Virgin Radio was sold for £53m to TIML, part of the Times of India Group, and the radio consultancy Absolute Radio, which also owns two radio stations in Oxford, in May this year.
Sir Richard Branson, who licensed the Virgin name to SMG, invoked a clause allowing him to retake control of the Virgin Radio brand, so the new owners had to rename it.
The owners announced that they were planning to spend £15m on the brand and hired Albion to develop it, ahead of its launch next month.
Jason Goodman, managing director of Albion, said that the Absolute Radio name had been chosen from a shortlist after meeting 'rigid criteria'.
The owners are also considering using the Absolute Radio brand to spin off into other services, such as online dating, gaming and ticketing. The name will be supported by the strapline 'Discover real music'.
TIML bought the Virgin Radio licence for a fraction of the £225m that SMG, formerly known as Scottish Media Group, paid when it acquired it from Chris Evans in 2000.
Although Virgin's listener numbers fell during the second quarter of this year, audience figures for breakfast DJ Christian O'Connell remained flat at 1.2m, according to the latest Rajars.
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