Smooth North East

Smooth North East

Slogan	Your Relaxing Music Mix
Frequency	97.5 MHz (Main), 101.2 MHz (Hexham), 107.5 MHz (Newcastle/Gateshead), 107.7 MHz (Teesside), DAB - MXR North East, MXR Yorkshire
First air date	8 January 2008
Format	Adult Contemporary
Owner	Communicorp
Sister stations	Capital FM Capital Xtra Classic FM Heart LBC Radio X Gold
Website	Smooth North East

Smooth North East is a regional radio station owned by Communicorp and operated by Global Radio as part of the Smooth radio network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle. The station was designed to cover Newcastle and the surrounding areas, Sunderland, Durham, Darlington and Middlesbrough. It can also be heard across much of North Yorkshire as far south as Northallerton, as far north as Morpeth and as far east as Haltwhistle in Northumberland.

The licence for the station was originally awarded to the Saga Radio Group. However, GMG Radio inherited it following its purchase of Saga in December 2006. GMG had been granted permission by the regulator, Ofcom, to change the format of its Smooth FM stations in London and Manchester, and took the decision to change both the Smooth FM and Saga Stations to a new brand, Smooth Radio. All stations concerned ceased broadcasting on Friday 23 March 2007, and were replaced the following Monday by the new network.

Test transmissions for Smooth North East began on 22 November 2007, and an advertising campaign was launched in the region from Boxing Day. This included television commercials featuring images of some of the music industry's most notable artists, such as Buddy Holly, Diana Ross and Rod Stewart. The station launched at 8am on 8 January 2008. The music format of the station was middle of the road, adult contemporary music, aimed at an audience aged 45 and over.

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