Archive for October, 2011
Townshend: iTunes should be like local radio
Former Who guitarist and songwriter Pete Townshend has given the inaugural BBC 6 Music John Peel lecture at the Radio Festival in Salford.
The lecture was introduced on stage by Peel’s son Tom Ravenscroft, and broadcast live on 6 Music as well as on the BBC red button on digital television.
Radio Festival gets under way in Salford
Hundreds of delegates are gathering at The Lowry Theatre in Salford Quays over the next three days for the biggest event in the radio calendar.
The Radio Festival, hosted by the Radio Academy, includes almost three days of sessions, classes, one to one interviews, demonstrations and social events, all overlooking Media City UK.
Radio Today’s live blog is already in full flow at radiotoday.co.uk/live, covering TechCon.
Tetley and Smooth Radio form partnership
GMG Radio’s national station Smooth Radio has agreed a commercial partnership with tea maker Tetley.
The three month deal will see the station’s branding appear on a million boxes of Tetley decaf this winter.
Radios 2, 3 & 4 marks Remembrance Week
BBC Radio will be marking Remembrance Week with a season of programmes on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4, as well as a special show on BBC Radio 3.
Special documentaries and musical guests will make up some of the extra output on the networks.
Radio legend Sir Jimmy Savile dies at 84
The man who claimed to be the first ever DJ, Sir Jimmy Savile has died at home just says before his 85th birthday.
Sir Jimmy said in his autobiography that he was the very first person to ever use two turntables and a microphone at an event back in 1947. He had been suffering from pneumonia.
Ben Cooper appointed Radio 1 controller
Ben Cooper has been confirmed as the new Controller of BBC Radio 1 & 1Xtra.
He replaces Andy Parfitt who left Radio 1 after 13 years in July earlier this year.
Global Radio appoint Enterprise Director
Global Radio have hired Matt Rennie from internet TV company Seesaw in a newly-created position of Enterprise Director.
He joins the Capital, Heart and Classic FM owner from Monday and will oversee a team of 10 working on new revenue streams and existing partnerships.
UKRD to promote local commercial radio
William Rogers, UKRD’s Chief Executive has been invited to address a session at the national conference of The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in Manchester next month.
He says he’s looking forward to talking about local commercial radio to hundreds of HR professionals, highlighting what an amazing industry it is to work in.
Gem 106 makes dream wedding come true
A couple devastated by terminal illness fulfilled their dream and married at the weekend thanks to East Midlands’ radio station Gem 106.
Listeners and local businesses donated everything needed for the wedding after the couple’s story was heard on-air.
Radio maker PURE starts music streaming
Radio set manufacturer PURE has launched a new cloud-based on-demand music service to allow consumers to hear their own track selections across computers and smartphones, as well as their internet-connected digital radios.
PURE Music, which will go live from December, will contain millions of music tracks available to stream for a monthly subscription of under £5.
BBC: Best network radio hours in 3 years
The latest RAJAR figures show that BBC Radio had its highest weekly listening hours – 586m – for three years in the period to September.
In addition, Radio 1 has its biggest reach since the research methodology changing in 1999 and Radio 2 hit 14 million listeners again as Chris Evans added nearly half a million listeners to his breakfast show over the last year.
GLOBAL: Capital & Heart overtake Magic
Former London favourite Magic has slipped to third place in the top three commercial radio stations in London.
Capital is back at number one with 2.18m listeners, whilst sister station Heart grows to the second spot, leaving Bauer’s Magic at number three.
GMG: Smooth Radio overtakes talkSPORT
With 3.328m weekly listeners, Smooth Radio now has a bigger reach across the UK than national UTV station talkSPORT.
The station’s reach is up nine percent (275,000 listeners) in the last year, while sister network Real Radio has also posted a record audience size.
BAUER: Place portfolio helps boost reach
Bauer’s “place” stations such as Key 103 and Clyde 1 have helps increase its national reach to nine million listeners, and is now commercially number one in 20 of its 21 markets.
In London, Magic slips to third place whilst Kiss continues to build audience at breakfast.
ABSOLUTE: Big gains for decades stations
Absolute 80s is the number one digital commercial radio station, according to the latest set of RAJAR figures out today.
Its reach is up 80% in the last 12 months, with the enlarged audience size of 1.018m now bigger than Bauer’s The Hits Radio.
RAJAR: Local radio continues to grow
Local radio is continuing to thrive, with many stations seeing a large increase in listeners on FM in the last 12 months.
In Ipswich, Town 102 has almost doubled its audience, Eagle Radio sees a large quarterly hours increase and JACK fm Oxfordshire gains its highest ever reach, hours and share.
BBC LOCALS: Audience up 288k in a year
BBC Local radio – currently facing major cuts to programmes and staffing levels under DQF – has posted an increase of more than a quarter of a million listeners over the last quarter.
According to the Q3/2011 RAJAR results, the network of 40 stations now has 7.25m listeners a week (17.3% reach), compared with 6.962m (16.7%) twelve months ago.
UTV: talkSPORT up but down in London
National sports radio station talkSPORT has seen a 5.8% increase in audience size over the last 12 months, according to the Q3/11 RAJAR data, and hit its highest ever reach for the 3-month summer period.
The UTV station’s audience is now at 3.132 million, of which 2.5m are men.
Q3/11 radio listening: The ups and downs
The latest RAJAR figures show 47.1m people listened to radio in the UK in the last three months – an increase from this time last year but a drop compared with Quarter 2 of 2011.
In London Capital FM (2.179m reach) has regained the number one commercial radio spot, with Global Radio’s Heart brand (2.027m) also overtaking Magic to take second place. Magic (1.993m) is third, with Bauer sister station Kiss (1.703m) in fourth place.
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Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball back for 4th year
Global Radio has announced plans for the return of their major Capital FM-branded pre-Christmas concert.
The Jingle Bell Ball will be sponsored again by Windows 7, as the Capital Network of stations join forces for the event for the first time since ‘going national’ in January.
BBC Local cuts debate goes to Parliament
MPs are discussing proposed changes to BBC Local Radio in a Parliamentary debate this morning.
It follows plans under the corporation’s DQF programme to introduce regional programmes during off-peak hours on the 40 services around England.
BBC workers to be balloted for strikes
Three unions are to ask their BBC members whether they support strike action over the proposed cuts at the corporation.
The NUJ, Bectu and Unite say programmes could be severely disrupted if industrial action goes ahead – likely to be in December.
Kingdom FM changes its name for charity
Fife’s Kingdom FM is to re-brand as Maggie’s FM for five days in support of a local charity, from October 31st to November 4th.
The independent station has been given Ofcom approval for the change, and is hoping to help boost fundraising for a local appeal.
Buble to do weekly radio show on Magic
Singer Michael Bublé is joining London’s Magic 105.4 to present the Saturday afternoon show until Christmas.
The Canadian star joins the Bauer station from this weekend in the 1-3pm slot where he’ll play some of his favourite tracks and answer listeners’ questions.
BBC to put on awards do for radio drama
The BBC has announced details of an awards ceremony to honour the best of audio drama from across both the BBC and commercial radio sectors.
The event will be held at Broadcasting House in late January 2012 with programme makers able to submit entries between now and 14 November 2011.
