Magic Classical (formerly Scala Radio) is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

digital radio station owned and operated by

Bauer Media Audio UK 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. History In early 2008, German ma ...

. The station was launched in March 2019 as Scala Radio and broadcasts nationally on DAB Digital Radio, via

Smart speaker A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant (artificial intelligence), virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and Hands-free computing, hands-free activation with the help of o ...

, app, and online. The station was the first national classical music service to launch on terrestrial radio in the UK since Classic FM in 1992. The station's playlist features 70% popular classics and 30% new and "surprising" music. Scala also aimed to produce more speech content – or more "storytelling" – than Classic FM or

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

History

On 22 December 2018, following the demise of his

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

drivetime showwhich had been co-hosted with

Jo Whiley Johanne Whiley-Morton (born 4 July 1965), better known professionally as Jo Whiley, is an English radio DJ and television presenter. She was the host of the long-running '' Jo Whiley Show'' on BBC Radio 1 and has since been presenting her weekd ...

since May 2018

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

revealed that "...the new radio show will be announced in January. It will be startling." A month later, on 21 January 2019,

Bauer Radio 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. History In early 2008, German ma ...

announced plans to launch a new national classical music service under the name Scala Radio from March, with Mayo having signed up to be one of the lead presenters of the new station. More information about presenters and their shows was confirmed in February 2019. Scala Radio launched at 10am on 4 March 2019 with Simon Mayo hosting the first live programme. The first track played was the prélude to Carmen Suite No. 1 by

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic music, Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', w ...

. Advance weekly listings for Scala Radio were published from launch in ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in September 1923 by John Reith, then general manage ...

'' and the Bauer-owned ''Total TV Guide''. The ''Radio Times'' removed listings for

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts Black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been ...

and details of news and weather bulletins on Radios 1 and 2 to make space for the new station. The station launched on

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the planetary surface, surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from ...

on 1 May 2019 on channel 0216 (later moved to channel 0151). It was removed on 14 December 2022, and was replaced by sister station

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio (GHR) is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK. It currently includes 18 local and regional radio stations operating over 50 FM and DAB licences in England, Scotl ...

on the platform. Changes made to the programming schedule from 2 March 2024 resulted in a presenter-less format for most weekday slots, in response to falling listening figures; however, the weekday breakfast show continued to be presented by

Charles Nove Charles Alexis Nove (born 29 June 1960 in London, England) is a British radio broadcaster and voice artist, who currently presents the weekday breakfast show for classical music station Magic Classical. Earlier in his career, he was a newsreader ...

. The changes also led to the loss of

Mark Kermode Mark Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter, author and podcaster. He is the co-presenter (with Ellen E. Jones) of the BBC Radio 4 programme ''Screenshot'', and co-presenter ...

, Luci Holland, Richard Allinson, Sam Hughes, and Mark Forrest as presenters. On 16 September 2024, the station was rebranded to Magic Classical, as part of Bauer Media Audio's 'Magic'-branded stations. Schedule changes on 9 June 2025 saw the return of weekday daytime and evening presenters – Tim Smith and Fran Godfrey (both formerly at Radio 2), and Jo Cochrane (from Forth 1 and Magic Soul) – while Tony Minvielle joined from sister station Jazz FM for a Friday night programme.

Presenters

The presenters on Magic Classical include a range of radio and television personalities, some of whom have previously presented on other Bauer stations, as well as with competitor stations such as Classic FM. The current presenters with regular shows are: * YolanDa Brown * Hannah Cox *

* Jack Pepper * Darren Redick * Ayanna Witter-Johnson * Tim Smith * Jo Cochrane * Fran Godfrey * Tony Minvielle

Former presenters

Gemma Cairney Gemma Cairney (born 19 March 1985) is an English television and radio presenter best known for her work on BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 6 Music. She most recently presented ''The Leisure Society'' on BBC Radio 6 Music where she interviewed cultural ...

DJ Spoony John St John Joseph (born 25 June 1970), also known as Johnathan Joseph and professionally as DJ Spoony, is a British DJ, radio and television presenter. He is a member of the UK garage production trio, the Dreem Teem. Spoony also presents ...

Goldie Clifford Joseph Price MBE (born 19 September 1965), better known as Goldie, is an English music producer, DJ, and actor. Initially gaining exposure for his work as a graffiti artist, Goldie became well known for his pioneering role as a musi ...

Sister Bliss Ayalah Deborah Bentovim (born 30 December 1970), better known by her stage name Sister Bliss, is a British keyboardist, record producer, DJ and songwriter. In the studio, she is best known for her work with Rollo Armstrong as one half of the pr ...

William Orbit William Mark Wainwright (born 15 December 1956),"William Orbit." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 30. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2000. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, 7 May 2017. Available onlinvia ''Encyclopedia.com'' known ...

* Chris Rogers *

Anthea Turner Anthea Turner (born 25 May 1960) is an English television presenter. She was a host of ''Blue Peter'' from 1992 until 1994, and of ''GMTV'' from 1994 until 1996. Early life Turner was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and educated at the ...

Midge Ure James "Midge" Ure (; born 10 October 1953) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, ...

* Jamie Crick *

Angellica Bell Angellica Bell (born 24 March 1976) is a British television presenter, television and radio presenter, best known for her presenting on CBBC between 2000 and 2006. She is also known for providing occasional cover on ''The One Show'' and for c ...

* Danielle Perry *

Alexis Ffrench Alexis Ffrench (born 1970) is a pioneering British Classical-Soul musician, composer, producer, and pianist. Ffrench's music has more than a billion streams and his albums ''Evolution'' (2018), ''Dreamland'' (2020) and ''Classical Soul Vol. 1'' ...

* Luci Holland * Mark Forrest * Sam Hughes * Richard Allinson *

Penny Smith Penelope Jane Smith (born 21 September 1958) is an English author, television presenter, newsreader and radio presenter. She has presented for Sky News, GMTV, Classic FM, BBC Radio London, Talkradio and Magic Classical. Early life and edu ...

Audience

According to

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR; ) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and Radiocentre. RAJAR's predecessor was c ...

data, the station has a weekly reach of 219,000 people as of October 2024.

Activities

Album of the Week

Magic Classical recommends an album weekly as their ''Album of the Week'', and conducts relevant give-away activities.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scala Radio Bauer Radio Classical music radio stations Radio stations in the United Kingdom Classical music in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 2019 2019 establishments in the United Kingdom