There are over 550 licensed radio stations operating in the United Kingdom although there are only 3 national commercial stations broadcasting the same programming format to the whole of the UK at any one time.
Since the Launch of Digital broadcasting the amount of National Stations has dwindled and the roll out of local stations such as Xfm, Kiss and Kerrang has taken over. Although, rather than operating as independent entitles these local radio stations often broadcast the same format as their parent station allowing for campaign synchronisation and promotion.