Absolute Radio 00s is a semi-national digital
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radi ...
owned and operated by
Bauer
Bauer is a German surname meaning "peasant" or "farmer". For notable people sharing the surname, see Bauer (surname).
Bauer may also refer to:
Education and literature
* Bauer's Lexicon, a dictionary of Biblical Greek
* Bauer College of Busin ...
as part of the
Absolute Radio Network
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 th ...
. It broadcasts locally on Bauer's
Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histo ...
DAB Multiplex. It broadcasts nationally via smart speaker streaming and online web streaming.
Absolute Radio 00s launched on 10 December 2010 on the
Switch London
Switch London is a DAB ensemble operated by Switchdigital; it broadcasts from a variety of sites in and around London (Alexandra Palace, Arkley, Bluebell Hill, BT Tower, Colindale House, Crystal Palace, Guildford, Hampstead, Harrow Weald, Hemel ...
DAB multiplex, replacing
Absolute Radio 90s, which moved permanently to the national
Digital One
Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It cont ...
multiplex following a trial period.
In December 2014, Absolute 00s was withdrawn from DAB in London, as part of wider alterations, but simultaneously was made available, on a placeholder basis, on DAB in
Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histo ...
.
On 8 May 2020, the transmission of Absolute Radio 00s was temporarily suspended for 24 hours to allow the online capacity to be used for the one-day pop-up station Absolute Radio 40s, marking the 75th anniversary of
VE Day
Victory in Europe Day is the day celebrating the formal acceptance by the Allies of World War II of Germany's unconditional surrender of its armed forces on Tuesday, 8 May 1945, marking the official end of World War II in Europe in the Easte ...
, which also took over the AM frequencies of Absolute Radio for the day. The 40s pop-up was also added to the
CE Digital
CE Digital is an operator of digital radio in the United Kingdom. It is the licensee for local DAB ensembles in London, Birmingham, and Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 i ...
London 1 multiplex as a DAB+ service.
Simulcasts
As with Absolute's other digital spin-offs, Absolute Radio 00s
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simult ...
s the
Dave Berry breakfast show from the parent
Absolute Radio
Absolute Radio is a British Independent National Radio, National radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK, Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via Digital audio broadcasting and ...
station. In a change to how the breakfast show is simulcast, as with the other sister stations, Absolute Radio 00s now only features music from the 2000s during the breakfast show. As a promotion for the new station, during December 2010
Christian O'Connell
Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is a British radio disc jockey, television host, writer, and comedian living in Australia. He presents ''The Christian O'Connell Show'' on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in ...
would present an additional hour (10am to 11am) on the 00s station after the end of his main show.
From 23 September 2019, Absolute Radio's sibling stations, including 00s, began to syndicate the weekday afternoon drivetime show (then ''Hometime with Bush and Richie'') from the main station; as at breakfast, a split playlist system will allow relevant music to be played on each station.
Transmissions
The service is available, as of December 2014, on digital radio in
Inverness
Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histo ...
, via the local DAB multiplex (Block 11B: 218.640 MHz) from the Mount Eagle transmitter.
Prior to December 2014, the station was available via digital radio to the
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
* Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality
* ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
* Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
* "Greater" (song), by MercyMe, 2014
* Greater Bank, an Austra ...
area via the
Switch London
Switch London is a DAB ensemble operated by Switchdigital; it broadcasts from a variety of sites in and around London (Alexandra Palace, Arkley, Bluebell Hill, BT Tower, Colindale House, Crystal Palace, Guildford, Hampstead, Harrow Weald, Hemel ...
platform (12A - 223.936 MHz) via the following transmitter sites (transmitter power in brackets):
*
Crystal Palace (2.10 kW)
*
Bluebell Hill (2.00 kW)
* Reigate (1.51 kW)
* Guildford (1.00 kW)
* Zouches Farm (0.35 kW)
* Hemel Hempstead (0.25 kW)
* Otford (0.17 kW)
*
Alexandra Palace
Alexandra Palace is a Grade II listed entertainment and sports venue in London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. It is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and the later Tottenham Wood Farm. Orig ...
(0.10 kW)
* Arkley (0.10 kW)
* Mount Vernon (0.10 kW)
* Stoke D'Aberdon (0.01 kW)
* Shooter's Hill - Thamesmead (0.01 kW)
The London DAB slot occupied by Absolute Radio 00s was initially occupied by The Groove (later
Virgin Radio Groove), then by
Virgin Radio Xtreme from September 2005; this was renamed
Absolute Xtreme in 2008 and closed in 2009, replaced by
Absolute Radio 80s; when the 80s service moved to
Digital One
Digital One is a national commercial digital radio multiplex in the United Kingdom, owned by Arqiva. , the multiplex covered more than 90% of the population from 137 transmitters. Coverage was extended to Northern Ireland in July 2013. It cont ...
,
Absolute Radio 90s took the slot, and when the 90s service also went national, Absolute Radio 00s was launched.
In 2011 it was confirmed by
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 ...
that to accommodate the launch of new sister station
Absolute Radio 70s, the reduction of the broadcast bitrate of Absolute Radio 00s would be permitted, resulting in the station moving from stereo to mono broadcasts.
In December 2014, Absolute Radio 00s was removed from Switch London as part of a wider raft of changes to Bauer's DAB offerings. Absolute Radio 00s continues to be available nationally online as previously.
On 9 May 2020, a DAB+ broadcast of Absolute Radio 00s was made available to the London area over the CE London digital multiplex - the space for this was created the previous day (for the Absolute Radio 40s pop-up) by reducing the bandwidth allocated to the relay of Absolute Radio on the multiplex. From 28 April 2021, the broadcast of AR 00s on CE London switched from stereo DAB+ to a mono DAB service, using the capacity freed up by the removal of Absolute Radio from the multiplex two days prior.
References
{{Decades themed radio stations
Absolute Radio
Radio stations established in 2010
2010 establishments in the United Kingdom
2000s-themed radio stations
Bauer Radio