area north west england slogan your relaxing music mix frequency fm 100.4 mhz first air date 1 september 1994 as jazz fm format easy listening audience share 5.2 % september 2009 rajar transmitter coordinates 53 37 32 n 2 30 53 w 53.6256 n 2.5146 w 53.6256 ; 2.5146 coordinates 53 37 32 n 2 30 53 w 53.6256 n 2.5146 w 53.6256 ; 2.5146 owner communicorp sister stations capital fm capital xtra classic fm heart lbc radio x gold website www.smoothradio.com northwest smooth north west is a independent local radio station based in salford greater manchester . it is part of the smooth radio network of stations from 1 march 2004 and changed its name from smooth fm in march 2007 . along with other stations in the network it was subsumed into a national smooth radio service from 4 october 2010 . the station was based at studios in laser house salford until 2010 . the signal was relayed from the winter hill transmitter near bolton and was designed to cover manchester merseyside and north wales and to reach as far north as carnforth although it can be heard across much of south cumbria the furness peninsula and as far east as skipton in north yorkshire . the station was also available on dab and online . it was also available on the sky platform from 14 february 2005 on channel 0128 but was replaced by smooth london in mid 2007 . contents 1 history 1.1 gmg radio ownership 1.2 global radio franchisee under communicorp ownership 2 programming 2.1 news 3 former notable presenters 4 references 5 external links history edit gmg radio ownership edit it was launched by radio investments ltd on 1 september 1994 as jazz fm but was also known as jfm in an attempt to appeal to listeners who could be put off by the use of the word jazz . jazz fm originally played a wide variety of jazz pandering to more smooth jazz during the daytime in order to attract the 25 to 45 year old target market which was required to make the station a success . however the focus of the music later changed and by the early 2000s it was focusing more on soul and softer r & b alongside jazz . 100.4 jazz fm broadcast its daytime shows from its manchester station but specialist shows such as dinner jazz and legends of jazz with ramsey lewis were networked from its london sister station 102.2 jazz fm . in 2003 the guardian media group did extensive research into the type of music that listeners in the north west wanted to hear . they concluded that many people were dissuaded by the name jazz and as a result 100.4 jazz fm closed on 13 february 2004 and relaunched as smooth fm on 1 march 2004 . the station now began to play more modern music during the day but continued a mostly jazz themed output at night . the arrangements for local and networked programming remained for a time but from march 2005 only mike chadwick s the saturday night experience was networked from 102.2 smooth fm . all other programming was produced and aired in the north west . the station was relaunched again as smooth radio 100.4 on 26 march 2007 . the launch occurred at the same time as london based 102.2 smooth fm however smooth radio 100.4 continued with its own unique soul music based format . on 5 july 2007 gmg radio announced that it was requesting a change of format from ofcom which would bring smooth radio 100.4 in line with the rest of the network . it proposed an easy listening music service mixed with speech for the over 50 s coupled with an improved local news service . ofcom approved the changes on 11 october 2007 . in march 2008 gmg requested a format change to remove its jazz commitments it has in place for smooth radio 100.4 . part of the plans included a relaunch of jazz fm from the jazzfm.com service broadcasting on dab in glasgow and online on the mxr north west multiplex . 1 in a meeting on 22 april 2008 ofcom denied gmg s request to drop its jazz commitments . 2 gmg said that it would be relaunching jazz fm despite the decision . 3 local and networked programming originated from studios at salford quays manchester . in 2010 gmg 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 edit further information smooth radio smooth radio s output was relocated to new owner global radio s leicester square 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 . 4 5 global radio reached an agreement to sell smooth north west and seven others to communicorp as part of a plan to allay competition fears following global s purchase of gmg radio . 6 on 4 february 2014 the radio today website reported that ofcom had given global radio permission to remove smooth from the digital one platform and to replace it with a service playing music from the 1970s 80s and 90s . 7 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 . 