Ben Jones to Leave Absolute Radio to Pursue TV Projects

09May

Much-loved and well-respected broadcaster Ben Jones will be leaving Absolute Radio at the end of July to pursue new projects.  He will begin by hosting TV coverage of a major music event this summer, the details of which will be released soon.

In his time at One Golden Square, Ben has interviewed the great and good from the world of music and film including musicians such as The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Coldplay, Slash, Ozzy Osbourne, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Foo Fighters across a variety of shows including ‘Superstars’ and ‘Most Wanted’. A Sony award winner, Ben has achieved a huge amount of respect as a talented presenter and interviewer by the artists and record industry alike and is nominated for a Sony Award again in 2011, this time in the Competition category.

Absolute Radio plans to celebrate his substantial contribution to their archive with highlights broadcast across July on Absolute Radio and special programming on its newest digital radio station, Absolute Radio 00s which celebrates the best of the last decade.

The station has yet to reveal plans for the 8-11pm weekday evening slot he currently holds.

Speaking of the departure, Chief Operating Officer Clive Dickens said, “Ben Jones is an exceptional, experienced broadcaster. He has made an enormous contribution to the station and is going on to great things. We wish him all the best for the future”.

Ben Jones added: “I will always look back with nothing but great memories of my time at Golden Square, I have done some wonderful things, met some incredible people and worked with the best the industry has to offer.”

Categories: Absolute Radio People 7

Posted by jonny on May 9, 2011

Jim Proudfoot Up For Best EPL Commentator Award

06May

The wonderful voice of our football commentaries on Rock ’N’ Roll Football Jim Proudfoot has been shortlisted for an award. He’s up for the 2010-2011 Best English Premier League TV Commentators at www.epltalk.com 

Well done Jim! Vote for the Proudfoot below.

http://www.epltalk.com/2011-best-epl-tv-commentator

Categories: Absolute Radio absolute radio extra football 0

Posted by jonny on May 6, 2011

Absolute Radio Presents Elbow in St Paul’s Cathedral Crypt – The Launch of Absolute Radio Live

06May

Absolute Radio, famed for hosting live music in unusual venues, is to create yet another iconic moment in music history – by staging an intimate gig in the crypt of London’s historic St Paul’s Cathedral.

Elbow - a band that now fill arenas with their Mercury Music Prize winning sound, is to perform an exclusive stripped down performance at the launch of our extensive summer of live music programming – ‘Absolute Radio Live’.

Here’s Tony Moorey, our content director talking about the launch of Absolute Radio Live.

The gig will take place on on May 26th and be broadcast on Absolute Radio on the 5th June from 7-8pm, it will be repeated on the brand’s sister station Absolute Radio 00s, playing the best of the decade.

Absolute Radio will again be recording and streaming Elbow in FLAC technology (Fully Lossless Audio Codec) known as Full HD (High Definition) for a superior audio experience for fans.  Absolute Radio was the first broadcaster to offer Full HD in 2010 with the broadcast of our exclusive session with Elton John, live from London’s Union Chapel.

The gig will also be filmed in HQ Video quality and will be available to view on-demand alongside the full HD audio at absoluteradio.co.uk.

Absolute Radio Live will see the station bolster its live music programming for summer 2011 including live outside broadcasts, exclusive artist interviews and live, uninterrupted stage sets from a line-up of large outdoor music gigs. The station will also build on its digital radio red button style service Absolute Radio extra with fans able to tune into uninterrupted performances on DAB digital radio. All of our activity will be underpinned by exclusive additional coverage online and mobile.

The year will see the station stage an outside broadcast from 80s Rewind Festival for the first time, for the station’s hugely successful decade brand, Absolute 80s. We are also adding Oxfordshire’s Cornbury Festival to our line-up, and will support Pulp for the Wireless Festival and two mammoth Kings of Leon dates, all from London’s Hyde Park.

Absolute Radio will also broadcast Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons and the Vaccines in full, live and uninterrupted sets from Hyde Park as it happens on Absolute Radio extra and will send reporting teams to Glastonbury and the V Festival. We are also partnering with the hugely successful Latitude for the second year running, alongside long-term station live events; The Isle of Wight Festival and Hard Rock Calling with live music from The Killers on Absolute Radio extra and Absolute Radio both during and with highlights post event.

Absolute Radio presents Elbow at St Paul’s Cathedral is the latest in a line of unique gigs in unusual places that the station has staged. The brand hosted the first ever rock gig in The Houses of Parliament with Biffy Clyro, London’s infamous Regent Street closed for the station’s first birthday with Madness performing, Newton Faulkner in a Hot Air Balloon high above the Alps and Texas in Tower Bridge – all truly unmissable, money-can’t-buy experiences for real music fans.

