GMG’s Saga Stations Go Smooth

GMG Radio is to rebrand its newly acquired Saga stations as Smooth Radio in the middle of March, taking its number of Smooth stations to six.

GMG acquired the three Saga stations in December 2006 (see Saga For Guardian Media Group), although the acquisition was only formally completed this week.

As part of the March rebrand, the existing Smooth stations will drop the FM from their name.

Last December, Ofcom agreed to a format change for Smooth FM, allowing the station to target the over-50s (see Smooth FM Format Change Gets Ofcom Go-Ahead).

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.”

GMG now owns 12 major FM stations, including its Real and Smooth networks, and the Century FM stations which it acquired from GCap Media in October last year (see GCap Sells Radio Stations To Guardian Media Group).

Quarter four 2006 RAJAR figures are released this Thursday, with NewsLine providing comprehensive coverage of all areas of the results.

Guardian Media Group: 020 7713 4452 www.gmgplc.co.uk