Century Digital
| Broadcast area | London & Birmingham |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Number One for 80s, 90s and Now |
| Frequency |
DAB, Online |
| First air date | September 30, 2001 |
| Format | Adult Contemporary |
| Owner | GMG Radio |
| Website | www.centurydigital.co.uk |
About The Station
Initially there was a DAB digital station in London called Century London (originally owned by Capital Radio Plc) an offshoot of the (male oriented) parent Century stations in the North of England. The station was originally slated to be named Cube but after the takeover of Border Television the name was dropped for Century, (and later used as the original name for Capital Disney).
Contemporary artists such as Blur, Oasis, Pulp etc. were interspersed with classics from bands such as Thin Lizzy, Queen, Slade, Rolling Stones, Dream Academy. The station also broadcast shows at the weekend that were heard elsewhere on the Century network with presenters such as Noddy Holder and Mike Sweeney.
When the format of the other Century stations changed towards a female bias 'London' retained the older rockier (male) songs, but added the female friendly 'current' hits (due to an unfixable fault with the station database in the scheduling system Selector software). It also broadcast Sunday to Thursday the networked "Confessional" show presented by Mark Forrest & SJ (later Holly Samos) that all the other Century Stations took. This was produced and presented from the 'Digital' studio in the Capital Radio headquarters in Leicester Square. The same studio also initially broadcast Paul Phears Breakfast Show on Life and all the Cube/Capital Disney shows. The show was the only live show on the station, and was transmitted to IRN and then via their satellite feed to the other Century stations.
Satellite Launch
After the station launched on the Astra satellite at 28.2 East and appeared on the Sky EPG sometime later, the music fell into line with the other stations (after a new station manager took over who had time to create a new station database in the scheduling system) and was rebranded Century Digital (also launching on DAB in Birmingham). The satellite feed for live programmes (now including Hairbrush Divas) was dropped in favour of ATM lines set up between the stations, which was a cost saving. However, when problems occurred with these lines to the Century Stations, the studio 'tech ops' had instructions to patch in the Astra 28.2 broadcast and use this feed until the line was fixed.
The End of the Station
Following the sale of Century East Midlands to Chrysalis and the other Century stations to GMG Radio, Century Digital became a GMG brand. Century Digital ceased transmission in London on 24 March 2007 and was replaced with sister station Real Radio (Digital).
See also
- 100-102 Century FM (North East)
- 105.4 Century FM (North West)