Even before Wednesday’s announcement that Chrysler would make its 2009 US models Internet enabled, terrestrial broadcasters faced multiple challenges in securing their place on The Infinite Dial: the WiMax car radio of the future that would make every station stream in the world available to motorists.
The first is creating a unique selling proposition for their [...]

In the US, it exists much more as an umbrella name for any music played by a band with electric guitars and a drum kit to a 4/4 beat. Whether you see Springsteen and the E Street band at the Madison Square Garden, or MGMT at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, Georgia, you’d be [...]

Hats off to the redoubtable Mr Lloyd for sticking his head above the parapet on such a contentious subject!
The arguments that David lists as examples of what other, successful UK radio stations might put forward on music policy are perhaps sound, but certainly not watertight, and probably not very future-proof either.
The jukebox one topples over [...]

I remember some eccentric American radio boss at a conference panel saying: “the more I tighten the music rotations- the more the listeners scream - and the higher the ratings go”. In her markets, it was certainly true. As we know, some of the UK’s most successful stations play very little variety. They might call [...]

When I get up and wave my arms around enthusing people about radio, I usually end up defaulting to my familiar theme of ‘if radio were invented today…’.   It works though.
All the familiar attributes of this great 100 year old medium would impress all the more if we had not begun to take them for [...]

If you’ve been to the cinema you may have seen this advert for Radio 1’s post 7pm programming.

It’s easily the best radio ad I’ve seen in a long time.
OK - it’s four minutes long, but I suppose that’s more affordable in the cinema. But the clever opening makes use of the cinema by only lighting [...]

Have a read of this DRWG report that has just been published by the Dept for Culture, Media and Sport. Here is a summary of a note of which Andrew Harrison sent out to Radiocentre board members.
There are a few key points made in the report:

DAB sales are currently 7m, with 9m predicted by the end of this [...]

You shouldn’t feel embarrassed about expressing an opinion, it’s what the new gaffers say they’ve set this ‘blog up for, and that (unless they’re hoodwinking us, and it’s really a giant Stasi trap to weed out dissenters) has to be a good thing.
It’s very common in commercial radio workplaces to feel like your opinion doesn’t [...]

I don’t think many would question the value of Radio Airplay when trying to sell music and influence consumers about new artists. In fact I think some of the more cynical people may wrongly believe that the Radio Industry is paid to pay certain songs at certain times again and again. Of course the opposite [...]

Dear All,
Good Morning!
Last Friday, SMG shareholders voted to back the sale of Virgin Radio by SMG to TIML Radio.   This means that in a little over a week’s time, from Monday June 30th, we will officially join the team at One Golden Square.
So what does this mean?
It means that we will be in the building [...]

We’ve just held an EGM with our shareholders who have approved the disposal of Virgin Radio. We will be sorry to see Virgin Radio leave the SMG family but I do believe that you will have a great future with TIML.
The new owners TIML have told me many times that one of the key reasons [...]

If I’ve learned anything during my (short) time in radio, it’s that listeners love to feel part of the station - for example, hearing the excitement in someone’s voice when doing a phone-in. I recently saw a post on a (private) forum where someone was hugely overjoyed to hear their name mentioned on-air by Geoff [...]

Last week’s news that Apple are now opening up the iPhone to third party developers is interesting because it should mean that more people will realise the benefits of listening to the radio via their mobile phones. I do wonder why, however, it has taken this decision by Apple for the big radio players to [...]

So, my highlights in radio…well, being a Director of the original winning XFM bid in London is well up there. In addition to that, being Chairman of Atlantic 252 in its heyday, when it was the largest commercial station in the UK broadcasting was also a very proud moment. Then roaming the world to find [...]

My first day working for Disney was on a plane to Walt Disney World (horrible delta airline flight through Atlanta so please don’t be impressed..). The first person I bumped into at the hotel reception was Clive who was on a Radio OB. I can honestly say that fourteen years ago, he was just as [...]