Playlist: 16th May

The playlist is out now.

The Maccabees – Went Away
The 3rd single (28th May) from the band’s excellent Top 5 album ‘Given To The Wild’. The Maccabees play a huge show at London’s Alexandra Palace on the 8th of June.

Ben Howard and Paul Weller move up to B-list, Coldplay move up to A.

Absolute Radio and Abbey Road Studios Join Forces For Live Music Events

New York City indie rockers – FUN, played the performance of a lifetime last night with an exclusive live performance in the very first ‘Abbey Road Acoustic Sessions with Absolute Radio’ a new series of live music events that sees Absolute Radio team up with the most famous recording studios in the world.

The band, currently blazing the charts with recent number one smash hit ‘We are Young’ delivered a stunning stripped down acoustic session to an intimate audience in Abbey Road’s Studio Three, best known as the location of many of Pink Floyd’s legendary recordings and more recently, Florence and the Machine, Paul McCartney and the final recordings by Amy Winehouse.

Abbey Road Studios are the home of recordings by many ‘Made in Britain’ artists that sit at the very core of Absolute Radio’s playlist including Radiohead, Oasis, Kate Bush, Depeche Mode, Travis, Florence and the Machine, Sting and Paul McCartney. The studios also have an established reputation in the world of film with Raiders of the Lost Ark, Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lord of Rings and The King’s Speech amongst the award-winning scores recorded there.

‘Abbey Road Acoustic Sessions with Absolute Radio’ featuring FUN will be available to watch at absoluteradio.co.uk from this weekend and will be broadcast in full on Sunday Night Music Club on Sunday 27th May from 10pm

Future ‘Abbey Road Acoustic Sessions with Absolute Radio’ over the next twelve months will feature both signed and unsigned bands performing in front of intimate audiences in the studios and a specially refurbished space in the studios bar.

The Abbey Road Studios and Absolute Radio partnership will run from May 2012 to May 2013.

Read what Music Week are saying about us here

Absolute Radio Scoop 7 Sony Radio Academy Awards

Seven was our lucky number last night at the Sony Radio Academy Awards, matching last year’s record haul.

The Geoff Lloyd Hometime Show struck Gold – a well deserved win for Geoff, Annabel and the team in the Best Single Promo Commercial category (basically those little adverts that tell you about the shows coming up). The winning one was a bit different to what most radio shows would do, focusing on some of the complaints that we’ve had about Geoff and using that to get more people to listen. It worked because Geoff’s audience went up. Listen to the winning promo here

Christian O’Connell bagged not one, not two, but three Sony Awards taking two Silver and one Bronze. The OC, Richie, Maggie and Bails earned second place in the coveted Breakfast Show of the Year category narrowly missing out on Gold to KISS Breakfast with Rickie, Melvin and Charlie. He also won Silver in the Best Competition Category with Christian O’Connell’s Early Morning Game’ and took Bronze for Music Radio Personality of The Year.

Rock N Roll Football scored Silver in the prestigious Best Sports Programme for ‘Survival Sunday’ last season. Wrighty, Russ, Jim and the USP Content/Absolute Radio team were the only national Barclays Premier League programme to be nominated for a show which wasn’t even half as dramatic as the last show of this season.

Ronnie Wood won a Silver Sony for the Best Specialist Music Programme – that was the second of four nominations for Ronnie in different awards in 2012 and so fingers crossed for the Arqivas.

The Frank Skinner Show picked up a Bronze for Best Entertainment Programme. Frank, Emily, Alun handed over their 2011 Gold crown to worthy winners Beryl and Betty for BBC Radio Humberside, the oldest ever Sony Radio Academy Award winners with a combined age that’s heading towards all of The Rolling Stones put together. Beryl and Betty told us they were very excited about meeting Frank Skinner and hoped he’d sign their autograph book.

All in all a fantastic achievement for the whole team at One Golden Square – the awards bandwagon now rolls onto the Arqiva Commercial Radio awards in July where we’ve got 11 nominations, the most for any radio station.

Frank Skinner to entertain fans for an extra hour on Absolute Radio

 

Absolute Radio has reaffirmed its commitment to comedy by completing a deal with Avalon to re-sign Frank Skinner in a year-long deal that will also see him extend his much-loved Saturday morning radio show; from Saturday the 2nd of June Absolute Radio will be changing its weekend schedule to allow for an extra hour of Frank.

The Frank Skinner Show started on Absolute Radio in March 2009 and has gone from strength-to-strength picking up plaudits and awards at every turn, culminating in a prestigious Gold in the Best Entertainment Programme category at the Sony Radio Academy Awards last year.

The show has quickly established itself within the Saturday morning routine of many of its listeners who love Frank’s unique take on life. The new three hour show will continue to feature contributions from the delicious Emily Dean and Alun ‘The Cockerel’ Cochrane who was recently nominated in the Newcomer of the Year category at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards.

Listeners will be able to enjoy an extra hour of Frank Skinner’s Sony Gold award winning radio show between 8am and 11am on Absolute Radio. Frank’s show will be time-shifted and broadcast slightly later across the Absolute Radio Network, every Saturday morning – on Absolute Radio 60s, Absolute Radio 70sAbsolute 80sAbsolute Radio 90sAbsolute Radio 00s and Absolute Classic Rock between 9am and 12pm

Frank Skinner is once again nominated in the Best Entertainment Programme category at the Sony Radio Academy Awards which are being held tonight at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

Read what other people are saying about this here.

Radioplayer nominated for New Media Age Award by Anthony Abbott – Head of Interactive Media


As a founding partner of Radioplayer, we’re proud to say that the not-for-profit company has been nominated in the ‘Best Media’ category at this year’s New Media Age Awards, alongside huge household names such as Google, Microsoft and BSkyB .

Now in its 16th year, the prestigious New Media Age awards celebrate excellence in digital and interactive work, and focus on projects which deliver tangible benefits to business.

The recognition comes just a little over a year since Radioplayer launched across hundreds of UK commercial, BBC, student and community radio station websites. Since launch, A Facebook app launched, alongside apps for Google’s Chrome browser, and Adobe Air. Seven million unique users now use Radioplayer to access more than 300 OFCOM-licensed radio stations in the UK, with forthcoming mobile and TV apps set to increase usage further in year two.

The New Media Age nomination came out the same day that Absolute Radio was nominated for a record 11 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards, so a good day all-round!

The New Media Age Awards winners will be announced at a ceremony in London on June 28th. Well done and good luck to all involved.

To read what others are saying about this click here.