Play Radio UK was a British

internet radio station Internet radio, also known as online radio, web radio, net radio, streaming radio, e-radio and IP radio, is a digital audio service transmitted via the Internet. Broadcasting on the Internet is usually referred to as webcasting since it is not ...

based on the South Coast of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Its output comprised two mainstream

music radio Music radio is a radio format in which music is the main broadcast content. After television replaced old time radio's dramatic content, music formats became dominant in many countries. Radio drama and comedy continue, often on public radio. M ...

streams, a

talk radio Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...

stream, and several other genre-specific music streams. On 4 July 2009, Play Radio UK launched an FM service in Southampton and Winchester.

Liquidation

Play Radio UK went into liquidation at 10:00 a.m. on Friday 18 September 2009, although the Southampton services are operated under a separate company and (as of 1 October 2009) are not affected. The company was part directed by David Reynolds, who was charged with £1.2million tax fraud in June 2008, and was part of Something.info. The FM licences and assets were acquired by

Celador CPL Productions (formerly Celador) is an independent television and radio production company run by Danielle Lux, Murray Boland and Janet Oakes. It was formed in the United Kingdom in 1981 as an independent television production company. It cr ...

. The FM stations were renamed The Breeze. The Play Radio brand and trademarks were sold on to

Aiir Aiir is a technology company headquartered in New York City, that provides online services and products to broadcast radio stations. Founded in the United Kingdom, Aiir operates services for radio stations worldwide including website content ...

History

The service was broadcast from a converted barn in

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

, a small village near

Arundel Arundel ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Arun District of the South Downs, West Sussex, England. The much-conserved town has a medieval castle and Roman Catholic cathedral. Arundel has a museum and comes second behind much la ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...

. The building also hosted Dave Reynolds' other companies, including Satellite Direct and Something.info. The first three stations were launched in October 2006 with a mainstream music radio format. Later, further genre-specific music streams were added. On 8 June 2009 Play Radio announced it had won the rights to the Southampton and Winchester FM licences on 107.2FM and 107.8FM. This service was launched on 4 July and carries a mixture of live local programming and live "networking" with their online stations.

Stations

*Play One UK *Play Two UK *Play Talk UK *Play Rock UK *Play Classical UK *Play Gold UK *Play Love UK *Play Dance UK *Play Country UK *Play Urban UK *Play Top 40 UK *Play Rock UK *Play Jazz UK *Play Reggae UK

Play Talk UK

Tommy Boyd Timothy Leslie "Tommy" Boyd (born 14 December 1952) is a British television and radio presenter. He gained prominence in the 1970s and 1980s as host of the children's television programmes ''Magpie'', '' Wide Awake Club'', and ''The Saturday ...

joined the station in 2007 with Play Radio's first talk-based show, a Sunday night phone-in programme. The station expanded its talk output in 2008, with the arrival of former

Talksport Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

presenters

James Whale James Whale (22 July 1889 – 29 May 1957) was an English film director, theatre director and actor, who spent the greater part of his career in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. He is best remembered for several horror films: ''Fra ...

and Mike Mendoza . At Easter 2008, Richard Hearsey began ''Hearsey's Half Hour'', a two-hour programme. The title was suggested by comedian and actor Tim Vine. It was a chat and music show with special celebrity guests including Tim Vine, Chris Tarrant, Shaun Williamson, Alex Lowe, Bobby Davro, and Steve Nallon. In March 2009, the station's talk output was moved from Play Two UK, to a new dedicated stream, Play Talk UK. Play Talk UK was the creation of Tommy Boyd, The intention was to create a 24/7 schedule of unregulated talk radio. In the process of expanding the hours of broadcast, new presenters were added to the Play Talk UK schedule.{{cite web, url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1004411, title=Play Talk UK to be given major extension from next week, date=2009-03-17, accessdate=2009-05-08, publisher=Digital Spy Forums, archive-date=2009-04-25, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425185558/http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=1004411, url-status=live In July 2009, Play Talk ceased broadcasting after its successful pilot test phase, due to lack of financial support. At the same time, the other online stations all became music-only services.

Notable presenters

Play Radio UK

Pat Sharp Patrick Sharpin known professionally as Pat Sharp, is an English radio presenter, television presenter and DJ. He worked on the children's ITV programme '' Fun House'', was one of the Sky Channel's VJs and presented the Coca-Cola Eurochart T ...

(later with

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 ...

) *

(now with

Talkradio Talk (previously talkRADIO and TalkTV) is a talk radio and free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel in the United Kingdom. Based in London and owned by Wireless Group, a subsidiary of News Corp., it is the sister station of nationa ...

)

Play Talk UK

Duncan Barkes Duncan Barkes is a journalist, political commentator and radio presenter who has worked for a number of British talk radio stations including LBC, talkSPORT, BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Radio London. His shows were usually late night or overnight ...

Iain Dale Iain Dale (born 15 July 1962) is a British broadcaster, author, political commentator, and a former publisher and book retailer. He has been a blogger since 2002. He was the publisher of the ''Total Politics'' magazine between 2008 and 2012, a ...

(now at

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) 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 broadc ...

) *

Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English former broadcaster, writer, and television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show ''The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon. Lee's career began ...

* John Radford (deceased) *

Simon Darby Simon Darby (born 8 November 1964) is a British politician and former deputy chairman of the British National Party. Background By occupation a communications consultant, Darby began his political career in the National Democrats, most of whos ...

(now at

Regency Radio In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

)

References

Internet radio stations in the United Kingdom Radio stations established in 2006 Radio stations disestablished in 2010 Defunct radio stations in the United Kingdom