Century Digital
Encyclopedia
About The Station
Initially there was a DABDigital audio broadcasting
Digital Audio Broadcasting is a digital radio technology for broadcasting radio stations, used in several countries, particularly in Europe. As of 2006, approximately 1,000 stations worldwide broadcast in the DAB format....
digital station in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
called Century London (originally owned by Capital Radio
Capital Radio
Capital London is a London based radio station which launched on 16 October 1973 and is owned by Global Radio. On 3 January 2011 it formed part of the nine station Capital radio network.- Pre-launch :...
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
Border Television
Border Television is the ITV franchise holder for the Border region, spanning the England/Scotland border and covering Dumfries & Galloway region, a small part of the south-west area of Ayrshire, the Scottish Borders, parts of north and west Northumberland and the majority of Cumbria...
the name was dropped for Century, (and later used as the original name for Capital Disney
Capital Disney
Capital Disney was a British digital radio station aimed at 8 to 16 year olds which used to broadcast across the UK on DAB Digital Radio . It was also broadcast on Sky Digital, Tiscali TV, Virgin Media, and streaming online. The station announced on 14 May 2007 that it would close down on 29 June...
).
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 a fault with the scheduling system). It broadcast the networked "Confessional" show presented by Mark Forrest & SJ (later Holly Samos
Holly Samos
Holly Samos is a radio researcher and presenter. A former member of Chris Evans's Zoo Squad, she was the Formula 1 pit lane reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live until the end of the 2010 season....
) 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
Capital Life
Capital Life, also known as Life, was a digital radio station broadcasting across the UK on the Digital One network and streamed online.-About:...
and all the Cube/Capital Disney
Capital Disney
Capital Disney was a British digital radio station aimed at 8 to 16 year olds which used to broadcast across the UK on DAB Digital Radio . It was also broadcast on Sky Digital, Tiscali TV, Virgin Media, and streaming online. The station announced on 14 May 2007 that it would close down on 29 June...
shows. The show was the only live weekday show on the station, and was transmitted to IRN
Independent Radio News
Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the UK and beyond.The managing director of IRN is Tim Molloy, who succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009...
and then via their satellite feed to the other Century stations.
Satellite Launch
After the station launched on the AstraAstra
-Religion and mythology:* Astra in Sanskrit* Astra Planeta:**Children of Astraeus in Greek mythology, gods of the five wandering stars**The wandering stars, or naked-eye planets, themselves-Comics and manga:...
satellite at 28.2 East and appeared on the Sky
Sky
The sky is the part of the atmosphere or outer space visible from the surface of any astronomical object. It is difficult to define precisely for several reasons. During daylight, the sky of Earth has the appearance of a pale blue surface because the air scatters the sunlight. The sky is sometimes...
EPG sometime later, the music fell into line with the other stations (after a new station manager was appointed who had time to fix 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
Asynchronous Transfer Mode
Asynchronous Transfer Mode is a standard switching technique designed to unify telecommunication and computer networks. It uses asynchronous time-division multiplexing, and it encodes data into small, fixed-sized cells. This differs from approaches such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet that...
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 RadioGMG Radio
GMG Radio is the radio division of the Guardian Media Group. The group is based in Laser House, Salford Quays in Greater Manchester. The advertising division is in Old Trafford, Manchester. John Myers was the Chief Executive Officer, his deputy replaced him in April 2009...
, Century Digital became a GMG
GMG
GMG may refer to:*Global Migration Group, an inter-agency group working on international migration issues*Gamecock Media Group*Garden Media Guild , a British trade association for garden writers, photographers and broadcasters*GMG Airlines, an airline of Bangladesh*Good Morning Gloucester A daily...
brand. Century Digital ceased transmission in London on 24 March 2007 and was replaced with sister station Real Radio (Digital).
External links
London°N West Midlands°W