Jazz FM is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer Media Audio UK.

The station, in this incarnation set up by Richard Wheatley, traces its roots back to 102.2 Jazz FM, which first launched in 1990.

[4] London station 102.2 Jazz FM was launched on 4 March 1990 with a concert performed by Ella Fitzgerald at the Royal Albert Hall.

[19][20] The website was relaunched by the Guardian Media Group to its current look on 12 July 2004[21] promising more than 200 specially commissioned programmes exclusive to the website,[22] with five new programmes being added each month from Jazz FM's presenters such as Sarah Ward, the late Campbell Burnap and Peter Young, as well as jazz news and features, including the ejazz.fm artist of the month.

It was on this date that the radio station appeared on DAB in Yorkshire, south Wales and the Severn estuary using spare capacity from the now defunct Smooth Digital service.

GMG Radio said that the money saved by pulling the plug on the Sky and DAB services would be re-invested into the website.

The service also replaced Saga 105.2 FM on Monday 26 March on the Score Glasgow multiplex as Smooth Radio is already broadcast on the Switch Central Scotland ensemble.

[30] GMG Radio was also looking to sell its other DAB slot currently held in south Wales and the Severn estuary since the closure of jazzfm.com in Yorkshire.

The only area to continue broadcasting jazzfm.com on DAB, Glasgow and west central Scotland, made the switch to Jazz FM on 6 October 2008.

[32] The jazzfm.com DAB service and website relayed one stream of a mixture of smooth jazz and funk music in the daytime and traditional and mainstream jazz music in the evening without DJs at 64 kbit/s Windows Media Audio 9 format in stereo for free and at a higher bitrate through a subscription to RealMusic.

It used to broadcast smooth jazz and funk music on DAB in Yorkshire, south Wales, the Severn estuary, the West Midlands and on Sky.

On 28 February 2008 GMG Radio's chief executive John Myers made an announcement that Jazz FM would be brought back[35][36] as a relaunch of the current jazzfm.com service with presenters on DAB.

[43] The annual report from TLRC published in March 2009 shows that the station cost it £30,000 a month to provide the Jazz FM service on behalf of GMG.

[47] The station raised awareness of the relaunch through email and social media[48] as well as a nationwide campaign through posters, national newspapers and magazines featuring the Jazz FM chameleon in 3D and listen in colour branding.

[49] The station launched on 6 October 2008 at 19:00 BST (18:00 UTC) with an introductory speech from Richard Wheatly, followed by the Dinner Jazz programme with Sarah Ward.

[55][56] A deal with Wheatly was done for £1 on 9 April 2009, where it was also revealed that the station had made a loss of £733,000 in the first six months of operation,[57] as well as investments from a couple of financial companies and a number of individuals.

[62] In May 2009, Jazz FM started a £500,000 poster marketing campaign using the Listen in Colour strapline and promoting the station as an antidote to the current worldwide financial recession.

[65] It was announced on 11 May 2010 that Jazz FM would close down on DAB in south Wales and the Severn estuary, to be replaced with 102.2 Smooth Radio.

[72][73] The festival had its inaugural weekend at Glynde Place, East Sussex in July 2013, and included performances by Nile Rodgers, Chic, Bryan Ferry, Charles Bradley and others.

The station was as of 21 March 2011 broadcast across Great Britain on the Digital One DAB ensemble, extending to Northern Ireland on 26 July 2013.

[83] In a change to the original application Jazz FM commenced broadcasts using DAB+ technology in Stereo, and is one of three national stations to use DAB+ on the Sound Digital ensemble.