Archive for March, 2012
Sony Award nominations out next Friday
The shortlists for this year’s Sony Radio Academy Awards are to be announced in a special lunchtime webcast a week on Friday.
Capital FM London breakfast presenters Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon will host the announcement, which will be streamed via the awards’ website.
Feature: These are defining times in radio
The focus this week in the industry has once again been on local commercial radio. In many cases, small stations are struggling to make ends meet, and for some the only option is to consider whether there’s a better option than handing back the licence and depriving local advertisers of a marketing outlet that’s needed more than ever in these tough economic times.
In a special comment piece, Radio Today Editor Stuart Clarkson considers whether full-service local radio has had its day and whether it’s time to quit the moaning and move on.
Smooth Radio adds Donny Osmond to line-up
Smooth Radio is to air Donny Osmond’s American radio show in place of Graham Torrington’s Sunday Night Love Songs.
Other changes at the national station include afternoon presenter David ‘Kid’ Jensen taking over drive from Carlos, who will move to Jensen’s old slot from 1-4pm.
Global Radio brands go head-to-head
The nominations are out for the “How Dos” – the annual north west England media awards.
They include a Radio Station of the Year category in which three of Global Radio’s brands are nominated.
Minister talks digital radio with retailers
The government minister responsible for broadcasting has met with leading retailers to talk about how they can support the move to digital radio.
Ed Vaizey has held talks with firms including John Lewis, Dixons group, Comet, Argos and Halfords – and was accompanied by BBC radio boss Tim Davie as well as Digital Radio UK CEO Ford Ennals.
O’Connell does first live theatre show
Absolute Radio breakfast presenter Christian O’Connell has done his first live late-night radio show in front of an audience in a West End theatre.
The unscripted hour-long programme, ‘Man on Wireless’ featured no adverts or music – but did include appearances from audience members sharing their secrets and strange life stories.
Fatboy Slim signs for 10 shows on Xfm
Fatboy Slim – aka Zoe Ball’s husband Norman Cook – is joining Xfm to present a Saturday night show from the end of this month.
We’re told the 10-part series, ‘On The Road To Big Beach Bootique 5′, will feature hour-long mixes of floor fillers, clasic breaks and beats, mash-ups, old skool anthems and Fatboy Slim classics.
The Voice in North Devon goes digital
A community radio station in North Devon has secured space on the local digital multiplex.
The Voice is hoping to start broadcasting on DAB before April 12th, when its current temporary FM licence runs out.
Profits up at talkSPORT owner UTV Media
UTV Media’s Preliminary Results for the year ended 31 December 2011 show pre-tax profits are up around the group by 10% to £23.3m.
In the Radio GB division, revenue has grown 6% to £12.4m whilst Irish Radio Revenues are down by 4%.
Mark Thompson to leave BBC in autumn
The BBC Director General Mark Thompson has announced he will step down from his position later this year.
Mr Thompson will leave the corporation after almost eight years in charge and becomes the longest-serving DG since the 1970s.
Radiodays Europe announces next event
Next year’s Radiodays Europe will take place in Berlin on March the 18th and 19th 2013.
The venue was announced as the 2012 event in Barcelona came to a close on Friday, after what organisers describe as being extremely positive, surpassing all expectations.
Roberto leaves Capital FM network show
Capital FM is making the first major changes to its network schedule, 15 months after taking the brand national.
Midmorning presenter Roberto will leave the station and be replaced by evening show host Rich Clarke, while Luke Smith also leaves the station.
UKRD responds to Atlantic’s Heart switch
The sale of Atlantic FM to Global Radio and subsequent rebranding as Heart will leave UKRD’s Pirate FM as the only commercial radio station with studios in Cornwall.
Output on Atlantic FM’s transmitters will switch to programmes from Heart Devon based in Exeter from later this year, although sales staff will remain in St Agnes.
Sue Owen to become BBC Merseyside Editor
Curent BBC Radio Stoke Editor Sue Owen has been appointed as Mick Ord’s successor at BBC Radio Merseyside.
Sue makes the move after a decade at Stoke and a career in commercial radio before it, including 8 years at Heart in Birmingham.
Atlantic FM sold to Global to become Heart
Global Radio has bought Cornwall station Atlantic FM and will rebrand it as Heart over the next few months.
Breakfast and drivetime shows on the station will be shared with Heart Devon and will come from Exeter, with daytimes and off-peak programming being done from London as with the other Heart network stations.
