September 2008
94 posts
Absolute Beginners No Longer. By Chris Lawson →
As Mark said, I think everyone behind the scenes worked incredibly hard and it sounded great on air. There is a lot more that we want to do and things to improve definitely, but I thought it was a…
29/09/2008 - Day 1 at One Golden Square. By Mark... →
Wow, we have ended our ‘crossfade’ journey and it’s day two of being 100% Absolute Radio.
Behind the scenes, the Programming, Production, PR, Marketing, Digital Media and Tech Team have lived at…
Channel 4 scales down digital radio plans as cost... →
Article from Media Week: Channel 4 is scaling back its digital radio plans, with only one of three of its originally planned stations, E4 Radio, now confirmed for launch.
Virgin became Absolute Radio today →
‘Absolute Radio’, that was the name they settled on after months of debate about what should succeed ‘Virgin Radio’. They looked at their letterheads or the name of the company on the door that…
Radio Crunch? →
Is radio in trouble with the current credit crunch? Best put, though the crunch is not exactly welcome, we’re well able to handle it.
Absolute Radio Launch →
In case you missed it, here’s the audio from the official launch of Absolute Radio at 7.45am today.
Absolute Radio launch
The road from ‘V’ to ‘A’ - by James Curran →
Well the public have voted! And in what numbers ! It never ceases to amaze me how passionate our listeners are about music, whether in response to our invite to join our weekly playlists or to take…
Introducing David Meyer - by Tony Moorey →
Allow me to introduce someone that you will be hearing rather a lot of over the coming months. More in fact than Geoff Lloyd or Russ Williams.
Here is the Radio 4 news – about the BBC →
Steve Hewlett has a new radio show about the media. He’ll have plenty to cover, including his latest employers
Richard Park: Commercial radio will bounce back →
Veteran commercial radio programmer Richard Park has predicted a return to the “halcyon days” of the mid-Nineties when commercial stations trounced the BBC.
Community radio needs more money →
The rapidly growing community radio sector needs more money from the Government if it is to succeed, according to the chairman of the group responsible for distributing grants to stations.
BBC allays commercial radio fears about Kangaroo →
The broadcasters behind proposed joint-venture online TV service Kangaroo have reassured the commercial radio industry that there are no plans for audio content to be included in the package.
Absolute Live: A guide to the best of what’s... →
After much anticipation, we’ve lost our Virgin-ity and Absolute Radio has officially arrived!
Goodbye Virgin… Hello Absolute by Russ Williams →
It’s just dawning on me that today Friday 25th of September 2008 is the last full day of the radio station that we know and love as Virgin Radio. It’s been an incredible journey, one…
Virgin Radio Wall →
Although we’re handing back the Virgin Radio licence, we’re not forgetting our heritage when Absolute Radio launches on Monday.
A Brief History of Virgin Radio by Adam Bowie →
So as the lights come down on 15 and a bit years of Virgin Radio, I thought it might be worth giving everyone a whistle stop history of Virgin Radio.
Do TV Ads for Radio Stations Work? →
The consistently excellent Edison Media Research have just completed a study of TV advertising for radio stations.
Real personality radio →
It’s not every day that a conference speech turns into a spontaneous cheer and round of applause, but I watched that happen on Wednesday.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Reception by Luke Moore →
I was genuinely excited walking into reception this morning.
Pride by Richie Firth →
Heather Small of M People fame (or should that be shame) sung a song a few years ago in which she asked ‘what have you done today to make you feel proud?’ Thankfully here at Absolute Radio we’re…
Hardeep Singh Kohli with Les Ross on BBC WM. Time...
Absolute Buses →
If you live in London, you might have seen some of our advertising that’s started to appear on buses here in the capital.
Radio 2 DJ Stuart Maconie to front local tourism... →
12.10pm: Radio 2 presenter Stuart Maconie has been signed to front a new campaign to promote tourism in the north-west of England. The Lancashire-born presenter is to produce a series of short…
100% Absolute by Clive Dickens →
Firstly, I wanted to say we have all been working extremely hard recently in the run-up to the sale of the business, the summer festival season and during the transition to one of the most momentous…
Pandora adds advertising →
Today’s news from Pandora opens with these words: Calling all advertisers who want to take their branding messages to the mobile platform: Pandora Media, the premier provider of…
The Archers challenged by new radio soap →
It’s hardly breaking radio news but some national newspapers have woken up to the fact that Radio Scilly has a daily radio soap!!
