Scottish Radio Holdings

Scottish Radio Holdings plc[1] (SRH), previously Radio Clyde Holdings plc, was a Scottish media company which owned 22 radio stations, and around 30 local newspapers in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.

History

SRH had its origins in the 1970s when Glasgow was awarded the third licence for a commercial station in the UK. As a result, in 1973 Radio Clyde began broadcasting. Unlike the two existing commercial stations (both in London), Radio Clyde was an immediate success. This was helped in part by strong financial backers that included Sean Connery and Jackie Stewart.

In 1991 laws controlling the ownership of commercial stations were relaxed. Clyde then merged with Radio Forth and immediately floated on the London Stock Exchange.

The company changed its name from Radio Clyde Holdings to Scottish Radio Holdings on 9 February 1994.[2]

In October 1995 SRH acquired Morton Newspapers – which owned around 20 newspapers in Northern Ireland – for £11.2 million. Morton's operations became part of SRH's Score Press subsidiary, which had been founded earlier that year.[3][4] Since then SRH expanded operations by acquiring further publications in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland.[5]

In 1998,[6] SRH established another subsidiary called Score Digital to operate DAB multiplexes. On 3 September 1999,[7] it was granted the licence to broadcast in Glasgow.[8] The multiplex aired on 31 May 2000[9] and was officially opened by Sharleen Spiteri on 7 June 2000.[10][11] Score Digital was the sole applicant for the licence to broadcast a DAB ensemble in Edinburgh,[12] which it received on 10 March 2000,[13][14] before the multiplex started broadcasting on 31 October 2000.[9][15] It also submitted the only bid for the Northern Ireland licence on 25 July 2000,[16] which was awarded in October 2000,[17][18] and the ensemble started broadcasting on 24 September 2001.[9][19] It was successful in its application to operate a multiplex in Dundee and Perth, with the licence awarded on 6 September 2001[20] over a competing bid by Switchdigital.[21][22] Score Digital was granted a licence to broadcast in Inverness in December 2001[23] and the multiplex aired on 22 August 2003.[9] It also operated a multiplex in Ayr.[24]

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