Smooth West Midlands is an

Independent Local Radio Independent Local Radio is the collective name given to commercial radio stations in the United Kingdom. As a result of the buyouts and mergers permitted by the Broadcasting Act 1990, and deregulation resulting from the Communications Act 2 ...

station for the

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

and the West Midlands. It is owned 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.

History

GMG Radio

The station launched following

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 ...

's purchase of 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 ...

in December 2006, and granting of permission from 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 and the North West. The decision was made to change both the Smooth FM and Saga stations to Smooth Radio and so Saga 105.7 FM was closed at 6pm on Friday 23 March 2007. This was then followed by a preview weekend for the new Smooth Radio giving listeners the chance to hear the presenters and music which would be on the new station. Local programming originated from studios in

. 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 ...

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 ...

. In 2010, it was 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

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. On 4 February 2014, the ''

Radio Today Radio Today is a 24 hours radio station in Bangladesh that started airing in May 2006. It is currently available in Dhaka, Chittagong, Cox's Bazar, Khulna, Bogra, Sylhet, Mymensingh, Barishal, Kushtia, Comilla. History Radio Today started as ...

'' 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. 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 West Midlands breakfast show. On 24 February 2025 a fully networked schedule of programming across all Smooth Radio stations in England was reinstated, with the London-based breakfast show hosted by Jenni Falconer rolled out to the stations in place of local/regional morning programmes; split localised news and advertising were retained. Smooth West Midlands' breakfast presenter at the time, Nigel Freshman, was retained by Global to host a weekday breakfast show for digital station Smooth 80s; Freshman had been providing a voicetracked morning show for the 80s station since its launch in 2024, initially alongside his duties on the Midlands FM service.

Station format

Smooth West Midlands plays middle-of-the-road,

adult contemporary 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, soul ...

music, aimed at listeners aged 35 and over. It had few similarities to its predecessor. Some of the specialist shows from the Saga days survived initially, but were gradually replaced with a more contemporary format. Smooth's initial slogan ''Your Life, Your Music'', which was used on Saga stations, was modified to ''Love Life, Love Music'' to enhance Smooth's promise to play the best choice of music from the previous four decades. The music policy at Smooth ranged from the late '60s right up to the present date, with a heavy focus on easy listening songs. On 1 March 2014, a new slogan ''Your Relaxing Music Mix'' was introduced. This was replaced by a new tagline, ''Always the Best Music'', as part of a wider Smooth brand refreshment in January 2023.

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 hourly regional news bulletins from 6 am – 7 pm on weekdays and 6 am – 4pm on weekends. The Birmingham newsroom also produces bulletins for Capital Midlands and Heart West Midlands. National news updates air hourly from Global's London headquarters at all other times.

References

External links

Smooth West Midlands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smooth GMG Radio Radio stations in Birmingham, West Midlands Radio stations established in 2007 Radio stations disestablished in 2010 West Midlands 2007 establishments in England Adult contemporary radio stations in the United Kingdom