GB News to launch ‘all-British’ radio station – playing only British music

The company behind GB News is launching a new radio station which will only play British music, it has been announced.

GB Music Radio, which will hit the airwaves on 2 November, will include shows featuring the names “The Great British Drive Home” and “Great British Breakfast”.

In a press release about the launch, the company said the station would be “built around the promise” of "All British, All Day".

It will exclusively stream music performed by artists from Great Britain or Northern Ireland, or where the main proportion of the band is British, it says.

A spokesman for GB Media said the station will celebrate “extraordinary achievements” in British music and “showcase artists from Great Britain and Northern Ireland across the generations."

The station’s flagship drive home show, hosted by Rick Houghton, will be broadcast from his home city of Liverpool, which he called a “dream come true”.

Chief revenue officer Ross Sergeant said: “GB Music Radio gives advertisers something genuinely new: a station built around a single, warm idea that almost everyone in this country can get behind.

“British music is a shared passion that cuts across generations, and we look forward to helping brands become part of the soundtrack to our listeners' day, from Breakfast with Paul to weekend mornings with Nana.”

GB News, which has the tagline “the fearless champion of Britain”, launched in 2021.

It is owned by British hedge fund manager Sir Paul Marshall and the Dubai-based investment firm Legatum Group. The channel, which launched in 2021, has recently faced criticism after comments made by guest Caroline Farrow appeared to link the LGBTQ+ community to paedophilia while discussing Pride events.