GMG announced in December that it had agreed to purchase the Saga Radio stations for an undisclosed sum, but the acquisition is only formally completed this week. 

 

Significant marketing will be invested in the launch of the new brand as GMG re-positions the stations to offer greater appeal to a more mature audience. Ofcom recently awarded 102.2 smooth fm in London a change of format, allowing the station to focus much more on easy listening.

 

John Myers, Chief Executive of GMG Radio, said: “The Smooth name has worked well for us, especially in the North West where it has gone from worst to first in two years. We are therefore rolling this out across the UK into the Saga stations while dropping the ‘fm’ part of the name as it is clear that more listeners are tuning in across a number of platforms and not just on FM.” 

 

The new Saga licence for the North East, which GMG Radio will launch in the autumn, will also be named Smooth Radio.

 

GMG Radio, which also bought the two Century stations from GCap Media last October, will now operate four brands in its stable: Real Radio, Century FM, Smooth Radio and the recently launch 96.3 Rock Radio in Scotland.

 

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