From 2010 to 2014, Smooth Radio was an independent, commercial, national radio station in the United Kingdom. Owned by Real and Smootha company formerly known as GMG Radiothe station was aimed at the over-40 demographic, and competed for its audience with BBC Radio 2. It was broadcast on the DAB Digital Radio Digital 1 national multiplex, Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media, online and on regional FM and DAB frequencies in the North West, London, North East, West Midlands, Scotland and East Midlands. Nationally the station attracted a weekly average audience of 3 million. The station opened in 1990 as 102.2 Jazz FM in London, and a second Jazz FM branded station was launched four years later in Manchester. The Manchester station became Smooth FM 100.4 in 2004, and was the first in the network of independent local radio stations to use the Smooth brand. The London station followed suit a year later. The network's parent company, GMG Radioa subsidiary of the Guardian Media Groupacquired the Saga Radio Group in the mid-2000s, and all Saga stations were given the Smooth name. After the publication of John Myers' recommendations of a regulatory overhaul in commercial radio, and the passing of the Digital Economy Act 2010 allowing stations to co-locate or discontinue local shows and broadcasts, Smooth Radio merged its five English stations into a single, quasi-national station in October 2010; local news feeds were produced at GMG Radio's headquarters in Salford Quays. 105.2 Smooth Radio in Scotland produced its own breakfast and drivetime shows, but carried networked programming at other times. As part of their licence agreement, the London and Manchester stations were required to continue their commitment to jazz music after dropping the Jazz FM name, and the UK's broadcasting industry regulator Office of Communications (Ofcom) stipulated they must broadcast 45 hours of jazz programming per week, but this requirement was ended shortly before the merger took place. Smooth recruited many well-known British radio personalities to its line-up. Presenters on the network included Emma B, Simon Bates, Tony Blackburn, Mark Goodier, David Jensen and Chris Tarrant. The station's flagship breakfast show was presented by Simon Bates, who left Classic FM after more than a decade. It broadcast occasional documentaries on subjects relating to music, news and media events; some of these won the station radio industry awards. In November 2011 Smooth launched a second station on the Digital One platform dedicated