The station launched on 4 March 1990 as Jazz FM, playing mainly soul and jazz music. It was relaunched in June 2005 as 102.2 Smooth FM, playing middle of the road music, soul and R&B during the day and, as part of its licence requirements, focused on jazz music at night. On 20 October 2006, GMG Radio announced that it was requesting a change of format for 102.2 Smooth FM from Ofcom, moving the station away from its daytime soul and R&B remit which had, until that point, formed an integral part of the licence. GMG proposed an easy listening music service mixed with speech for the over 50s, coupled with an improved local news service. Ofcom approved the changes on 8 December 2006, with the condition that GMG retained the 45 hours of jazz per week that constituted part of the former licence requirement.