Talking of radio station sales, reports suggest that radio company Absolute Radio is close to buying Virgin Radio off SMG, who have been talking about selling the national rock station for sometime. Word also has it that while Absolute would get Virgin's national AM and London FM licence, they wouldn't get the licence to use the Virgin name (because Absolute's parent company and the Virgin Group have interests in competing media firms in India, or something), which would revert to Richard Branson's Virgin Group, meaning the whole shebang would have to relaunch under another name. There were rumours that Absolute would relaunch it under the Jack FM banner – the US radio brand Absolute are already using in Oxford – but it now seems unlikely, possibly because most of the country couldn't get it on FM.
May 30, 2008
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1 min read
Absolute close to securing Jack FM
Absolute Radio is reportedly close to buying Virgin Radio from SMG, though it may have to relaunch under another name as the Virgin brand reverts to Richard Branson's group.