Absolute Radio Star – The Trophy Is Passed On To Llia Apostolou

01Jul

Absolute Radio's Star Llia

It’s that time of the year again where Absolute Radio celebrates a member of it’s staff for their achievements and enduring hard work.

This time round the weighty trophy was graciously passed on by previous winner Andrew Ryan and awarded to the station’s Music Section Producer Llia Apostolou.

As many members of our team do, Llia first came to Absolute Radio for work experience. It was apparent very early on what a valuable team player she was, (in addition to her well-known love of small, cuddly cats), and a year later she joined as a permanent member of staff.

In the two years Llia has been at One Golden Square Llia has shown extraordinary commitment to fulfilling her responsibilities as the content co-ordinator and has consistently gone beyond what she has been asked for, often executing it very often under tricky time and resource constraints. And all this, with an uncomplaining attitude, a cheerful disposition and a sense of humour to boot.

A very well-deserved recipient of this award – well done Llia!

Categories: People 2

Posted by dan on July 1, 2010

The iPhone 4 is here, but what’s all the hype about?

01Jul

Just three days after it’s official launch on June 24th, Apple announced they had sold over 1.7 Million iPhone 4 devices. Apple called this the “most successful product launch in Apple’s history”. For reference, it took Apple 28days to sell 1 million iPads, 59 days to sell 2 million and 80 days to sell 3 million of them.

With a little help from our friends at O2 the One Golden Square Labs team were one of the first lucky recipients of the iPhone 4 and we’re already working hard to make use of the handsets new features in all of our apps. We are really pleased to say that all of our existing apps work on the iPhone 4, however updates to make use of the new multitasking features will be available in the App Store shortly.

Like many of you, we wanted to know what all the fuss was about and why existing iPhone users should upgrade.

The first thing that’s noticeable is the speed. The iPhone 4 has an improved processor making it noticeably faster than previous models. It has a front-facing video chat camera, making video calls between iPhone 4 owners very simple. Some of the guys girls in the office thought the front facing camera made for a very good mirror! (it won’t be long until we see the iPhone 4 on the bus being used to apply make-up – expensive mirror!)

The regular back camera has also been improved and now has a flash, the screen resolution has been improved with a much higher resolution than the 3GS, making browsing the Absolute Radio website and watching video of your favourite bands in session even better than before. Remember that the Absolute Radio website is already HTML5 optimised, so you’ll be able to enjoy streaming video direct to this handset.

A feature that has the One Golden Square Labs team really excited is the capability of iOS4 to background stream applications or multitask, which means you can browse the web, send/receive text messages, write/check your emails or play a game on your iPhone while listening to your favourite live shows. As we reported just the other day, background streaming with the new iOS4 is also available for the iPhone 3GS so 3GS owners can take full advantage of this once upgrading to the latest operating system through iTunes.

Listening to your music and Absolute Radio podcasts has been made easier as the iPod controls are more accessible than before.

We’ve made a quick video demonstrating some of the great new features of the iPhone 4. Tell us what you think and comment below….

Categories: Technology 1

Posted by paul on July 1, 2010

Playlist: 30th June

30Jun

The playlist is out now.

30 Seconds To Mars’ new track ‘Closer To The Edge’ moves up to daytime

Categories: Music playlist 0

Posted by carrie on June 30, 2010

Absolute Radio To Create Landmark Documentary, Live Aid 25 – by Tony Moorey

29Jun

To mark the 25th anniversary of Live Aid, Absolute Radio has commissioned a landmark two part documentary telling the story of the 1985 event , staged to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia.

The documentary will look at how the gig came about, what happened on the day, both on-stage and back-stage, and its lasting legacy.

The documentary is being produced by multi-award winning (including a Gold Sony award earlier this year), independent production company Ten Alps Radio which was set up by Sir Bob Geldof himself. It will feature exclusive interviews from members of the original Live Aid line up including Bob Geldof, Bono, Sting, Mark Knopfler, Elton John, Brian May, Roger Taylor, Paul McCartney, Midge Ure, Phil Collins, Chrissie Hynde, Bryan Adams, Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Gary Kemp, Tony Hadley, Paul Young, Elvis Costello, Harvey Goldsmith, Quincy Jones, Fran Healy, Billy Connolly amongst others who will all recount their memories of the history-making event.

Part one airs on the eve of the anniversary, at 10pm on Monday 12th July. Part two airs on the day itself, 10pm Tuesday 13th July

As well as the two-part documentary, on-demand audio and video will be available at www.absoluteradio.co.uk

This is yet another independent production commission by Absolute Radio, unusual for a commercial radio station, as they support the independent production industry. The station already works with Avalon, TBI Media and Somethin’ Else.  

The documentary will be supported by retrospective programming across Absolute Radio’s stable of digital radio stations, including Absolute 80s and Absolute Classic Rock.

By Tony Moorey

Categories: Absolute Radio Music 1

Posted by rhiannon on June 29, 2010

Isle of Wight Festival Stats by Adrian Fitch

29Jun

This year’s Isle of Wight festival was a significant online success for us and built on the good work done by the team last year. The chart above clearly shows the spike we received on the Monday after the festival when listeners wanted to either relive or catch up with what they missed over the weekend. Overall page views were up 17% with festival related content generating 236,000 impressions. Photos generated the bulk of those views followed by the interviews and performances on the media player.

Categories: Music 0

Posted by adam on June 29, 2010