 by Sammy Jacob, creator of XFM, who left the station following its purchase by

Global 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 Chrysa ...

. The station began operating under licence soon after by DX Media, a company operated by Jacob. Broadcast from studios in the Blue Fin Building in

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial district in central London, next to the River Thames opposite the City of Westminster. It forms a narrow strip of riverside land within the London Borough of Lambeth (where it adjoins Alber ...

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 ...

, also home to

IPC Media TI Media (formerly International Publishing Company, IPC Magazines Ltd, IPC Media and Time Inc. UK) was a consumer magazine and digital publisher in the United Kingdom, with a portfolio selling over 350 million copies each year. Most of its tit ...

, NME Radio was launched on 24 June 2008 with its first track being "

Knights of Cydonia "Knights of Cydonia" is a song by English alternative rock band Muse and is the closing track on their 2006 album ''Black Holes and Revelations''. The song's title refers to the Cydonia region of Mars, which gained public attention from the illu ...

" by British rock band

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

. The presenting line-up at launch included

Neil Cole Neil Cole (born 1 March 1972) is an English television presenter, comedian, radio broadcaster and actor. Early life Cole was born in Bristol in 1972, and attended King Edward Grammar School in Chelmsford. He studied English and French Liter ...

and Claire Sturgess On Friday 11 June 2010, almost two years after its launch,

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

reported that NME Radio was to cease broadcasting 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 ...

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, ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

platforms, and would revert to an online only "

jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...

" format after DX Media had decided to end the agreement to operate the service. On 21 July 2010, IPC Media signed a new licence agreement with local radio group

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 ...

. NME Radio relaunched in September 2010 and returned to some regional digital audio broadcasting (DAB) multiplexes. The station returned to Freesat and Sky, where it was available until 5 December 2011. Following the new licensing agreement, operation sites were split between IPC Media's London HQ and Town and Country Broadcasting's station in south Wales,

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 Town and Country incarnation of the station ceased broadcasting on 25 March 2013 at midday. NME Radio relaunched in 2018 with two stations, NME 1 and NME 2, taking over online from Sammy Jacob's Camden Xperience Radio channels (CDNX), which were operated on a trial basis, with the idea that CDNX would be relaunched at a later date on DAB in the London area. The two NME channels are broadcast 24/7, with regular news bulletins and features. They can be heard online, via various radio playing services or through the NME website and found on DAB with both stations broadcasting on local multiplexes in Norwich and Brighton, and with NME 1 broadcasting alongside sister service CDNX in London.cite web, url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/can-now-listen-nme-audio-dab-radio-london-2383198

Programming

Under the control of DX Media, NME Radio featured 16 hours of live broadcasting with a variety of presenters. Following the purchase of the stations by

, some daytime programmes were initially introduced. NME2 seems to have more of an orientation towards

black music Black music is a sound created, produced, or inspired by black people, people of African descent, including African music traditions and African popular music as well as the music genres of the African diaspora, including Caribbean music, Lati ...

than does NME1.

Availability (at time of demise)

Online
*

DAB 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 sys ...

– Cardiff & Newport Multiplex, Berkshire & North Hampshire Multiplex.

References

{{reflist

External links

Current NME Radio Website

Official Website - nmeradio.com
(now redirects to main NME site) Radio stations established in 2008 Internet radio stations in the United Kingdom Satellite radio stations New Musical Express 2008 establishments in the United Kingdom