Play (Euroish radio network)

Play is a network of independent stations in the Euro Republics which broadcast a mix of national and local content. All of the Play network stations are under the ownership of EuroMedia Radio.

As of 2022, the station has a weekly national audience of 7.2 million people, 65% of which are within the station's 15-29 target demographic.

The station primarily competes with EBC 3FM and The Hits with a format solely based on current chart hits and pop music of the past 10 years. Unlike EBC 3FM, Play has a ban on rock and alternative music, and unlike The Hits, does not play 90's and 2000's popular music.

History
Play originated in 1972 when the Euroish government (then under the rule of the National party) legalised independent commercial broadcasting on radio frequencies to provide competition for the EBC, with two frequencies initally allocated to each major city and one to each town. This also saw the formation of the Independent Radio Commitee.

The first Play station launched in 1973 as City Radio, a local station in Euro City, initially as a wide-ranging entertainment station with pop music, a substantial news provision and even the likes of classical music, whilst companion station ECBC (now Topic Radio) initally focused on a wide range of talk based programmes including news and comedy.

City Radio quickly switched to a mainstream pop format by the late 70's, providing the framework for Play. The Network Chart Show was founded to provide competition for The Official Euroish Chart Show (as it was then known) on Radio 3.

City Radio was relaunched as Play 95.7 on 2 October 1988. The relaunch as Play 95.7 initally signified a greater focus towards comedy, chat and news during evening hours, but this was slowly dropped in the next few years.

Throughout the first half 1990's, Play's owners - still known as City Radio Group - acquired most of the independent popular music radio stations in the country, as well as some talk stations such as ECBC (relaunched as Topic 104 in March 1996) and Faulkshire Air.

EuroMedia acquired the assets of City Radio Group in 1995. Seeking to unify the Play brand and it's presenters across the country, a merger of all of the pop-based stations was announced in November 1997, whilst Faulkshire Air would be relaunched as a local variation of Topic.

The relaunched Play went on air on 1 June 1998.

Weekday

 * Sara Mellor (The Breakfast Club)
 * Akeel Fahnbulleh (Hit40ER)
 * Kaylee Sherry (Hit40ER Update)
 * Beverley Saunders (mid-mornings)
 * George Kemp (drivetime)
 * Molly Smith-Jones (evenings)
 * Mo Burrell (late show)

Weekends

 * Jack Richardson (Saturday and Sunday mornings)

Criticism
The station, despite high ratings in it's core 16-34 age demographic, has been heavily derided by people from within the music and broadcasting industries for it's heavily limited playlist, which often relies heavily on artists such as, , , , , and Edmond Jameson, with very little room for artists without international mainstream success. The station has also been criticised in recent years for it's endorsement of social media platform TikTok, embedding promotions for it within songs and with all DJs for the station mentioning it rather often. The platform is also a sponsor for The Breakfast Club and Jack Richardson's weekend show.