 | |
| Formerly | Emap Radio Bauer Radio |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | Peterborough, England |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people | Simon Myciunka (CEO) |
| Brands |
|
| Owner | Bauer Media Group UK |
| Parent | Bauer Media Group |
| Website | www |
Bauer Media Audio UK is a UK-based radio division of Bauer Media Group owning brands; Absolute Radio, Greatest Hits Radio, Jazz FM, Hits Radio, KISS, Planet Rock, Magic, Kerrang! Radio and Heat Radio.
In early 2008, German magazine publisher Bauer bought the radio division of British company Emap, which had been established as East Midland Allied Press in 1947. [1] Consequently, Emap Radio Limited was renamed to Bauer Radio Limited. [2]
Emap's assets included national stations Kiss, Kerrang! and Magic, and local stations under the Big City Network brand in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These included 22 local FM stations in Scotland which Emap had bought from Scottish Radio Holdings in 2005. [3]
In April 2011, Bauer Radio announced it would be restructuring its radio portfolio into two divisions. Stations linked to geographic areas would come under the Bauer Place brand, while national stations such as Kiss, Kerrang and The Hits would come under Bauer Passion. The Big City Network identity was dropped as part of the restructuring. [4]
In April 2013, Bauer announced it would merge its two North East England stations, Metro Radio and TFM. The stations broadcast shared programming from Newcastle and Manchester while carrying separate branding, news bulletins and advertising. [5]
In September 2014, Bauer announced it would be restructuring its radio portfolio as from January 2015. Magic AM in England was dropped in favour of the stations reverting to their heritage station names. [6] [7] The stations then formed part of the new 'City 2' network serving both Scotland and Northern England. A 'City 3' network on DAB, replacing The Hits Radio in most areas, launched on 19 January 2015. As part of this restructuring, the Place and Passion network banners introduced in 2011 were replaced by the Bauer City and Bauer National divisions. The 'City 3' network was withdrawn in favour of reverting to the networked The Hits service from September 2017.
At the beginning of March 2016, Bauer moved two of its stations, Planet Rock and Absolute 80s, from Digital One onto the Sound Digital multiplex, reducing the availability of these stations (areas including East Anglia, the South West, parts of Kent, Cumbria, and large areas of Wales and Scotland had no Sound Digital network transmitters). The issue was reported in local media in some areas. [8] Planet Rock and Absolute 80s on D1 began broadcasting just a retune message loop from 18 April, and the switch-off occurred on 30 April.[ citation needed ]
On 6 May 2016, Bauer announced it had bought Midlands radio group Orion Media for an undisclosed amount, reportedly between £40 and £50 million. [9] [10] It was subsequently confirmed that Orion's stations Free Radio (West Midlands) and Gem (East Midlands) would become part of the Bauer City portfolio, with Gem introducing a version of the City sonic logo device to its presentation from August 2016.
On 16 August 2018, Bauer announced that it had bought Jazz FM for an undisclosed sum. [11]
In February and March 2019, Bauer purchased Lincs FM Group, [12] Celador [13] and the local stations owned by Wireless Group, [14] and the following month Bauer purchased the ten FM stations owned by UKRD, together with UKRD's 50% share in First Radio Sales Limited. [15] In August of that year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began an investigation into these purchases, which found that a substantial lessening of competition had occurred in the marketplace for advertising. The CMA considered enforcing a partial divestment by Bauer, but in March 2020 instead made a 'behavioural remedy' ruling which accepted Bauer's proposal to pass a certain amount of advertising business to competing stations for a period of ten years. [16]
This comprises seven decade-themed services and dedicated classic-rock and country stations. The network is aimed at 35- to 54-year-olds. [17]
The brand, combined with other Bauer brands, has additional stations available online with a single premium subscription:
Seasonal:
Former:
The brand, combined with other Bauer brands, has additional stations available online with a single premium subscription:
Seasonal:
From 7 May 2021, the brand, combined with other Bauer brands, has additional stations available online with a single premium subscription: [20]
Current:
Seasonal:
Former:
A network similar to Absolute, dedicated to rock music.
From 7 May 2021, the brand, combined with other Bauer brands, has additional stations available online with a single premium subscription: [20]
Current:
Former:
The KISS network is aimed at a young 15-34 audience and plays predominantly rhythmic (dance/urban) music.
From 7 May 2021, the brand, combined with other Bauer brands, has additional stations available online with a single premium subscription:. [20]
Current:
Seasonal:
Former:
The brand, combined with other Bauer brands, has additional stations available online with a single premium subscription:
Current:
Seasonal:
From 7 May 2021, the brand, combined with other Bauer brands, has additional stations available online with a single premium subscription:. [20]
Current:
Seasonal:
Former:
The brand, combined with other Bauer brands, has additional stations available online with a single premium subscription:
Bauer is a partner in one of the UK's national commercial multiplexes, operates twelve wholly owned local DAB multiplexes, and jointly owns a further three with Global Radio; the firm was also formerly a minority partner (of Wireless Group) for local services in three further areas. Bauer operates the following DAB multiplexes:
Bauer has a 30% holding in Sound Digital, operator of the second national commercial DAB multiplex to launch in the UK; this began transmissions in spring 2016 and several Bauer stations broadcast on it, some transferred from other multiplexes. The other partners are Wireless Group (30%) and Arqiva (40%).
