Having previously operated under a number of regional licences, Smooth Radio's owners, GMG Radio merged its five English stations into one quasi-national station, launching the brand on the Digital One national DAB network on 4 October 2010. Most of the output was broadcast from Salford Quays in Manchester, with other programming coming from Castlereagh Street in London. On 25 June 2012, GMG Radio's owners, Guardian Media Group sold its radio division to Global at an estimated price of between £50 million and £70 million. Global renamed GMG Radio "Real and Smooth Radio Ltd." Several rival radio groups expressed their concerns over the takeover and the effect it could have on commercial radio in the UK. Ofcom launched a review of the sale, and it was announced that GMG Radio and Global would continue to operate as separate entities while the review was conducted. On 3 August the Culture SecretaryJeremy Hunt instructed Ofcom and the Office of Fair Trading to examine Global's purchase of GMG, which gave Global over 50% of the UK radio market because of concerns the takeover may not be in the public interest. On 11 October, the OFT concluded that the merger could lead to a rise in local advertising costs because of the decrease in competitors, and forwarded the matter to the Competition Commission, which oversees business mergers and takeovers. On the same day the Competition Commission announced it would publish its findings into the takeover by 27 March 2013. The Competition Commission published its final report into the acquisition on 21 May 2013, requiring Global to sell radio stations in seven locations. Global subsequently appealed the decision, but this was rejected by the Competition Appeal Tribunal in November. Global announced in December that it would not contest the decision, and would instead begin the process of selling the assets as directed by the Commission. On 4 February 2014, the Radio Today website reported that Ofcom had given Global permission to remove Smooth from the Digital One platform, and to replace it with a service playing music from the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Under this agreement, Smooth would continue to broadcast on its regional frequencies, but would be required to provide seven hours of local output per day. On 6 February, Global confirmed the sale of eight of its regional stationsincluding those with the Smooth Radio brand in the North West, North East and East Midlandsto the Irish media holdings company Communicorp. Under a franchising agreement between the two firms, these stations would retain the Smooth Radio name, but relaunch airing a mixture of both regional content and networked programming from London. Smooth would also take over Gold's medium wave frequencies, except in London, Manchester and the East Midlands. Global announced later that month that Smooth would be relaunched on 3 March, and subsequently confirmed the Gold changes would take effect from 24 March, when the stations would begin simulcasting with Smooth Radio London. This also coincided with the return of local programming at breakfast and drivetime. On 5 March 2018, Global added the former Lakeland Radio station to the network as Smooth Lake District following its purchase from the CN Group for an undisclosed fee. Local weekend afternoon programming ended on 25 August 2019. Angie Greaves was announced as the new host of the national Smooth Drive Home, which began broadcasting on 2 September.
FM stations produce and broadcast local programming from local studios from 6-10am weekdays. All AM stations carry networked programming content as broadcast from London, with the exception that the two stations in Wales carry a local opt-out programme from noon to 4pm on weekdays, as they had done under Gold. Many of the FM/AM stations, but not all, are also on DAB where this is provided in their coverage area. Digital TV platforms carry the London version of Smooth.
Digital TV – Sky 0128, Virgin Media 916, Freeview 718, Freesat 732
Sister stations
Smooth Extra
Smooth Radio also operates Smooth Extra, with the slogan Your Refreshing Music Mix. The station transmits its own non-stop music output from 10am to 6pm every day. The remainder of programming is a direct relay of Smooth London. Smooth Extra launched in December 2014 as a result of the removal of the prior network Smooth service from Digital One. Originally broadcast in mono in the traditional DAB format, Smooth Extra and Heart Extra switched to stereo DAB+ transmission in summer 2019, enabling the addition of Gold and Heart Dance to D1 in the remaining capacity. Smooth Extra was also broadcast on Sky satellite TV system since 1 October 2015, taking over the slot from The Arrow before being replaced by Heart Dance on 7 October 2019. Smooth Extra alongside Heart Extra closed at midnight on Thursday 12 of March 2020 and replaced with a national feed of Smooth on Digital One
Smooth Country
which, having launched as an online stream through Global Player and the Smooth website in March 2019, was established as a broadcast radio service on 3 September 2019, with a presented weekday daytime show and the addition of the service to a number of local DAB multiplexes, replacing The Arrow in London, Chill in the East Midlands, and Gold elsewhere.
Smooth Chill
Mellow and chillout music service launched on 3 September 2019, this replaces Chill in the Global portfolio. The station is available in the DAB+ format in London, and was made available online through Global Player and the Smooth Radio website, with the Chill URL redirected to point to the Smooth site. The station re-launched nationally on 8 April 2020 on Digital one broadcasting in 32kbs DAB+
