If you’ve not listened to any of these stations, I urge you to do so. You’ll hear some of the finest music ever written and produced, and who knows, it might just spur you on to make a little pilgrimage to the spiritual home of soul music one day…

For me, I like the fact we now have a choice, and I welcome another soul station to our now infinite dial. (Honourable mention must also go to Mi-Soul, which in fairness is a slightly different proposition).

Their brand values are similar and they’re targeting the same kind of listeners. So, are you a 'Smooth' person or do you believe in 'Magic'?

Actually, it’s all about brand in the end. Like it or not, brand has a massive role to play, particularly when the products are roughly operating in the same space. Some people will like the Smooth brand more over the Magic brand and vice versa.

Both approaches have their place. One is clearly more cost effective than the other, and they both deliver a very decent product. So, what else makes the difference?

Magic Soul therefore has, if you’ll forgive the pun, a little more ‘soul’. It feels nourishing, home-cooked and has a bit of extra flavour, whereas Smooth Soul is more like a ready-meal, albeit a very tasty one which delivers exactly what you need at that time.

Other differences? Well, the big one is presenters. Smooth Soul doesn’t have them. At all. And Magic Soul has pretty much a full schedule, with some great music jocks like Simon Phillips and Des Paul, who both know and love their soul.

Whereas due to the larger variety of song on Magic Soul, you’ll get a wider range of tempos and styles. For what it’s worth, Stevie Wonder was the most played artist on Smooth Soul during the period analysed, while Marvin Gaye was Magic Soul’s. Can’t complain with either of those!

In terms of ‘feel’, which is harder to define by numbers, my ears tell me that the bright, polished and upbeat production sound of the likes of Luther Vandross, Chic and The Detroit Spinners is fairly dominant on Smooth Soul.

A fairly similar spread, but Magic Soul’s larger universe allows it to play more songs from the last 35 years. So that means we get to hear the likes of Brand New Heavies, Lauryn Hill & John Legend. They even go so far as to play Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open, one of the best ‘new’ soul tracks!

Whereas Magic Soul looked like this:

• 50s / 60s - 16%
• 70s - 31%
• 80s - 27%
• 90s - 15%
• 00s / 10s - 11%

What about eras? Is there a difference there? Smooth Soul shaped up like this:

• 50s / 60s - 14%
• 70s - 37%
• 80s - 32%
• 90s - 10%
• 00s / 10s - 6%