Xfm
Encyclopedia
- For other uses, see Xfm (disambiguation)Xfm (disambiguation)XFM may refer to:*Xfm *XFM *XFM Malta *Xfm *Xandros File Manager...
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Xfm is a brand of two commercial radio stations focused on alternative music, primarily indie pop, and owned by Global Radio
Global Radio
Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...
.
History
Xfm was created in London in 1992 by Sammy Jacob, who later co-founded NME RadioNME Radio
NME Radio is the radio station from NME magazine, that broadcasts in a new commercially oriented alternative music format. It first began broadcasting on 24 June 2008.- History :...
in 2008. Xfm subsequently expanded to a network of four stations; there are currently two main Xfm services. Xfm is now also available across most of the country via DAB digital radio.
The station has previously employed a number of DJs that have since gone on to even greater fame including Ricky Gervais
Ricky Gervais
Ricky Dene Gervais is an English comedian, actor, director, radio presenter, producer, musician, and writer.Gervais achieved mainstream fame with his television series The Office and the subsequent series Extras, both of which he co-wrote and co-directed with friend and frequent collaborator...
, Karl Pilkington
Karl Pilkington
Karl Pilkington is a British podcaster, author, television personality and former radio producer. He is best known for the Sky travel series, An Idiot Abroad, which was also presented in the United States on the Science Channel, in Canada on Discovery Channel and in Australia on One HD, and The...
, Stephen Merchant
Stephen Merchant
Stephen James Merchant is an English writer, director, radio presenter, comedian, and actor. He is best known for his collaborations with Ricky Gervais, as the co-writer and co-director of the popular British sitcom The Office, as the co-writer, co-director and a co-star of Extras, and as the...
, Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg
Simon Pegg is an English actor, comedian, writer, film producer, and director. He is best known for having co-written and stared in various Edgar Wright features, mainly Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, and the comedy series Spaced.He also portrayed Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the 2009 Star Trek film...
, Christian O'Connell
Christian O'Connell
Christian O'Connell is an English radio DJ who presents the Absolute Radio weekday breakfast show.He has formerly hosted BBC Radio Five Live's weekend sports game show Fighting Talk alongside the weekday breakfast show on indie music station Xfm London...
, Russell Brand
Russell Brand
Russell Edward Brand is an English comedian, actor, columnist, singer, author and radio/television presenter.Brand achieved mainstream fame in the UK in 2004 for his role as host of Big Brother spin-off, Big Brother's Big Mouth. His first major film role was in the 2007 film St Trinians...
, Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins
Justin Lee Collins, commonly known as JLC, is an award-winning English comedian and television presenter.A Bristolian, he's well known for his strong West Country accent, shaggy appearance and colourful shirts....
, Adam and Joe
Adam and Joe
Adam Buxton and Joe Cornish are British comedy performers known together as Adam and Joe. They are best known for presenting Adam and Joe on BBC 6 Music, and The Adam and Joe Show on Channel 4 from 1996 to 2001.-History:...
, Alex Zane
Alex Zane
Alex Zane is an English television presenter and DJ.-Background:Zane was born in Leeds and attended Boston Spa School before going on to study Medicine at University College London, a course which he left after a year, and then Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College.-Stand-up comedy and...
and Dermot O'Leary
Dermot O'Leary
Dermot O'Leary is an English television and radio presenter. He established himself as a presenter of Big Brother's Little Brother on Channel 4 before moving on to The X Factor on ITV. O'Leary has also presented on the BBC and has his own radio show on BBC Radio 2...
On 11 February 2008 GCap Media
GCap Media
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...
announced that they would be selling the analogue licences for the Manchester, Scotland and South Wales stations, retaining only XFM London. This was decided in an attempt to shore-up profits and concentrate on 'winning brands'. However, although the sale of the South Wales station went ahead, the sale of the Scotland and Manchester stations was suspended when Global Radio
Global Radio
Global Radio UK Ltd. is a British commercial radio company, the largest in the country following acquisitions of Chrysalis Radio and GCap Media.The company's Chief Executive Officer is Stephen Miron, while the Group Chairman is Charles Allen...
entered into discussions to purchase GCap.
The station became the first ever to release a band's album for free via their website. The album was You Cross My Path by The Charlatans. The station has since entered into arrangements with various other bands to offer free promotional downloads and offers.
Stations
The current stations in the Xfm network are:- Xfm LondonXfm LondonXfm London is a commercial radio station in the United Kingdom owned by Global Radio and broadcasts on 104.9 FM in London, on digital radio via 30 DAB multiplexes across the country, Sky, TalkTalk TV and Virgin Media....
