Spectrum Radio was a

multi-ethnic The term multiracial people refers to people who are mixed with two or more races and the term multi-ethnic people refers to people who are of more than one ethnicities. A variety of terms have been used both historically and presently for mult ...

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...

based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It catered to over 20 different

ethnic communities An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people with shared attributes, which they collectively believe to have, and long-term endogamy. Ethnicities share attributes like language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, rel ...

, each of which were aired on the station at various times of the week. Spectrum Radio was distinguished by its multiethnic,

foreign language A foreign language is a language that is not an official language of, nor typically spoken in, a specific country. Native speakers from that country usually need to acquire it through conscious learning, such as through language lessons at schoo ...

programmes, many of which had been

on air On air or On Air may refer to: Music *On Air (The Yardbirds album), ''On Air'' (The Yardbirds album), 1991 *On Air (Alan Parsons album), ''On Air'' (Alan Parsons album), 1996 *On Air (John Fahey album), ''On Air'' (John Fahey album), 2004 *On Air ...

since its launch in 1990. The station launched as a MW-only station on 558 kHz and in its early months, the station clashed with pirate station

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...

, which used the same frequency. This caused more interference to Spectrum than vice versa. Spectrum threatened to sue the

Independent Broadcasting Authority The Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was the regulatory body in the United Kingdom for commercial television ( ITV and Channel 4 and limited satellite television regulation – cable television was the responsibility of the Cable Author ...

, which then allowed Spectrum to temporarily broadcast on 990 kHz alongside 558 kHz. Eventually, Caroline left 558 kHz and moved to 819 kHz prior to it stopping broadcasting on 5 November 1990. Consequently, the temporary transmitter on 990 kHz was switched off. In 2019, the station switched to DAB only. In 2019 the station's studio moved to a new facility on London's

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England. The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...

. In February 2020, the station was issued with a winding up order by the High Court and its broadcasting licence was therefore suspended. The online broadcast was discontinued after the last date on 18 November 2021.

Network

*Spectrum Radio (DAB and online) *Chinese Spectrum (online, two hours a day) *Sout-al-Khaleej (DAB and online) *Spectrum World Music Radio (online)

References

External links

*
Chinese Spectrum
Cantonese-language radio stations Multilingual broadcasters Radio stations in London {{UK-radio-station-stub