Best Rock FM

Best Rock FM was a Portuguese rock-formatted radio station owned by Media Capital. The network was created following the reformat of Rádio Comercial and had a reduced coverage. It shut down in 2013.

Best Rock FM launched on 3 February 2003,^[1][2] coinciding with MCR's plan to reformat Rádio Comercial into a more open-formatted radio station.^[3] One of the key programs on Comercial, Programa da Manhã, which included the iconic Nuno Markl segment O Homem que Mordeu o Cão, moved to the new station (for most of its existence up until that point, it was on Rádio Comercial during its rock phase), causing criticism online and a flood of calls at Comercial on the first working day of the reformat, as the new station broadcast from a two-transmitter network covering only Lisbon and Porto.^[4]

The network observed a good growth in its ratings in its first year alone, rising from a 1,1% share in its first three months on air to 1,5% in the last quarter of 2003. The gradual increase was given to the gradual changes to its schedule, without changing from scratch.^[1] Markl left Best Rock FM on its own will in 2004, after Pedro Ribeiro left for the reformed Rádio Clube Português, disbanding the existing morning show.^[5] Station founder Pedro Tojal left MCR in December 2005.^[6]

In January 2011, it announced a restructuring plan for the station effective June, by creating a new brand and a new format to replace it. Without releasing further details, Media Capital Rádios announced that it would find a way to make all of its stations profitable, including Best Rock.^[7] During the first half of 2011, the station recorded a share of just 0,3%. MCR eventually announced that, on 21 September of that year, it would close Best Rock FM and replace it with jazz station Smooth FM, which corresponded to a segment MCR did not cover yet.^[8] The network continued operating a skeleton service until early November 2013, when its last remaining transmitter, 101.1 in Moita, started broadcasting Vodafone FM, putting a definitive end to its existence.^[9]