Play Radio UK was a British internet radio station based on the South Coast of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. Its output comprised two mainstream

music radio Music radio is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries. Radio drama and comedy continue, often on public radio. M ...

streams, a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featu ...

stream, and several other genre-specific music streams. On 4 July 2009, Play Radio UK launched an FM service in Southampton and Winchester.

Liquidation

Play Radio UK went into liquidation at 10:00 a.m. on Friday 18 September 2009, although the Southampton services are operated under a separate company and (as of 1 October 2009) are not affected. The company was part directed by David Reynolds, who was charged with £1.2million tax fraud in June 2008, and was part of Something.info. The FM licences and assets were acquired by

Celador CPL Productions (formerly Celador) is a British entertainment company originally formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as an independent television production company. It created and produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is ...

. The FM stations were renamed The Breeze. The Play Radio brand and trademarks were sold on to Aiir

History

The service was broadcast from a converted barn in Ford, a small village near

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much larg ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. The building also hosted Dave Reynolds' other companies, including Satellite Direct and Something.info. The first three stations were launched in October 2006 with a mainstream music radio format. Later, further genre-specific music streams were added. On 8 June 2009 Play Radio announced it had won the rights to the Southampton and Winchester FM licences on 107.2FM and 107.8FM. This service was launched on 4 July and carries a mixture of live local programming and live "networking" with their online stations.

Stations

*Play One UK *Play Two UK *Play Talk UK *Play Rock UK *Play Classical UK *Play Gold UK *Play Love UK *Play Dance UK *Play Country UK *Play Urban UK *Play Top 40 UK *Play Rock UK *Play Jazz UK *Play Reggae UK

Play Talk UK

Tommy Boyd Timothy Leslie Boyd (born 14 December 1952), better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio presenter. Television From 1977 to 1980, Boyd was co-presenter of the ITV children's magazine programme ''Magpie'' replacing Douglas Rae. In 1981, ...

joined the station in 2007 with Play Radio's first talk-based show, a Sunday night phone-in programme. The station expanded its talk output in 2008, with the arrival of former Talksport presenters

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: '' Frankenstein'' (1931), '' The ...

and Mike Mendoza . At Easter 2008, Richard Hearsey began ''Hearsey's Half Hour'', a two-hour programme. The title was suggested by comedian and actor Tim Vine. It was a chat and music show with special celebrity guests including Tim Vine, Chris Tarrant, Shaun Williamson, Alex Lowe, Bobby Davro, and Steve Nallon. In March 2009, the station's talk output was moved from Play Two UK, to a new dedicated stream, Play Talk UK. Play Talk UK was the creation of Tommy Boyd, The intention was to create a 24/7 schedule of unregulated talk radio. In the process of expanding the hours of broadcast, new presenters were added to the Play Talk UK schedule.{{cite web, url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1004411, title=Play Talk UK to be given major extension from next week, date=2009-03-17, accessdate=2009-05-08, publisher=Digital Spy Forums, archive-date=2009-04-25, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425185558/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1004411, url-status=live In July 2009, Play Talk ceased broadcasting after its successful pilot test phase, due to lack of financial support. At the same time, the other online stations all became music-only services.

Notable presenters

Play Radio UK

Pat Sharp Patrick Sharpin, known professionally as Pat Sharp (born 25 October 1961), is an English radio presenter, television presenter and DJ. In the UK, he is known mainly for his work on the children's ITV programme '' Fun House'', and his extens ...

(later with

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer. Overview The network launched on 5 January 2015 as the "Bauer City 2 Network", and rebranded on 7 January 2019 due to the success of Rad ...

) *

(now with

Talkradio TalkRadio (previously styled as talkRADIO) is a talk radio station broadcasting nationally in the United Kingdom, which was relaunched on 21 March 2016. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sist ...

)

Play Talk UK

* Duncan Barkes *

Iain Dale Iain Campbell Dale (born 15 July 1962) is a British broadcaster, author and political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. In 2005, he became the first openly gay Conservative candidate to c ...

(now at

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 broadcast ...

) *

Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show '' The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon. Lee's career bega ...

* John Radford (deceased) *

Simon Darby Simon Darby (born 8 November 1964) is a British politician and former deputy chairman of the British National Party. Background By occupation a communications consultant, Darby began his political career in the National Democrats, most of whose ...

(now at Regency Radio)

References

Internet radio stations in the United Kingdom