Smooth FM grows up

Media regulator Ofcom has given the go-ahead to plans to change Smooth FM into a radio station for the over-50s.

GMG Radio requested the change which will see the broadcaster change from delivering soul-based output during the day with jazz in the evening, to easy-listening music, as well as more news and speech during the day.

Ofcom’s radio licensing committee said that the revamped station will have an obligation to ensure that at least 20% if the music played in daytime should date from before 1966. So now we know – Ofcom thinks the definition of the 50-plus is anybody with an interest in pre-1966 music. Dick Stroud