Absolute Radio Live is being sponsored by Swiftcover.com for the second year running. The sponsorship includes the brand new six week Breakfast Show proposition which will see the station stage a festival in a listeners garden ‘BrekFest’.

Categories: Absolute 80s Absolute Radio Absolute Radio 00s absolute radio extra Absolute Radio Live Music 0

Posted by jonny on May 6, 2011

Absolute Radio Achieves 7 Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards Nominations By Paul Sylvester

05May

Ronnie Wood has done it again. He’s been nominated for 2 Arqiva Commercial Radio awards. At the nominations last night The Rolling Stone was shortlisted for best newcomer in commercial radio. His show produced by Somethin’ Else which is on Absolute Radio and Absolute Classic Rock is also nominated for Best Specialist Programme. Well done to Ronnie and Producer Claire. In total, Absolute Radio has 7 nominations – a record for us and the most for any individual station.

There were also 2 nominations for the Christian O’Connell Breakfast show. Christian and the team are up against Capital’s Johnny & Lisa and Key 103’s Mike & Chelsea. The gang are also up for Best Branded Content for the SKY 3D campaign which saw the show come live from Tanya Barrow’s home in Fleet. Well done to Georgina Walker and the Promotions team for their work on that campaign and a big well done to James Curran for organising for KT Tunstall to perform live.

One of the biggest cheers of the night came when it was announced that Baddiel & Skinner were nominated for best feature for their World Cup podcasts, produced by Avalon for Absolute Radio. It continues Frank’s great run of award nominations this year which has seen him triple nominated at the Sony awards. He’s also part of the best marketing campaign nomination for Faces for Radio alongside Dave Gorman and the OC. Well done to Clare Baker who decided to have a cocktail to celebrate her nomination as she suns herself on holiday.

News of the nominations also reached LA where Andrew Bailey is lounging by a pool. The Absolute Radio newsteam of Bails, Tumshie, Tania and Adrian is up for the newly renamed Ali Booker News Journalist award. Ali sadly died last year following a battle with cancer which was chronicled on-air by her colleagues and our friends at Jack FM. Well done to the guys at Jack who achieved 5 nominations.

There are still a handful of awards where the nominees and winners will be revealed on the night of the event – 6 July. Christian will be hosting the event once again. As the awards bandwagon rolls on, it’s time to get the mothballs off the old dinner suit for the Sony awards on Monday night where we have 15 nominations. Once again, well done to the whole team for the work you do year-round. This is a brilliant testament to the talent and efforts of everyone who works inside or with the team at One Golden Square.

 Paul

Categories: Absolute Radio 1

Posted by jonny on May 5, 2011

Absolute Radio Hires New Head of Digital Sales from Channel 4

04May

Absolute Radio has hired James Wigley as new Head of Digital Sales from Channel 4 to recruit & lead an expanded  digital team with an objective to double revenue growth by the end of the year and prove even better engagement, improved accountability and effectiveness for commercial partners on the Absolute Radio Online & Mobile Network.

James brings a wealth of award-winning experience, having previously held positions at a variety of broadcast, print media brands and agencies including Channel 4,  News International and MediaCom – all of which saw him deliver some of the UK’s largest digital and cross-media campaigns.

 We are pioneering radio moving into a digital age with its in-stream advertising strategy set to offer commercial partners targeted advertising opportunities by monetising its outstanding digital platform engagement with listeners and active & connected users.

In March, the Absolute Radio Network had a record 12.2m live streamed hours, up 25% on the month and a massive 54% on the year.  Absolute Radio itself also received its highest ever live streamed hours figure at 5.7 million hours in the month.

In March 3.6m podcasts were downloaded –up 63% from March 2010. Frank Skinner, Dave Gorman and Christian O’Connell – the three Faces for Radio, saw their biggest individual growth in on demand programming via audio on demand.

This new position will see James  undertake all digital conversations for Absolute Radio amongst advertisers and media agencies and drive our digital revenue growth.

Talking about his new job, James said, “Absolute Radio is a one of the few traditional media owners that have been quick to understand and respond to the latest digital consumer trends; their recent focus on mobile applications and audio in-streaming are a testament to that. The challenge now is to understand how these pioneering developments can further benefit our commercial partners, as well as to continue to recognise and embrace new platforms and innovative ways of delivering content to our audience. It’s an exciting time for radio and an exciting time to join.”

Absolute Radio Advertising Director Paul Carolan said, “We were looking for a brilliantly inspirational individual to lead our digital commercial future, and James knocked our socks off.  The team he will lead is doubling in size,  and we will be coming to market with increased accountability and highly targeted, personalised advertising opportunities for commercial partners”.

James joins Absolute Radio on the 24th of May.

Read about it on Media Week.

Categories: Careers Media Technology Uncategorized 0

Posted by cat on May 4, 2011