Stepford - radio in 10 years time →
In ten years, the radio industry is going to be barely recognizable to many of you. It will and must change in very profound ways. Some of that change is going to be difficult. Some of you will be…
What's wrong with Radio 2 presenter Sarah Kennedy? →
The BBC Radio 2 presenter was barely recognisable as the freshfaced star of Game For A Laugh as she strolled with her boyfriend in North London last week.
A New Beginning by David Lloyd →
David Lloyd’s leaving video from “Virgin Radio very soon to be known as Absolute Radio.”
Absolute Radio: no ads on launch; 3m listener... →
Absolute Radio has confirmed it will launch on Monday 29 September and has set an audience target of three million weekly listeners – a milestone that its predecessor, Virgin Radio, has not met in…
Guardian stops search for football podcast... →
The Guardian has abandoned plans to tender out one of its best-performing podcasts to an independent radio producer. The newspaper group invited applications from indies in June to produce its…
Absolute Radio pledges commitment to AM →
Absolute Radio has reassured listeners on medium-wave that it is “fully committed” to continuing broadcasts on AM for at least another four years. The new owners of Virgin Radio, who have begun a…
Radio Festival 2009 to be held in Nottingham →
1.15pm: The Radio Academy is understood to have chosen Nottingham as the host city for next year’s Radio Festival.
A source close to the festival organising committee said talks were currently…
SGR presenter’s bike ride to Paris raises £1,500 →
10.20am: SGR Colchester breakfast presenter Wyatt has completed an epic 315-mile bike ride from London to Paris to raise money for the station’s charity. Wyatt raised more than £1,500 for Operation…
Radio advertisers warned: Don’t speak too fast →
10am: The Advertising Standards Authority has issued a warning to producers about the speed of the legal terms and conditions at the end of radio ads. The warning comes after the regulator banned an…
Ofcom adjudicator to monitor transmissions giant →
9.15am: Ofcom has appointed a former NTL broadcast managing director to act as an adjudicator and ensure radio stations are treated fairly following the merger of Arqiva and National Grid Wireless….
Trafficlink to provide bulletins for the new Jazz... →
9.35am: Jazz FM has appointed Trafficlink to provide national traffic and travel bulletins when the station relaunches on digital radio next month. The station, which goes live on 6 October, is…
Commercial radio takes stand at party conference →
8.30am: Commercial radio trade body RadioCentre is to set up a temporary studio at the Labour and Conservative party conferences, allowing MPs to be interviewed by their local stations via ISDN and…
Global's rebranding of stations... bad idea! →
I think it’s a bad idea for Global to rebrand its stations to “Heart”, well, almost all anyway. One, heritage stations shouldn’t be rebranded full stop: e.g. Hereward, Essex FM, Invicta FM, Power FM,…
Ofcom has sense of humour →
Well, I guess that’s one way to explain the email address on this.
I took a screenshot, above, in case Ofcom acted really quickly to change it; but it’s hardly the right way to treat as…
New name for Radio Broadland →
Article in the Norwich Evening News about the name change of Radio Broadland to Heart. No doubt there will be dozens of similar stories as local newspapers pick up on the fact that their local, well known heritage brand ILR station is about to lose the name it was born with tens of years ago.
Displaying Absolute by Adam Bowie →
If you’re listening to us via a digital system, you may have noticed that we’re now displayed as “Absolute Radio” on many devices now.
From first thing on Monday morning, all our DAB…
Chris Moyles at war with fellow Radio 1 DJ Jo... →
It’s handbags at dawn at Radio 1 HQ. Breakfast show presenter Chris Moyles reckons fellow DJ Jo Whiley - whose show was fined for misleading listeners - is to blame for cutbacks at the station.
Is Your Station Smarter Than A "Genius"? →
Before Pandora, I was never a fan of music recommendation engines. Tell them you liked “Mickey” and you’d probably get “Safety Dance.” Pandora — which linked songs by their musical properties and…
BBC announces key leadership roles →
The BBC is to appoint a leader based in Salford Quays for the biggest ever BBC project to increase production outside of London.
DW and BBC join forces on DRM →
Two of the worlds major international broadcasters BBCWorldService and Deutsche Welle have announced plans to launch a joint radio service to Europe on DRM Shortwave.
Vicki Butler-Henderson →
When she was about three, she sat in a tractor on her Dad’s knee. Her love of vehicles began then, although now she’s more closely connected with faster cars - as witnessed on Top Gear and Fifth…
It was only a change to the company’s legal name…... →
It all started pretty harmlessly, as is the way of these things. An e-mail from Clive arrived Friday night as I was on my way to the airport.