Why?

Commercial radio in the U.K. accounts for about 50% of all radio listening – but in London and other major areas of the UK it accounts for well over 65%.  We at JUMP FM believe that the West Midlands market needs a totally new kind of youth lifestyle radio station that will help the region compete more effectively against the dominant BBC Radio 1. JUMP FM has undertaken extensive local consumer research to help us build your new regional radio station.

The results from this study point to a significant gap in the West Midlands for a new music and lifestyle radio station that significantly extends current listener choice. We have therefore thrown ourselves at the mercy of local young people to understand their tastes, culture and attitudes – we now know what they want and the JUMP FM founders know how to deliver.

So who are we...

JUMP FM is the station name of a new company Absolute Radio - West Midlands Ltd (AR-WM). AR-WM was born out of the passion for music radio by its founding executive directors, who are personally committed to the on-going development of commercial radio in the U.K.

Such creative radio excellence has attracted significant media shareholders and backers, the largest of which is the UK listed media company, Ulster Television plc (UTV). UTV is the independent television broadcaster for Northern Ireland and the most watched TV channel in the region. It produces award-winning news and current affairs programmes and has an impressive record of quality programming over many years since it was formed in 1959. 

JUMP FM’s unique concept is to allow the best in the business to create vibrant strands of programming and content. For example, rather than producing dance based programmes around JUMP FM’s DJ and music content, AR-WM has exclusively joined forces with the nationally renowned youth dance brand ‘CREAM’ to develop the best in new music programming. CREAM is a major shareholder in JUMP FM and is actively seeking to integrate itself into U.K. commercial radio.

Absolute Radio has also secured partnerships with a select number of local shareholders to ensure the station is and remains truly local. The first of these is the locally owned Midlands Newspaper Association (MNA) the publisher of the Express and Star and the Wolverhampton Chronicle titles. MNA reaches 29% of the under 30 yr olds in the West Midlands each week and their collective titles are read by over 2m people each week. MNA will provide JUMP FM with access to their un-rivalled news and information content to ensure JUMP FM has the best news output in the region.