Bauer Radio

Bauer purchased the Absolute Radio group of stations from TIML in 2013. The core Absolute Radio station had been established as one of the three Independent National Radio franchises in 1993, broadcasting on AM radio and from 1999, national DAB; since 1995, a relay of the station (with split local advertising, and at some times split programming) has been available in London on 105.8 FM. Initially branded Virgin Radio, the station took the name Absolute Radio in 2008. The station has since launched a number of sister stations, currently comprising seven decade-themed services and a dedicated classic-rock station.

• Absolute Radio – aimed at 35 to 54 year olds.[13]
• Absolute Radio Classic Rock
• Absolute Radio 60s
• Absolute Radio 70s
• Absolute Radio 80s
• Absolute Radio 90s
• Absolute Radio 00s
• Absolute Radio 10s
• Absolute Radio 20s

• Greatest Hits Radio – a classic hits pop music service aimed primarily at the over-40s. Eighteen stations, mostly on AM and DAB, in the West Midlands, Northern England and Scotland.

• Heat Radio – contemporary pop, linked to Bauer's Heat magazine. Online and on Freeview; formerly on DAB.

Hits Radio is a national CHR network of 24 local radio stations, which provide opt-outs from the national DAB station and are available on FM and DAB in England, Scotland and Wales.

It was launched on 4 June 2018, following a merger of the Greater Manchester FM station Key 103, which had launched in 1974 as Piccadilly Radio, and digital service The Hits Radio, which had launched in 2003 and which broadcast over Freeview and DAB (from January 2015 to September 2017, The Hits' programming content had been broadcast on DAB as a network of localised Bauer City 3 stations).

Hits Radio programming is simulcast on both the Manchester and national versions of the station, although there are local news, travel and advertising opt-outs for the Manchester service. The station's output is broadcast on Hits Radio network stations outside of local programming hours.

A separate service of network programming for Scotland, broadcast from Clyde 1 in Clydebank, is broadcast on the Scottish FM stations outside of local programming hours.

• Jazz FM[14] – national DAB service of jazz, blues and soul, based in London, acquired by Bauer in 2018.

• Kerrang Radio – a service of modern rock music, broadcast on Freeview nationally and online; the station's DAB slots outside London were turned over to Absolute Radio 90s in December 2014, and its London DAB transmission ended in May 2018 to make way for Hits Radio. Kerrang! launched as a digital station on Freeview in 2002, expanding to DAB in London from 2003 and other areas from 2004. From 2005 to 2013, the station, as Kerrang! 105.2, broadcast to the West Midlands on FM from studios in Lionel Street, Birmingham. It was removed from FM to be replaced by Planet Rock (then by Absolute Radio from 2015), with the Birmingham studio closed and the Kerrang! Radio brand retained as a digital-only station run from London.
• Kerrang Radio Unleashed – online only station dedicated to the heavier side of Kerrang!.
• Klassic Kerrang Radio – online only station dedicated to classic tracks from the past 20 years of the alternative rock scene.

Kiss plays predominantly rhythmic (dance/urban) music. The East and West versions of Kiss were previously SRH-owned Vibe stations. The three services now simulcast most programming content (from London), though retain the ability to split where needed, including for local advertising and news bulletins.

• Kiss 100 (London); also on Digital One national DAB and on Sky and Freeview across the UK.
• Kiss 101 (South Wales and South West England)
• Kiss 105-108 (East Anglia); also available locally on some DAB multiplexes as KISS 105–108 (as apposed to KISS national) and KISS Essex in Essex
• Kisstory - DAB station dedicated to old skool and anthems.
• KissFresh - DAB station playing non-stop new beats.
• Kiss DNCE - online only station playing the latest dance bangers.
• Kiss Garage - online only 24/7 station dedicated to the UK garage scene.
• Kiss Ibiza - online only station playing the biggest mixes from electronic dance music DJs 24/7.

Magic is a national station broadcasting via DAB. It had previously broadcast on FM in London and on MW across northern England and began broadcasting across the UK via the Digital One multiplex in January 2015. Mellow Magic and Magic Chilled launched in March 2016 as part of the Sound Digital national DAB multiplex and Magic Soul launched in the summer of 2016 as a pop-up service Magic Soul Summer, before being retained – under a shortened permanent title – from the autumn. Magic at the Musicals launched on 21 November 2019 on DAB+ in London.

• Magic – a melodic adult-contemporary music service aimed at 25 to 54 year olds, available on DAB nationally and on FM in London.
• Magic Chilled - plays laid-back modern hits (principally mellow chart pop of the 1990s and 2000s).
• Magic Mellow (also known as Mellow Magic) - playing melodic classic hits and love songs.
• Magic Soul - plays a mix of soul, funk, Motown and R&B music.
• Magic Workout - online only station playing the classic dance tracks.
• Magic at the Musicals - DAB+ station playing show tunes.

Planet Rock is a DAB radio station, which plays primarily classic rock music. The station was established in 1999 and was initially run by the GWR Group; it was sold to Malcolm Bluemel's 'Rock Show' consortium in 2008 and from there to Bauer in 2013. Planet Rock is a digital-only service, transmitting on the DAB network (and through digital TV and online platforms). On 1 March 2016, Planet Rock ceased being a fully national station due to the station transferring to the Sound Digital multiplex, which is not available across all of the UK. Devon, Cornwall, parts of Scotland, Wales, East Anglia and other areas of the UK will no longer be able to receive Planet Rock on DAB.

