Galaxy (radio network)

Last updated

Galaxy
Galaxy network.png
Broadcast area Birmingham, South Wales, County Durham, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Manchester, Northumberland, Glasgow for (Scotland), Tyne and Wear, Yorkshire, UK
Frequency FM: 100-106 MHz,
DAB in some areas,
Virgin Media - 919
RDS: _Galaxy_ or Galaxy__
Branding'*TSA's* No.1 Hit Music Station'
Programming
Language(s) English
Format Rhythmic CHR
Ownership
Owner Global Radio
Heart, The Hit Music Network
History
First air date
28 April 2008
Last air date
3 January 2011
Links
Website Galaxy Radio (Redirects to Capital FM)

Galaxy was a radio network owned by Global Radio and broadcast across the British Isles on FM in regional areas of England and Scotland, through the digital platform with Sky and DAB and online respectively. Stations included stations: Galaxy Birmingham, Galaxy Manchester, Galaxy North East, Galaxy Scotland, Galaxy South Coast and Galaxy Yorkshire. Programming was networked throughout the stations from Leeds – excluding weekday breakfast/drivetime and weekend mornings. On Monday 28 April 2008, Galaxy was rebranded as a mainstream station by Creative Spark, with a brand new layout including a fresh logo and a completely new show schedule.

Contents

Galaxy Scotland (formerly known as XFM Scotland), launched on Saturday 7 November 2008, and Galaxy South Coast (rebranded from Power FM), launched on Saturday 22 November 2008, as the two new radio stations to join the Galaxy Network which was part of Global Radio's plans to simplify radio stations they own and expand other radio stations across the UK.

Galaxy used RCS Selector and Master Control as its music playout system. According to RAJAR figures, Galaxy was the 7th most listened to radio station in the UK.

The network was rebranded and merged with The Hit Music Network on 3 January 2011 to form The Capital FM Network, comprising nine stations in London, Scotland, South East Wales, the West & East Midlands and northern & southern England broadcasting under the Capital FM identity. [1] Local programming on the Hit Music stations is now restricted to daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows.

History

The first Galaxy station, Galaxy Radio was launched in 1990 in Bristol broadcasting from studios in Portland Square on the 97.2 FM frequency. The station became a key rival to the city's GWR FM station and was operated by the Chiltern Radio Group under the "Hot FM" brand. The line up at the time included Andy Gelder, Rik Scott, Keith Francis (station manager), Andy Beeley, Tristan B, Bob Prince, Tin Tin and Roni Size. It quickly became the most successful dance music station in the UK and was reaching half of all 16- to 24-year-olds in the city every week. In 1994, the station was awarded the licence to broadcast on the new Severn Estuary frequency on 101 MHz serving South Wales and the West of England areas and was rebranded as Galaxy 101. Chrysalis Radio purchased the station in 1996 and in 1997 expanded the network by buying the Faze FM operated stations which were Kiss 102 in Manchester (which became Galaxy Manchester) and Kiss 105 in Yorkshire (which became Galaxy Yorkshire) respectively. In 1998, black community station Choice FM was acquired in Birmingham and became Galaxy Birmingham. Chrysalis Radio scored another success in 1999 with the Radio Authority's award of the North East regional licence to Galaxy North East. However, Galaxy 101's success in Bristol was starting to falter, and the station was sold to the GWR Group in 2002, becoming Vibe 101 (now Kiss 101). On 7 November 2008, Xfm Scotland became Galaxy Scotland after Global Radio purchased GCap.

With Galaxy renaming their stations in 2006 to their respective areas of Birmingham, Manchester, North East, Yorkshire and Digital, they introduced a new "Up for It" image but at the same time being a more grown-up station. This is reflective in Galaxy's demographic now increasing from the 15–29 age range to the 15–34 age range.

The owners of Galaxy, Global Radio, did have aims to expand the radio brand across the UK by introducing new stations but only two occurred for Scotland with Galaxy Scotland and for the south coast of England with Galaxy South Coast before it was decided to roll out the Capital FM brand instead.

In August 2009, following Chill being taken off air, Galaxy replaced the station on numerous networks in different areas including Bournemouth, Cambridge, Cardiff, Norwich, Peterborough, Southend and more.

Until 14 November 2010, Galaxy Yorkshire was available on Sky channel 0112 and Virgin Media channel 919. Galaxy was due to be available on various platforms like Freeview, (channel 724) and Freesat. but never came into effect.

Strapline

On Friday 21 March 2008, the radio station has changed their "Passion for Music, Passion for Life" strap-line slogan to "Love Music".

As of 11 July 2010, Galaxy changed its slogan to "TSA's No. 1 Hit Music Station" inline with Capital London.

Revival within Global Player

On 7 July 2023 the Galaxy brand as retired twelve years prior returned to use with the launch of a new 'Live Playlist' stream on Global Player called "Galaxy of Stars", including predominantly chart dance and RnB tracks from Galaxy's heyday in the 90s and 00s. [2]

Galaxy Dance Anthems

In 2007, Galaxy released a three disk box set called Galaxy Dance Anthems featuring 50 club classics.