, which has been broadcasting on 104.9 FM in the Greater London area officially since 1997 (and unofficially since 1992). - Xfm ManchesterXfm ManchesterXfm Manchester is a commercial radio station broadcasting alternative and indie music to Manchester in North West England.It builds on the brand and format established by Xfm London. The majority of programming is shared but some is produced specifically for Manchester...
, which was launched on 97.7 FM on 15 March 2006.
These two stations now network the vast majority of content, though separate local daily breakfast shows and weekday drivetime shows remain.
The London variation is also broadcast on numerous Digital Radio
Digital radio
Digital radio has several meanings:1. Today the most common meaning is digital radio broadcasting technologies, such as the digital audio broadcasting system, also known as Eureka 147. In these systems, the analog audio signal is digitized into zeros and ones, compressed using formats such as...
multiplexes across the country, allowing Xfm to reach near-national coverage.
Proposed expansion of the Xfm Network
In recent years, Xfm has held 28-day Restricted Service LicenceRestricted Service Licence
A UK Restricted Service Licence , is typically granted to radio stations and television stations broadcasting within the UK to serve a local community or a special event...
broadcasts in a number of British cities, including Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
and Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
and on 9 June 2005, the group was awarded a permanent FM broadcasting licence to serve the city of Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
as Xfm Manchester
Xfm Manchester
Xfm Manchester is a commercial radio station broadcasting alternative and indie music to Manchester in North West England.It builds on the brand and format established by Xfm London. The majority of programming is shared but some is produced specifically for Manchester...
. Also on 4 January 2006, GCap Media
GCap Media
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...
relaunched its Central Scotland regional station Beat 106
Galaxy Scotland
105-106 Capital is a regional radio station broadcasting to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the kingdom of Fife...
as Xfm Scotland.
In 2000, Xfm London was added to a number of DAB
Digital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
multiplexes around the country, and in January 2006 it replaced The Storm
The Storm (radio station)
The Storm was a digital-only, modern rock music radio station broadcasting in parts of Central and Southern UK, and owned by GCap Media. It played music from bands such as Green Day, The Killers, Kaiser Chiefs, The Libertines, Garbage and Franz Ferdinand....
on a number of local multiplexes, creating near-national coverage. It is reported that this 'national' version of Xfm London (known as Xfm UK) will have local content on it (e.g. News, Travel) increasing with time. However, on 11 February 2008 GCap Media
GCap Media
GCap Media was a British commercial radio company formed from the merger of the Capital Radio Group and GWR Group. The merger was completed in May 2005. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. On 31 March 2008 the company agreed a takeover by...
announced that they would be selling the analogue license for the Manchester, Scotland and South Wales stations, retaining only Xfm London.
This decision was made in an attempt to shore-up profits and concentrate on 'winning brands', calling the former nationalisation strategy into question. After this announcement, in early 2008, breakfast show host Alex Zane
Alex Zane
Alex Zane is an English television presenter and DJ.-Background:Zane was born in Leeds and attended Boston Spa School before going on to study Medicine at University College London, a course which he left after a year, and then Media and Communications at Goldsmiths College.-Stand-up comedy and...
admitted on air that the future of the London station was also being reviewed, even making jokey references to perhaps being out of a job soon.
On 7 November 2008, Xfm Scotland became part of the Galaxy Network and was renamed Galaxy Scotland
Galaxy Scotland
105-106 Capital is a regional radio station broadcasting to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the kingdom of Fife...
now 105-106 Capital FM Scotland.
Former Stations
Former stations in the network included:- Xfm Scotland, formerly Beat 106, which was launched on 4 January 2006. It was then renamed again, to Galaxy ScotlandGalaxy Scotland105-106 Capital is a regional radio station broadcasting to Scotland's Central Belt, an area surrounding the two cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, and the kingdom of Fife...
on 8 November 2008. - Xfm South Wales which broadcast to Cardiff & South Wales between 29 November 2007 and 30 May 2008, was sold to Town and Country BroadcastingTown and Country BroadcastingTown and Country Broadcasting Limited is a media company registered in Wales. It currently owns and operates seven radio stations across Wales...
who launched Nation RadioNation RadioNation Radio launched on 16 June 2008 as a regional radio station broadcasting to the South Wales area from Neath.Nation Radio took over the Ofcom broadcasting licence held by Xfm South Wales when GCap Media sold the station to Town and Country Broadcasting for an unspecified fee on 30 May 2008....
on its frequency.
In 2005, Xfm was among the bidders for the regional North East franchise on 97.5 FM, but this licence was ultimately awarded to Smooth Radio by Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...
.