Smooth North East is a regional

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting 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 rad ...

owned by Communicorp and operated by

Global Global may refer to: General *Globe, a spherical model of celestial bodies *Earth, the third planet from the Sun Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 198 ...

as part of the Smooth network. It broadcasts to

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

Overview

GMG Radio ownership

The licence for the station was originally awarded to the

Saga Radio Group The Saga Radio Group was a British radio network owned and operated by Saga Group, Saga Services Ltd, and aimed at an audience aged 50 and over. The first Saga station was launched in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands on 16 October 2001 and ...

. However,

GMG Radio GMG Radio was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Radio, however pending regulatory review of the me ...

inherited it following its purchase of Saga in December 2006. GMG had been granted permission by the regulator,

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, internet, telecommunications and mail, postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-rang ...

, to change the format of its Smooth FM stations in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, and took the decision to change both the Smooth FM and Saga Stations to a new brand, Smooth Radio. Test transmissions for Smooth Radio North East began on 22 November 2007, and an advertising campaign was launched in the region from

Boxing Day Boxing Day, also called as Offering Day is a holiday celebrated after Christmas Day, occurring on the second day of Christmastide (26 December). Boxing Day was once a day to donate gifts to those in need, but it has evolved to become a part ...

. This included television commercials featuring images of some of the music industry's most notable artists, such as

Buddy Holly Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

and

Rod Stewart Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer and songwriter. Known for his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists of all time, having sold ...

. The station launched at 8am on 8 January 2008. The music format of the station was middle of the road,

adult contemporary music Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, sou ...

, aimed at an audience aged 45 and over. Local programming originated from studios at

Team Valley Team Valley is a trading estate located in Gateshead. It is home to the Retail World retail park, with many large, international companies based in the area's trading estate. In 2017, there were approximately 700 companies on the estate, employin ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

. Networked programming was syndicated from sister station

Smooth North West Smooth North West is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp UK and operated by Global as part of the Smooth network. The station broadcasts to the North West of England from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. History GMG Radio ...

Salford Quays Salford Quays is an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it faces Trafford across the canal. History Built by the Manchester Ship Canal Company, Sal ...

. In 2010 GMG Radio announced that it would be merging its five Smooth stations in England to create a nationwide Smooth Radio service based in Manchester. The new station was launched on 4 October 2010 and could be heard both on DAB and on the locally on the FM frequencies.

Global Radio franchisee under Communicorp ownership

Smooth Radio's output was relocated to new owner

Leicester Square Leicester Square ( ) is a pedestrianised town square, square in the West End of London, England, and is the centre of London's entertainment district. It was laid out in 1670 as Leicester Fields, which was named after the recently built Leice ...

headquarters from 1 October 2013, a move that coincided with a major overhaul of its schedule, and the closure of Smooth 70s after 21 months on air. Global reached an agreement to sell Smooth North East and seven others to Communicorp, as part of a plan to allay competition fears following Global's purchase of GMG Radio. On 4 February 2014, the '' Radio Today'' website reported that Ofcom had given Global permission to remove Smooth from the Digital One platform, and to replace it with a service playing music from the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Under this agreement, Smooth would continue to broadcast on its regional frequencies, but would be required to provide seven hours of local output per day. The local studios are shared with Global-owned stations Capital North East and

Heart North East Heart North East is a regional radio broadcasting, radio station owned and operated by Global Group, Global as part of the Heart (radio network), Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England. History Century Radio Century Radio was the ...

. In May 2015, all three stations moved to new studios at Wellbar Central in Newcastle city centre. In September 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Smooth's local Drivetime and weekend shows were replaced by network programming from London.Smooth Radio poaches Angie Greaves for national Drive
Radio Today, 29 May 2019 Local news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising were retained, alongside the station's North East breakfast show.

Programming

As of 22 February 2025, programming is broadcast and produced from Global's London headquarters, or studios in Birmingham and Manchester.

News

Global's Newsroom broadcasts regional news bulletins from 6am-7pm on weekdays and 6am-12pm at weekends.

Former notable presenters

* Emma B * Simon Bates *

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and television presenter, whose career spans over 60 years. Blackburn first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio Londo ...

* Carlos * Daryl Denham * Mark Goodier * David Jensen *

Donny Osmond Donald Clark Osmond (born December 9, 1957) is an American singer, dancer, actor, television host and former teen idol. He gained fame performing with four of his elder brothers as the Osmonds, earning several top ten hits and gold albums. In the ...

* Lynn Parsons * Andy Peebles * Andi Peters * Fiona Phillips * David Prever *

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 ...

* Chris Tarrant *

Kate Thornton Kate Thornton (born 7 February 1973) is an English journalist and broadcaster, best known as the first presenter of ''The X Factor'' (2004–2006) and for presenting daytime shows including '' Loose Women'' (2009–2011) and '' This Morning'' (2 ...

* Graham Torrington * Clive Warren * Pete Waterman

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smooth North East GMG Radio Radio stations in North East England Radio stations established in 2008 North East Communicorp Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom