Absolute Radio 70s is a British radio station dedicated to music from the 1970s. Launched by Absolute Radio to complement their decade format radio stations, it first aired on 29 November 2011, debuting a week after Absolute Radio 60s. The station broadcasts through DAB on the Switch London multiplex in the Greater London area, and is also available online, where it can be accessed using Radioplayer. Absolute Radio 70s went on air in November 2011, and was the first UK radio station to be dedicated solely to music from the decade, but it was followed a month later by the similarly themed Smooth 70s, which launched nationally on the DAB multiplex.
History
Details of Absolute Radio's plan to extend their decade-themed radio stations were released in October 2010, and following the success of Absolute Radio 80s and Absolute Radio 90s, the former of which was ranked eleventh in terms of listener numbers. Two new stations were announced, Absolute Radio 60s and Absolute Radio 70s, both of which would be dedicated to the music of their respective decades. Initially the 70s station would be available on DAB in London only, but would be accessible nationally and internationally through an online service. A website holding page was opened at absoluteradio70s.co.uk in line with the announcement of the station, which carries station information and an indicative schedule. The 60s service went on air on 22 November 2011, with Absolute Radio 70s launching a week later on 29 November. Absolute Radio 70s shares the DAB slot currently used by Absolute Radio 00s, with 00s cutting its broadcast capacity to release space for the 70s service. At the time of its launch Absolute Radio 70s branded itself as "The UK's only 70s radio station", but was joined on DAB within a few weeks by Smooth 70s, a similarly themed station from GMG Radio which was launched nationally on DAB on 27 December 2011. However, in spite of its competitor, Absolute 70s continued to style itself as the UK's only 1970s-themed radio station. Smooth 70s subsequently ceased transmission on 6 October 2013, and its national frequency was taken over by Capital XTRA. Six years later, Global resumed transmission of a national 70s music service with the launch of Heart 70s, which is now Absolute 70s' chief competitor.
Format
Although a separate entity, Absolute Radio 70s takes a limited amount of programming from the main Absolute Radio station, chiefly The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show and The Frank Skinner Show. Hometime with Bush and Richie was added to the schedule of Absolute's digital stations from 23 September 2019. The station itself was originally fronted by former Radio 1 presenter Richard Skinner, who presented an afternoon programme. Following the station's 2018 downgrading, there were no presenters outside of shows shared with Absolute Radio and some specials; in summer 2019, former Gold breakfast presenter Tony Dibbin joined Bauer to present a weekday daytime show on Absolute Radio 70s, which became the only presented programme exclusive to the 70s station. Absolute 70s plays a broad mix of music from the 1970s, ranging from rock and punk to glam and soul. Artists and groups typically heard on the station include David Bowie, Kate Bush, Elton John and Blondie.
Distribution
The station's DAB transmission was originally solely to London, in contrast to the wider distribution of its siblings, and the 70s station was not affected by the December 2014/January 2015 changes which impacted many of Absolute's other digital transmissions including those of Absolute Radio 60s. Absolute Radio 70s has been made available more widely through online transmission via Absolute's website and apps, where it appears alongside the other Absolute network stations. The 70s service was made available nationally via digital satellite television from 9 February 2015, when the station took over a Sky guide slot previously occupied by Insight Radio; it joins Absolute's 80s, 90s and Classic Rock stations on the Sky lineup. Although Absolute Radio 70s was not guide-listed on Freesat, it could be manually tuned into by Freesat boxes. The station was removed from Sky on 4 June 2018, and was replaced by Hits Radio. May 2018 also saw the station, and Kerrang! Radio, removed from London DAB to release space for the addition of Hits Radio; the stations were kept active by relocating to Bauer's Tayside DAB multiplex - a similar 'placeholder' move had shifted DAB transmission of Absolute's 60s and 00s stations to Inverness as part of the 2014/15 reshuffle
