former managing director of Saga 105.2 FM in Glasgow, after GMG Radio dismissed six Scottish presenters in August 2008 in favour of increased networked content from its stations in London and Manchester. The station had operated a 24-hour schedule of local programming. Quirk labelled the dismissals "disgraceful" and expressed his fears that the station would not be able to serve the needs and interests of the Scottish people as well as Saga had done. Further expansion After John Myers' recommendations of a regulatory overhaul in commercial radio were published, and the Digital Economy Act 2010 allowing stations to co-locate or discontinue local shows and to broadcast on national DAB was passed, Smooth Radio merged its five English stations into one quasi-national station, and local news feeds were produced from GMG Radio's headquarters in Salford Quays. GMG Radio announced on 29 June 2010 that it wanted to compete with BBC Radio 2 by broadcasting on the Digital One multiplex on DAB to the whole of England and Wales, and Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media and online. Regional content would be kept; split news, travel and weather bulletins would be broadcast on the FM and regional DAB stations in the North East, North West, West Midlands and East Midlands. Listeners in London and those tuning to the national output would hear national information. 105.2 Smooth Radio in Scotland would keep its local breakfast and drivetime programmes because of the rules governing its broadcast licence, but networked content would be broadcast the rest of the time. The jazz commitments for London and the North West were also ended. The new Smooth Radio was launched on 4 October 2010 with most of the output originating from Salford Quays, and other programming coming from London. On 1 November 2011, GMG Radio launched "Smooth Christmas" on the Digital One multiplex, a dedicated station playing only Christmas music with no news or advertisements. It promoted Smooth Radio and broadcast until 27 December 2011. Smooth Christmas was replaced on a trial basis by Smooth 70s, playing tracks from the 1970s. The station was warmly received by listeners, and in January 2012 GMG Radio confirmed a deal with US syndication firm Premiere Networks to air 1970s editions of the American Top 40 show presented by Casey Kasem, which would be broadcast at weekends. Smooth 70s' weekday programming included Disco Lunch and Late Night Love Songs. Due to its popularity,