• Planet Rock

• Wave 105 – Hot AC regional radio station in Solent, entire output and playlist is locally produced and takes no network programming, although is part of Hits Radio for advertising purposes.
• Cool FM – CHR local radio station on FM in Belfast and DAB across Northern Ireland, part of Hits Radio for advertising purposes.
• Downtown Radio – Hot AC local radio station on AM/DAB in Belfast and FM/DAB in the rest of Northern Ireland, part of Hits Radio for advertising purposes.
• Downtown Country – Dedicated digital country music station on DAB in Northern Ireland
• Scala Radio – National classical music station broadcast digitally (Sound Digital and online) from 4 March 2019
• Country Hits Radio - contemporary country music radio service, available on DAB and online.[15]

In February 2019, Bauer purchased these stations from Lincs FM Group

On 27 May 2020 it was announced that all the former Lincs group stations would be joining the Greatest Hits Radio network from September, with the exception of Lincs FM itself, which will continue as a largely standalone station in the manner of Gem and Wave 105, and digital-only station Suffolk First, which will be closed.

On 27 May 2020 it was announced that all the Breeze network stations retained by Bauer, along with the stations in East Anglia and SAM FM in Swindon, would be joining the Greatest Hits Radio network from September, with Fire Radio joining the Hits Radio network, retaining one local programme per day, and SAM FM in Bristol retained as a standalone station.

On 8 February 2019, it was announced that Bauer would purchase the local stations from Wireless Group:

On 27 May 2020, it was announced that Pulse 1, Signal 1 and The Wave 96.4 FM would become part of the Hits Radio network, with all other stations joining the Greatest Hits Radio network. On-air changes to the new Hits Radio stations began from 15 June 2020.[16]

On 5 March 2019, it was announced that Bauer are to purchase the UKRD Group.

On 27 May 2020 it was announced that all of the former UKRD stations would be joining the Greatest Hits Radio network from September, with the exception of Pirate FM, which will continue to be operated as a largely standalone offering.

• Radio City Talk- A Talk format station which provided rock and sport to Merseyside and the North West. It closed in May 2020 due to no longer having financial viability. It was a sister station to Radio City and Greatest Hits Radio Liverpool.

• 3C – country music station, based in Glasgow, acquired as part of SRH takeover, broadcast on DAB in various areas and Freeview nationally; closed 2007; replaced on Freeview by a relay of Clyde 1 for a time.
• Mojo Radio – classic rock, early pop, blues and soul; broadcast on digital TV and online; ceased broadcasting in 2008.
• Q Radio – rock, alternative rock; broadcast nationally on Freeview and online; closed on 7 May 2013; replaced by Kisstory.
• Smash Hits Radio – contemporary pop hits; following its removal from DAB it continued over Freeview, until being withdrawn to release a slot for KissFresh

Bauer has a 30% holding in Sound Digital, operator of the second national commercial DAB multiplex to launch in the UK; this began transmissions in spring 2016 and several Bauer stations broadcast on it, some transferred from other multiplexes. The other partners are Wireless Group (30%) and Arqiva (40%).

Bauer's wholly owned digital multiplexes are primarily located in areas where the firm operates local FM stations; the original group of Bauer (formerly Emap) DAB multiplexes are located in the following areas:

• Central Lancashire – Bauer Central Lancashire
• Humberside – Bauer Humberside
• Leeds – Bauer Leeds
• Liverpool – Bauer Liverpool
• South Yorkshire – Bauer South Yorkshire
• Teesside – Bauer Teesside
• Tyne and Wear – Bauer Tyne & Wear

As part of Emap's takeover of Scottish Radio Holdings, the firm gained control of Score Digital, the DAB multiplex operator owned by SRH. Competition guidelines required the merged firm to divest of one of the multiplexes obtained in this deal, and so the Ayr multiplex formerly run by Score was sold on to Arqiva. The remaining Score multiplexes have since been relabelled as Bauer multiplexes.[17]

The ex-Score DAB multiplexes are located in:

• Dundee – Score Dundee
• Edinburgh – Score Edinburgh
• Glasgow – Score Glasgow
• Inverness – Score Inverness
• Northern Ireland – Score Northern Ireland

The Wireless Group and Emap entered into a venture to run the following three DAB multiplexes. These multiplexes were initially branded as TWG-Emap multiplexes; following the sale of TWG to UTV (creating UTV Radio), the multiplexes were relabelled as UTV-Emap, and following the sale of Emap's radio assets to Bauer, the blocks were renamed again as UTV-Bauer. Bauer owned 30 per cent of the UTV-Bauer venture, but sold its stake in November 2013.[18] Now wholly owned by Bauer Radio following the sale of the Wireless local stations in 2019.

• Stoke-on-Trent – Stoke & Stafford (DAB Multiplex)
• Swansea – Swansea SW Wales (DAB Multiplex)
• West Yorkshire – Bradford & Huddersfield (DAB Multiplex)

Bauer and Global Radio jointly own CE Digital Ltd, each holding 50% of the venture. The CE operation was established by Emap in partnership with the Capital Radio Group, which through mergers subsequently became part of GCap Media and later Global Radio. The 'CE' multiplexes take their name from the initials of Capital and Emap, and have not been renamed despite the identity changes of both operators.

CE Digital operate the following DAB multiplexes:

• Birmingham – CE Birmingham
• London – CE London (also known as Greater London I)
• Manchester – CE Manchester