LBC is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast on Monday 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio.
Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom.
Heart London is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts a hot adult contemporary radio format. Across London and its neighbouring counties, it can be heard on 106.2 MHz.
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 and News Broadcasting.
Smooth Chill is a British digital radio station dedicated to chill out, ambient and trip hop music. On 3 September 2019, Chill was rebranded as Smooth Chill to align it with the Smooth Radio brand. It is owned and operated by Global.
Heart Digital was a digital radio network of stations that broadcast on DAB Digital Radio in the North East of England, the North West of England, Yorkshire, South Wales and the West of England and in Central Scotland, as part of the Heart network.
Jazz FM is a radio station broadcasting on digital radio in the United Kingdom and Malta which predominantly plays jazz music, jazz standards as well as blues and soul music. The station, in this incarnation set up by Richard Wheatley, traces its roots back to 102.2 Jazz FM, which first launched in 1990. The current station commenced broadcasting on 6 October 2008.
Digital Radio in the Republic of Ireland is broadcast on a number of digital terrestrial, cable and internet platforms. Until the 31 March 2021, official broadcasts of the digital audio broadcasting standard were also available in the state by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) of their full banquet of radio services. DAB broadcasts since April 2021 are now restricted to unlicensed, low powered multiplexes in a small number of locations.
MXR West Midlands was a regional commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, which served the West Midlands. The multiplex closed on 27 August 2013 after the shareholders Global Radio & Arqiva decided not to renew the licence. The Bromsgrove transmitter frequency block transferred over to MuxCo Herefordshire and Worcestershire in September 2013.
MXR North East was a regional commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, which served the North East. The multiplex closed on 29 July 2013 after the shareholders Global Radio & Arqiva decided not to renew the licence.
MXR Severn Estuary was a regional commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, which served the West of England and South Wales, including Bristol, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, the South Wales Valleys and north Somerset. The multiplex closed on 29 July 2013 after the shareholders Global Radio & Arqiva decided not to renew the licence.
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.
The Arrow was a British digital radio station playing classic and contemporary rock music. It broadcast on DAB Digital Radio and was also streamed over digital satellite TV and online. The station was operated by Global; prior to Global's formation it was owned by their predecessor Chrysalis Radio.
DNN was a rolling news service on Digital Radio in the United Kingdom which operated between 2001 and 2008.
Smooth London is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Smooth Radio network. It broadcasts to the Greater London area from Croydon transmitting station on 102.2 MHz. It broadcasts a soft adult contemporary radio format from Global's studios in Leicester Square, London, and replaced 102.2 Smooth FM on 26 March 2007.
In the United Kingdom, the roll-out of digital radio has been proceeding since engineering test transmissions were started by the BBC in 1990 followed by a public launch in September 1995. The UK currently has one of the world's biggest digital radio networks, with about 500 transmitters, three national DAB ensembles, one regional DAB ensemble, 48 local DAB ensembles and an increasing number of small-scale DAB ensembles broadcasting over 250 commercial and 34 BBC radio stations across the UK. In London there are already more than 100 different digital stations available. In addition to DAB and DAB+, radio stations are also broadcast on digital television platform as well as internet radio in the UK. Digital radio ensemble operators and stations need a broadcasting licence from the UK's media regulator Ofcom to broadcast.
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.
Real Radio XS was a radio station brand operated by Real and Smooth Ltd based in Salford, Greater Manchester, broadcasting a variety of peak-time news, rock music and talk output. The Manchester-based version of the service was broadcast to Greater Manchester on FM, and to a number of areas on DAB: the closure of the MXR regional multiplexes ended most digital carriage of the service, with the last remaining digital transmission, to Yorkshire, ending in 2014. The other Real Radio XS service, covering Paisley and Renfrewshire on FM and central belt Scotland digitally, became Xfm Scotland in 2014 following Global's purchase of the franchise, before closing entirely in 2015. The Manchester frequency now transmits as XS Manchester under the control of Communicorp UK, whilst the Scottish license was re-advertised by Ofcom and now carries Nation Broadcasting-owned Nation Radio Scotland.
This is a timeline of the development of independent radio in the UK.
This is a list of notable events in the timeline of digital audio broadcasting in the UK.
