LRC starts talks with Wheatly over Jazz FM sale

The Local Radio Company has put digital-only station Jazz FM up for sale following a strategic review of its business. The company is already in talks with a consortium led by the station’s executive chairman Richard Wheatly.

The move means Wheatly has stepped down from his role as non-executive chairman at LRC. In October, Wheatly left his role of executive chairman at LRC to take the same role at the station.

A statement from LRC says: “The company announces it has begun negotiations regarding the proposed disposal with a consortium headed by Richard Wheatly.’

The sale comes just four months after LRC resurrected Jazz FM as a digital-only station. The move came three years after the brand disappeared from radio when Guardian Media Group Radio rebranded the two analogue Jazz FM stations in London and the North West as Smooth FM. GMG licensed the brand to LRC for the relaunch.

Wheatly was chief executive of Jazz FM when it was sold to GMG in 2002.