In early 2008, German magazine publisher Bauer bought the radio division of British company Emap, which had been established as East Midland Allied Press in 1947.[1] Consequently, Emap Radio Limited was renamed to Bauer Radio Limited.[2]
Emap's assets included national stations Kiss, Kerrang! and Magic, and local stations under the Big City Network brand in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. These included 22 local FM stations in Scotland which Emap had bought from Scottish Radio Holdings in 2005.[3]
In April 2011, Bauer Radio announced it would be restructuring its radio portfolio into two divisions. Stations linked to geographic areas would come under the Bauer Place brand, while national stations such as Kiss, Kerrang and The Hits would come under Bauer Passion. The Big City Network identity was dropped as part of the restructuring.[4]
In April 2013, Bauer announced it would merge its two North East England stations, Metro Radio and TFM. The stations broadcast shared programming from Newcastle and Manchester while carrying separate branding, news bulletins and advertising.[5]
In September 2014, Bauer announced it would be restructuring its radio portfolio as from January 2015. Magic AM in England was dropped in favour of the stations reverting to their heritage station names.[6][7] The stations then formed part of the new 'City 2' network serving both Scotland and Northern England. A 'City 3' network on DAB, replacing The Hits Radio in most areas, launched on 19 January 2015. As part of this restructuring, the Place and Passion network banners introduced in 2011 were replaced by the Bauer City and Bauer National divisions. The 'City 3' network was withdrawn in favour of reverting to the networked The Hits service from September 2017.
At the beginning of March 2016, Bauer moved two of its stations, Planet Rock and Absolute 80s, from Digital One onto the Sound Digital multiplex, reducing the availability of these stations (areas including East Anglia, the South West, parts of Kent, Cumbria, and large areas of Wales and Scotland had no Sound Digital network transmitters). The issue was reported in local media in some areas.[8] Planet Rock and Absolute 80s on D1 began broadcasting just a retune message loop from 18 April, and the switch-off occurred on 30 April.[citation needed]
On 6 May 2016, Bauer announced it had bought Midlands radio group Orion Media for an undisclosed amount, reportedly between £40 and £50 million.[9][10] It was subsequently confirmed that Orion's stations Free Radio (West Midlands) and Gem (East Midlands) would become part of the Bauer City portfolio, with Gem introducing a version of the City sonic logo device to its presentation from August 2016.
On 16 August 2018, Bauer announced that it had bought Jazz FM for an undisclosed sum.[11]
In February and March 2019, Bauer purchased Lincs FM Group,[12]Celador[13] and the local stations owned by Wireless Group,[14] and the following month Bauer purchased the ten FM stations owned by UKRD, together with UKRD's 50% share in First Radio Sales Limited.[15] In August of that year, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) began an investigation into these purchases, which found that a substantial lessening of competition had occurred in the marketplace for advertising. The CMA considered enforcing a partial divestment by Bauer, but in March 2020 instead made a 'behavioural remedy' ruling which accepted Bauer's proposal to pass a certain amount of advertising business to competing stations for a period of ten years.[16]
Greatest Hits Radio, a Classic hits radio network of 44 radio stations, available on local AM, FM and DAB, with a national DAB station.
Hits Radio, a Contemporary hit radio network of 25 radio stations, available on local FM and DAB, with a national DAB station. Until April 2024, most stations operated as their heritage radio brands, such as Radio CityorFree Radio, with a mix of local and networked programming, but from April 2024 only the Scottish stations such as Clyde 1 will retain their heritage names.
Smash Hits Radio, contemporary pop hits; following its removal from DAB it continued over Freeview, until being withdrawn to release a slot for Kiss Fresh.
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.
Wave 105, based in Hampshire, acquired as part of SRH takeover. Covered part of the south coast and neighbouring counties; played the latest hits. Merged into Greatest Hits Radio South in 2024.
Bauer is a partner in one of the UK's national commercial multiplexes, operates twelve wholly owned local DAB multiplexes, and jointly owns a further three with Global Radio; the firm was also formerly a minority partner (ofWireless Group) for local services in three further areas. Bauer operates the following DAB multiplexes:
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:
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.[21]
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.[22] Now wholly owned by Bauer Radio following the sale of the Wireless local stations in 2019.
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.
In 2008 Radio City 2 started annually releasing hundreds of balloons (with messages attached) from the roof of the Radio City Tower "in memory of loved ones that we miss at Christmas time." This practice continued on an annual basis until December 2016. It ended because the helium-filled balloons caused widespread litter and were dangerous for animals to eat. On 22 December 2016, Radio City 2 and presenter Pete Price were contacted by numerous scuba divers and members of the public urging them to cancel the planned mass balloon release at midnight on 22 December. The balloon release went ahead. Two diving journalists contacted Radio City 2's owner, Bauer Media Group, asking for the practice to be stopped. Bauer Media confirmed that no company within the Group would conduct a balloon release in the future. An exception to this was made by Key 103 on 24 May 2017, two days after the Manchester Arena bombing, in memory of the 22 victims.[23]
In March 2023, Bauer announced that all its radio stations and audio content across Europe would be available in once place, named Rayo.[24] Rayo will be an app and website, replacing its existing radio station apps and Planet Radio website.