Edinburgh station changes to Castle FM
A community radio station in Edinburgh is hoping for a fresh start by changing its name.
Leith FM will close at 11pm on Thursday after almost five years to make way for 98.8 Castle FM on Friday 23rd March at 1pm.
Quidem to buy Oak FM from Lincs FM group
Touch FM owner Quidem has increased its portfolio from 6 licences to 8 after agreeing a deal to buy Oak FM in Loughborough and Hinckley from the Lincs FM Group.
When complete it will reunite the Loughborough licence with some of its former CN Group sister stations, nearly five years after being bought by Lincs.
Show swap at Capital FM East Midlands
Capital FM East Midlands’ drivetime presenters are moving to breakfast on the station from next month.
Dino and Pete will swap shows with Twiggy and Emma who take over the other local weekday slot, 4-7pm.
UTV local radio deal to include talkSPORT
UTV Media’s local radio division is to partner with sister station talkSPORT on a promotion for the first time.
Chesterfield station Peak FM has announced a deal with Johnstone’s Paint and talkSPORT to get behind the town’s football team in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final at Wembley.
Radioplayer smartphone app out in summer
Radioplayer, which brings together online radio listening in the UK, says its first smartphone app will be out on iOS and Android platforms within months.
The news came as the company – a partnership between the BBC and commercial radio – announced it hit 7 million unique monthly users during February.
Radiodays: Grow, brand, build and be proud
Europe’s biggest radio conference has opened in Barcelona with a message to the industry to grow areas like on-demand listening.
BBC Director of Audience and Music Tim Davie also told delegates the most important thing they could do was lobby mobile phone companies to include broadcast radio receivers in all models.
BBC Radio Leicester shakes up schedule
Lunchtime presenter Jonathan Lampon is moving to BBC Radio Leicester’s breakfast show from next week.
Regional TV weather presenter Sally Pepper gets the lunchtime slot, while current breakfast host Ben Jackson moves to the 3-6pm show.
Absolute Radio hosts secret Kasabian gig
Absolute Radio has announced plans for a secret intimate live gig in London’s Soho featuring Kasabian.
The group, fresh from a worldwide arena tour, will perform to just 200 of the station’s listeners.
UKRD says Fresh Radio licence now in profit
Less than three months after taking over the commercial radio licence for Skipton and the Yorkshire Dales, new owner UKRD says it has already turned around the station’s fortunes.
The group merged Fresh Radio with its existing station Stray FM in January, extending the Harrogate patch to cover areas including Skipton, Ilkley, Grassington, Richmond and the Dales.
New Editor appointed at BBC Radio Cymru
The BBC’s Welsh language radio station has announced that Lowri Rhys Davies is to become its new Editor of General Programming.
She will be responsible for commissioning and overseeing both in-house and externally produced programmes on the station.
Northern Ireland radio licences available
Ofcom has today opened the licensing process so that groups can apply for a community radio licence to broadcast in Northern Ireland.
Applications cost a non-refundable £600 and the regulator is accepting proposals for stations on either FM or AM.
Feature: Radio brands go local in 2012
Three years on, is anyone actually still missing Plymouth Sound, Fox FM or SGR? After a period of major consolidation in our industry followed by re-positioning by the big boys, we’re entering the next phase for UK radio brands: regional and local ones.
In a special feature, Radio Today Editor Stuart Clarkson takes a look at what Orion, UTV and Celador are doing to keep up with the Global Radio brands dominating some of their patches.
OXIS Media to represent Jack FM in Europe
The company which owns Oxford radio stations Jack FM and Glide FM has launched a new consultancy which will manage the Jack FM brand across the UK and Europe on behalf of owners Sparknet.
OXIS Media will take over consultancy work from ARI (Absolute Radio International), which has been exclusively engaged to manage national station Absolute Radio since 2008.
Delegates get ready for RadioDaysEurope
Europe’s biggest radio conference is being held in Barcelona over the next few days, with a focus on news, programming and advertising.
Over 45 sessions will take place at the sold-out Radio Days Europe event, with over 700 professionals from 80 countries attending.
Andover and Newbury Sound to become Breeze
Celdaor Radio has announced plans to change the names of Andover Sound and Newbury Sound to The Breeze next month.
The group bought the two licences last summer, and says it has been making gradual changes to output since then ahead of the rebrand on 2nd April.
