Gold is a network of oldies radio stations in the United Kingdom, which was formed by the merger of the

Capital Gold The Capital Gold radio station started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, after the Independent Broadcasting Authority had urged stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on AM and FM) and t ...

network and the Classic Gold network in August 2007. The station relaunched in March 2014 as a partly-automated service, broadcasting in fewer areas, after many of Gold's local AM/DAB frequencies were transferred to

Smooth Radio Smooth Radio may refer to: * Smooth Radio (2010), the original national network in the UK * Smooth Radio (2014) See also * Smoothfm smoothfm is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by NOVA Entertainment. From original ...

. Most programming is broadcast from the Global Radio's studios in

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 ...

, London. As of September 2022, the network broadcasts to a combined weekly audience of 1.6 million, according to RAJAR.

History

The Capital Gold network started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, as the Government urged radio stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on AM and FM) and threatened to remove one of their frequencies if simulcasting continued. The Classic Gold network was similarly formed from the AM transmissions of the former GWR Group's station licence areas. (Many of the FM pop stations to which the Gold stations were sister operations are themselves now part of the

Heart The heart is a muscular organ found in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon diox ...

or Capital networks.) The original presenters on the early incarnation of Capital Gold included Tony Blackburn, Kenny Everett and David Hamilton. The hiring of radio personalities to host networked shows continued to be a feature of the Capital Gold and Classic Gold networks as they grew, though following the 2014 relaunch Gold only had three presenters.

Merger

Following the merger of Capital Radio plc and GWR Group plc to form

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. ...

in 2005, a review of station assets was carried out by Chief Executive Ralph Bernard. One of the aims for 2006 was that Capital Gold would be carried on a national digital multiplex – enabling near-nationwide coverage – by the merger between itself and digital-only station '' Capital Life''. However, following GCap's purchase of the Classic Gold Digital Network in April 2007, the former plan was scrapped, and it was decided to merge the two networks to form the 'Gold Network' (this began at 7p.m. on 3 August 2007). The majority of the shows and presenters on the new station were taken from Capital Gold's former network, rather than Classic Gold's network, with the exception of Erika North, who was the co-presenter on the Classic Gold breakfast show with radio DJ Tony Blackburn. She co-hosted the new 'Gold' breakfast show with James Cannon until December 2010; with Blackburn having quit the network completely, joining

. Local programming took the form of a voice-tracked show on weekdays between noon and 4p.m. On 28 June 2010, the local afternoon programming on Gold stations in England was dropped by Global Radio following changes in

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 ...

regulation. This led to all stations receiving networked programme content from London, though split local advertising and news bulletins continued to be dropped into the networked output. The broadcaster continued to be required to deliver a four-hour local show for Wales, which was broadcast on both the South Wales (sister to Red Dragon/Capital) and North Wales & Cheshire (ex-Marcher) Gold stations. Gold is now owned by Global Radio. A condition of Global's takeover was that the local stations in

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 We ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 United ...

and Worcester had to be sold and were operated under a franchise to Orion Media. Orion Media ended the franchise agreement and relaunched its Gold West Midlands stations as Free Radio 80s on 4 September 2012.

Transfer of AM and DAB outlets to Smooth Radio

On 28 February 2014, Global Radio announced that all but four AM transmitters and three DAB transmission areas would be transferred to broadcast their recently acquired

station with effect from Monday 24 March 2014. Only London, Nottingham, Derby and Manchester would continue to receive Gold on AM frequencies, and London & Home Counties, Yorkshire, Leicester and Nottingham areas on DAB. These remained with Gold as Smooth Radio is broadcast on FM in London, the North West and the East Midlands, and the Yorkshire DAB broadcast was a relay of the London service. Global encouraged listeners not in these areas to move to Smooth Radio, or else continue to listen to Gold via satellite, cable, or internet streaming.

Expansion of DAB outlets

On 7 September 2015, Global Radio announced Gold would take over the local DAB multiplex slots previously occupied by

XFM Radio X is a British National commercial radio station focused on alternative music, primarily indie rock, and owned by Global. Radio X launched in 1989 as a pirate radio station, a licensed London-wide station in 1997 and nationally in 2015 ...

, following the latter's rebrand as Radio X and its move to the Digital One national multiplex on 21 September 2015. The announcement said Gold would become available again on DAB in Manchester, Birmingham, Ayr, Bournemouth, Cambridge, Cornwall, Exeter/Torbay/North Devon, Kent, Norwich, Peterborough, Plymouth, Reading/Basingstoke, Southend/Chelmsford, on the Sussex Coast and in Swindon. This is in addition to Gold's existing DAB availability in London, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Yorkshire. On Monday 10 June 2019, Gold expanded to transmit nationally via the Digital One DAB+ multiplex; the station had been using DAB+ for its transmission in London since early 2019. The relaunch as a national service was accompanied by a new breakfast show hosted by DJ James Bassam, joining from sister station Capital. In September 2019, many of the local-level DAB transmissions of Gold were transferred to a new service,

Smooth Country Smooth Radio is a network of local radio stations broadcasting on FM and MW stations in the United Kingdom. Smooth Radio features a Soft Adult Contemporary radio format. Launched in March 2014, it replaced the national Smooth Radio that ...

. Gold continues to broadcast on DAB in the East Midlands, where Smooth Country took the place of Smooth Chill.

Radio stations

;On AM and digital radio *Gold 945 & 999 East Midlands (Nottingham/Derby AM & Nottingham/Derby/Leicester DAB) *Gold 1332 Cambridgeshire (Peterborough AM & Peterborough/Cambridge DAB) *Gold 1458 Manchester (AM & DAB) *Gold 1548 London (AM & DAB+) *Gold 1557 Northamptonshire (AM & DAB) *Gold UK ( Nationally) (DAB+ and digital TV) *Freesat: 722 *Sky: 0121 *Virgin Media: 923) ;Former Gold stations (now

) *Gold Berkshire and North Hampshire (DAB) *Gold Bristol and Bath (DAB) *Gold 105.2 Central Scotland (FM & DAB) *Gold Cumbria (AM & DAB) *Gold 828 Dorset (AM & DAB) *Gold Essex (AM & DAB) *Gold Exeter and Torbay (DAB) *Gold 774 Gloucester (AM & DAB) *Gold Three Counties (DAB) *Gold Humberside (DAB) *Gold Kent (AM & DAB) *Gold 1152 Norfolk and North Suffolk (AM & DAB) *Gold 1260 North East Wales and Cheshire West (AM) *Gold North-East England (DAB) *Gold 1260 North Wales (AM & DAB) *Gold North West England (DAB) *Gold North Yorkshire (DAB) *Gold Oxfordshire (DAB) *Gold 1152 Plymouth (AM & DAB) *Gold South Hampshire (AM & DAB) *Gold South Wales (DAB) *Gold 1170 & 1251 Suffolk (AM) *Gold 1521 Surrey (AM & DAB) *Gold Sussex (Berkshire, East & West Sussex) (AM & DAB) *Gold South Yorkshire (DAB) *Gold 1161 Swindon and Witney (AM & DAB) *Gold 936 Wiltshire (AM & DAB) *Gold Herts, Beds and Bucks 828 & 792 (AM)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gold (Radio) British radio networks Classic hits radio stations GCap Media Global Radio Radio stations established in 2007 Radio stations in London Radio stations in Kent Radio stations in Sussex Radio stations in Hampshire Radio stations in Wales Radio stations in Birmingham, West Midlands Radio stations in Manchester 2007 establishments in England