Casting production talent is probably one of the most difficult jobs in the world. It really is an arranged marriage. You’ve found the groom - now you need to find a bride. Not only do they need to be good at their jobs, but they need to get on with the [...]

For those of you who were lucky enough to be watching the Kings of Leon at the V Festival the other weekend, then you may have missed my band, Carlotti, playing in the Virgin Radio VIP tent (thanks James!).  Well fear not as I have the video from the day, see if you can spot [...]

After almost 8 years at Virgin Radio, it’s safe to say I’ve been to a million and one zillion of these famous Rock Trivias. In fact, they are so much part of my life, like cleaning my teeth or going for a doctors check-up that I’ve renamed the day after [...]

It is 23.54. I’m late. I am at least an hour or so from home. And my girlfriend has left 3 answerphone messages, and 2 texts to track me down. I have had 3 slices of pizza, 2 glasses of champagne, and Idontknowhowmany beers. I narrowly escaped the magnetic vortex pull of Soho Karaoke, and [...]

Over the weekend I noticed an unusual amount of items appearing in the RSS reader for “Virgin Radio”. After flicking through the blog posts and tweets I discovered that Mix 99.9fm radio in Toronto has been renamed to Virgin Radio 999. I didn’t think any more of it until I got into the office and [...]

No, not the rather odd, somewhat convoluted, yet thoroughly enjoyable Christopher Nolan film, but rather the prestige that comes with outdoing our radio competitors.  Specifically I am referring to, unsurprisingly given it’s me, the field of technology within radio and, even more specifically, the area of “content delivery”.
Virgin Radio has prided itself in being one [...]

The 10 Commendments
Ok… so there’s a big old bunch of stuff happening right now, and lots of shiny new things about to happen. We’re saying farewell to a few family members, and continue to welcome exciting new people into the company.
Whilst the brand may be changing, there are some things we should definitely keep going, [...]

Every time I float any potential new talent names, I notice that whoever I am speaking to purses their lips and nods sagely as if to say: ‘That would be a brave decision, Clive. Brave’. I guess it’s ‘cos I’m not really scared off from recruiting the srvices of presenters who might have had a [...]

The relationship with your show producer is a bit like a marriage, but without the make up sex after an argument. Roque my producer has been my corner man for over seven years and that’s why it’s with genuine sadness he leaves me and moves onto some new suit and tie job that doesn’t involve [...]

It’s always a case of sharp intake of breath when inviting comments from listeners and users.  Particularly when you’ve said you’ll actually bother to consider them - and, with this being radio,  people would soon notice if I merrily ignored them all.
So.  I sent out a note to all our thousands of VIPs last week, [...]

Following the ‘huge’ popularity of our last trawl through Virgin Radio TV ads of the past, it seemed fairly obvious to treat you to the comprehensive guide. Think of this as a DVD with incredible extras and commentaries rather than White Fang 2, Godfather 3 or some massively successful spin-off like Joey or Joanie Loves [...]

It is five o’clock on Tuesday afternoon. I am in a small kitchen, making a cup of tea for myself and a lady called Dawn. We met one minute ago. I try some smalltalk:
“This is a nice little place you’ve got here. ” I say.
“It’s not so little.” she replies sharply, affronted.
I want to explain [...]

This was the first V I have had to work at. I have had to work at the last few if you can call drinking beer and falling over work. Two years ago I was struck by a weird rare virus at V which affected my speech and cognitive behaviour so much that I [...]

Now its not often you get the chance to visit a place that holds as much musical history as Abbey Road Studios, so let’s just say I was very, very, very excited about being asked to come along for the evening to watch some of the new jingles for the new station being recorded!

Let’s just [...]

Over the past year, we in sales have been out and about with a presentation called “the Age of Consent” (double entendre, audience already on our side) in which we argue the case for commercial radio’s successful future. In the presentation, we suggest 6 key elements that a radio station needs to do well in [...]