Galaxy Chart Shows

The first chart Galaxy Radio broadcast was Hit40UK. After this, the Fresh 40 chart was broadcast across the brand, but soon after the chart was cancelled. A replacement chart, The Galaxy 40, was introduced and produced by Galaxy Radio. It was networked across all Galaxy radio stations. The chart show was produced and made up of the latest and most popular dance, RnB/Rap and pop hits from Galaxy stations and the public. The Galaxy 40 did its last show on Sunday 7 June 2009, leaving the commercial Big Top 40 Show to take over the airwaves, although unlike the Fresh 40 and the Galaxy 40, Big Top 40 is based on iTunes downloads and airplay. The official UK Top 10 is also available, on each station website, but not announced on air.

Programming

The Galaxy Network schedule in December 2010 was:

Networked presenters

Syndicated presenters

Former presenters

Note(s)

Capital

On 3 January 2011, The Galaxy Network and The Hit Music Network merged to create Capital, with the branding of “95 – 106 Capital FM, The UK’s No.1 Hit Music Station” but the stations ID locally as [freq] Capital. Local news hours have been extended and local advertising remains locally sold. All programming, with the exception of weekday breakfast/drivetime and weekend afternoons, originates from Capital studios in Leicester Square, London. Specialist dance music programming remains on overnights excluding Sunday. Galaxy fell silent on 30 June 2015 when a MXR Yorkshire ensembles was closed and Capital moving to local multiplexes.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hits Radio</span> UK contemporary radio network

Hits Radio is a network of 26 contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire</span> Radio station in Birmingham, United Kingdom

Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Coventry and Warwickshire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital South Coast</span> English radio station

Capital South Coast was a regional radio station owned by operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. It broadcast to Hampshire from studios in Segensworth, Fareham. In 2019, Capital South Coast was replaced by Capital South following a merger with Capital Brighton.

XFM Scotland was a regional radio station broadcasting to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The station changed format to join the Galaxy Network on 8 November 2008 as Galaxy Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Manchester</span> Radio station in Manchester

Capital Manchester was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. The station broadcast from their studios at Global's Manchester HQ in the XYZ Building in Spinningfields, Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Birmingham</span> Radio station in Birmingham

Capital Birmingham is a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham from studios at Brindleyplace in Birmingham City Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital North East</span> Radio station in Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Capital North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle upon Tyne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Radio Birmingham</span> Radio station in Birmingham, United Kingdom

Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart (radio network)</span> British radio network

Heart is a British radio network and brand of 13 adult contemporary local stations operated by Global throughout the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the Heart stations are owned by Global, while the other three are operated under franchise agreements. The national version of the network is widely available on Global Player, Freeview, Sky, Freesat, Virgin Media and Digital One DAB.

Galaxy Digital was a radio station broadcasting through the digital platform across the United Kingdom and was owned by Global Radio. It primarily broadcast in areas where Galaxy was not represented on FM, such as London, Leicester, Nottingham, and Derbyshire. It also formerly broadcast in Central Scotland, until the relaunch of Xfm Scotland as Galaxy Scotland, at which point Galaxy Digital on DAB was replaced with a relay of Xfm London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Global Media & Entertainment</span> British media company

Global Media & Entertainment Limited, trading as Global, is a British media company formed in 2007. It is the owner of the largest commercial radio company in Europe having expanded through a number of historical acquisitions, including Chrysalis Radio, GCap Media and GMG Radio. Global owns and operates seven core radio brands, all employing a national network strategy, including Capital, Heart, Gold, Classic FM, Smooth and LBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hits Radio Manchester</span> British radio station

Hits Radio Manchester is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Greater Manchester.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Scotland</span> Radio station in Glasgow

Capital Scotland is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global. It broadcasts to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital Yorkshire</span> Radio station in Leeds

Capital Yorkshire is a regional radio station owned by Global as part of the Capital network. It broadcasts to South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire from studios in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.

The Hit Music Network was a collection of five Independent Local Radio stations operating in the United Kingdom and owned by Global Radio. Created on 25 June 2008, the stations were formerly owned by GCap Media prior to its takeover by Global and, with the exception of 95.8 Capital FM, were all part of The One Network. Initially the network included Trent FM, Ram FM, Leicester Sound, Mercia FM, and Beacon Radio Wolverhampton until the latter two we removed as they were part of the disposal by Global Radio after the GCap Media purchase and purchased by Orion Media. Mercury FM Crawley, Ten 17 in Harlow and Hertfordshire's Mercury 96.6 joined the Hit Music Network at that point, until 26 July 2010. Red Dragon FM in South Wales, whilst part of the Hit Music Network, remained local 24 hours a day taking none of the network programmes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capital (radio network)</span> British radio network

Capital is a network of twelve independent contemporary hit radio stations in the United Kingdom, broadcasting a mix of local and networked programming. Ten of the stations are owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment, while the other two are owned and operated under separate franchise agreements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Radio (network)</span> British regional radio network

Free Radio is a regional group of Independent Local Radio stations in the West Midlands, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greatest Hits Radio</span> UK classic hits radio network

Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer.

This is a timeline of the development of independent radio in the UK.

A timeline of notable events relating to Global Radio, a British media company founded in 2007.

References

  1. ↑ Capital FM to replace Galaxy Archived 25 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine , RadioToday, 13 September 2010.
  2. ↑ 'Galaxy of Stars' at Global Player
  3. ↑ Matt Spokes leaving Galaxy Archived 27 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Radio Today.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.