The new identity of Virgin Radio has been announced – and it's [b]Absolute Radio[/b]. The long-awaited name was revealed in a text message and email sent to the station's VIP members.
The new name will take the station quite literally from one side of the alphabet to the other, allowing it to appear first on digital listening platforms of the future. And in this unique transition period, the station is currently identifying itself as "Virgin Radio soon to be Absolute Radio".
It comes as part of a package of changes announced today, including the departure of JK and Joel and Robin Burke and the subsequent arrival of Jo Russell, one half of Trent FM's award-winning Jo and Twiggy breakfast show, as well as controversial radio and TV presenter Tim Shaw previously with Kerrang! The schedule changes will also put late night host Geoff back in the primetime with a new drive-time show.
The new brand will also no doubt lend itself to sister stations such as Absolute Classic Rock and Absolute Xtreme.
The new name, along with the strapline "Discover real music", will be backed up by a £5 million multi-platform marketing campaign devised by London agency Albion. Since the purchase, station staff including programmes and operations director Clive Dickens have been blogging about the changes at [url=http://onegoldensquare.com/]onegoldensquare.com[/url].
The name change comes after Virgin Radio's £53.8 million purchase by TIML, a subsidiary of the Times of India Group and the new owners' decision not to continue to license the name from Virgin Enterprises, a move which would have cost the group a reported £8 million.
Absolute Radio in the news:
[link=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7593197.stm]BBC.co.uk[/link]
[link=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2664599/Virgin-Radio-to-change-name-to-Absolute.html]Telegraph[/link]
[link=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5bf80d84-7845-11dd-acc3-0000779fd18c,dwp_uuid=89fe9472-9c7f-11da-8762-0000779e2340.html?nclick_check=1]FT.com[/link]
[link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/news.php?extend.3765.2]The Virgin Radio name rejects[/link]