Bauer's wholly owned digital multiplexes are primarily located in areas where the firm operates local FM stations; the original group of Bauer (formerly Emap) DAB multiplexes are located in the following areas:
As part of Emap's takeover of Scottish Radio Holdings, the firm gained control of Score Digital, the DAB multiplex operator owned by SRH. Competition guidelines required the merged firm to divest of one of the multiplexes obtained in this deal, and so the Ayr multiplex formerly run by Score was sold on to Arqiva. The remaining Score multiplexes have since been relabelled as Bauer multiplexes. [21]
The ex-Score DAB multiplexes are located in:
The Wireless Group and Emap entered into a venture to run the following three DAB multiplexes. These multiplexes were initially branded as TWG-Emap multiplexes; following the sale of TWG to UTV (creating UTV Radio), the multiplexes were relabelled as UTV-Emap, and following the sale of Emap's radio assets to Bauer, the blocks were renamed again as UTV-Bauer. Bauer owned 30 per cent of the UTV-Bauer venture, but sold its stake in November 2013. [22] Now wholly owned by Bauer Radio following the sale of the Wireless local stations in 2019.
Bauer and Global Radio jointly own CE Digital Ltd, each holding 50% of the venture. The CE operation was established by Emap in partnership with the Capital Radio Group, which through mergers subsequently became part of GCap Media and later Global Radio. The 'CE' multiplexes take their name from the initials of Capital and Emap, and have not been renamed despite the identity changes of both operators.
CE Digital operate the following DAB multiplexes:
In 2008 Radio City 2 started annually releasing hundreds of balloons (with messages attached) from the roof of the Radio City Tower "in memory of loved ones that we miss at Christmas time." This practice continued on an annual basis until December 2016. It ended because the helium-filled balloons caused widespread litter and were dangerous for animals to eat. On 22 December 2016, Radio City 2 and presenter Pete Price were contacted by numerous scuba divers and members of the public urging them to cancel the planned mass balloon release at midnight on 22 December. The balloon release went ahead. Two diving journalists contacted Radio City 2's owner, Bauer Media Group, asking for the practice to be stopped. Bauer Media confirmed that no company within the Group would conduct a balloon release in the future. An exception to this was made by Key 103 on 24 May 2017, two days after the Manchester Arena bombing, in memory of the 22 victims. [23]
In March 2023, Bauer announced that all its radio stations and audio content across Europe would be available in once place, named Rayo. [24] Rayo offers an app and a website, replacing its existing radio station apps and the Planet Radio website. In August 2023, the Amazon Alexa "skill" for listening to the radio stations offered through Planet Radio was changed to instead play through Rayo. [25]
Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Kiss Network.
Kerrang! Radio is a British specialist digital rock music radio station related to Kerrang! magazine. It is owned and operated by Bauer and forms part of the Kiss Network.
Magic Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. The station is available on 105.4 FM in London and across the UK on DAB Digital Radio, via Bauer's Rayo platform, and on Smart speakers. It plays "soft adult contemporary classics" such as Elton John, Madonna, Hot Chocolate, Whitney Houston, UB40, Simply Red, and more.
Absolute Classic Rock is a national digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. Its music output is non-stop classic rock hits.
Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. As of March 2010, the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It contains a list of DAB and DAB+ radio stations operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Global Media & Entertainment and News Broadcasting.
Planet Rock is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Kiss Network. The station broadcasts classic rock music.
Absolute Radio 90s is a semi-national digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. Its output is non-stop 1990s hits.
The Absolute Radio Network is a network of ten radio stations owned and operated by Bauer Radio. Bauer purchased the TIML Radio Limited network of stations in 2013. Most of the Absolute Radio stations are decade-themed services, alongside the flagship station and classic rock and country-formatted stations. The network is aimed at 35 to 54 year olds.
Kisstory is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Kiss Network.
Kiss Fresh is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Kiss Network,
Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK.
Sound Digital is a semi-national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva, Bauer Media Group and News Broadcasting. The multiplex covers 73% of the population from a total of 45 transmitters.
This is a timeline of the development of independent radio in the UK.
A timeline of notable events relating to Absolute Radio and its spin-off stations, and its predecessor Virgin 1215/Virgin Radio.
A timeline of notable events relating to Kiss, a British commercial radio station operated by Bauer Radio.
A timeline of notable events relating to Hits Radio, a British commercial radio station operated by Bauer Media Audio UK.
A timeline of notable events relating to Bauer Media Audio UK, a British media company established as a division of German company Bauer Media Group in 2008.
This is a list of notable events in the timeline of digital audio broadcasting in the UK.
Absolute Radio Country is a British digital radio station, and is owned and operated by Bauer Radio. It is available via DAB across the UK, online, on Smart Speaker and via the Rayo as part of the Absolute Radio Network.
Hits Radio UK, formerly The Hits, is a British digital radio station based in Manchester and London, England, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts across the United Kingdom.