7 programming edit local programming is produced and broadcast from smooth s salford studios from 6 10am and 4 8pm on weekdays and 2 6pm at weekends . all networked programming originates from global radio s london headquarters . the station s regional presenters are darren parks smooth breakfast carl carlos emms smooth drive home and jo lloyd . 8 news edit smooth north west broadcasts hourly regional news bulletins from 6am 7pm on weekdays and 6am 12pm at weekends . the bulletins are produced for communicorp by global radio s salford newsroom which also produces bulletins for heart north west capital manchester capital north west and wales on the wirral xfm manchester and real radio xs . national news updates air hourly from global s london headquarters at all other times . former notable presenters edit emma b simon bates tony blackburn daryl denham mark goodier david jensen lynn parsons andy peebles david prever pat sharp pete waterman references edit 102.2 smooth radio london and 100.4 smooth radio north west england request to change station formats pdf . ofcom . archived from the original pdf on october 3 2008 . retrieved 2008 06 14 . smooth radio london and north west formats change request denied . ofcom . retrieved 2008 06 14 . ofcom say no to smooth . radio today . 2008 04 23 . retrieved 2008 06 14 . global welcomes smooth radio to london hq . radio today . 3 october 2013 . retrieved 3 october 2013 . smooth radio 70s to close after 21 months . radio today . 3 october 2013 . retrieved 3 october 2013 . sandle paul 6 february 2014 . denis o brien buys eight uk radio stations from global radio . reuters . retrieved 10 february 2014 . a b smooth radio to be removed from digital 1 . radio today . 4 february 2014 . retrieved 5 february 2014 . smooth radio north west presenters external links edit official website smooth format change consultation july 2007 ofcom v t e radio stations in greater manchester england longwave am stations 198 bbc radio 4 252 rt radio 1 medium wave am stations 909 693 bbc radio 5 live 1089 1053 talksport 1152 key 2 1215 absolute radio 1350 radio cavell 1377 asian sound radio 1458 gold fm stations 88.4 gaydio 89.3 89.8 bbc radio 2 90.1 legacy fm 91.5 91.9 bbc radio 3 92.8 unity radio 93.7 94.1 bbc radio 4 94.4 salford city radio 95.1 104.6 bbc radio manchester 96.2 96.2 the revolution 96.5 bolton fm 96.9 all fm 97.0 crescent radio 97.2 wythenshawe fm 97.7 radio x 98.9 99.3 bbc radio 1 99.7 oldham community radio 100.4 smooth radio 101.1 classic fm 102.0 capital 102.4 wish fm 103.0 key 103 103.6 tameside radio 104.9 imagine fm 105.4 heart 106.1 xs manchester 106.6 north manchester fm 107.4 tower fm 107.8 pure radio . the fm bbc radio stations are broadcast from two transmitters holme moss and saddleworth . dab stations absolute radio absolute radio 80s absolute radio 90s asian sound radio bbc radio 1 bbc radio 2 bbc radio 3 bbc radio 4 bbc radio 4 extra bbc radio 5 live bbc radio 5 live sports extra bbc radio 6 music bbc asian network bbc world service bbc radio manchester bfbs radio classic fm capital capital xtra heart north west heat radio key 103 key 2 key 3 kiss lbc magic uk planet rock premier christian radio radio x smooth extra smooth radio north west talksport ucb uk christian multiplexes ce manchester local united kingdom radio markets aberdeen glasgow london liverpool manchester northern ireland south west england west midlands west yorkshire worcester see also list of radio stations in the united kingdom v t e global radio corporate directors lord allen chairman ashley tabor group ceo richard park executive director stephen miron ceo mark evans cfo owen mcgartol director radio stations the arrow capital capital xtra chill classic fm gold heart lbc lbc london news smooth radio x television channels capital tv heart tv related articles list of global group stations capital digital gcap media capital life capital disney core the storm thejazz century digital jazz fm planet rock real and smooth classic fm tv leicester square thisisglobal.com radio v t e smooth radio regions london east midlands west midlands north east north west glasgow wales related topics simon bates at breakfast the golden hour our tune jonny gould smooth 70s jazz fm 102.2 jazz fm 100.4 jazz fm 102.2 smooth fm jazzfm.com smooth radio 2010 smooth presenter history wrexham and chester gold list of global group stations retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title smooth north west & oldid 737639667 categories communicorpglobal radiogmg radiomedia in salfordradio stations in manchestersmooth radiohidden categories coordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search 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