Xfm is to be rebranded and expand nationally with a host of big names including Chris Moyles who will go head-to-head with his BBC Radio 1 replacement Nick Grimshaw with a new breakfast show.
Xfm is to be axed after 20 years in favour of a new brand, Radio X, which will be introduced as part of a strategy to go national digitally.
The station is also on FM in London, Manchester and in Scotland.
Global Radio, the parent company of Xfm, has registered radiox.co.uk and x.co.uk.
Earlier this month the name and brand Radio X were registered with the Intellectual Property Office.
Popbitch and Radio Today have reported the new brand name and speculated on details of the new-look lineup.
The biggest news about the upcoming launch will be the return of Moyles to the airwaves with a new radio show, first reported by the Sun.
Moyles’s return, three years after he was ousted from Radio 1, will pit him against his replacement Grimshaw who has struggled with a listener exodus since taking over.
Last Friday, Kaiser Chiefs and The Voice judge Ricky Wilson all but confirmed a Sun story that he will have a show on Xfm, tweeting:
It's a bit like being on TV but with fewer waistcoats... http://t.co/xtiecLxykQ
— Ricky Wilson (@Rickontour) August 21, 2015
Other big name presenters that have been rumoured to be part of the new lineup include Vernon Kay, Johnny Vaughan and Richard Bacon.
Global Radio refused to comment but last year the company’s founder, Ashley Tabor, said that there was an intention to launch new national stations this year.
“We’re launching new digital only stations, all of which are brand extensions, and thus extending some of our most loved brands nationally on digital radio,” he said.
