If someone told me they’d spent the first night of this year’s island spectacle on the side of headliner Jay-Z’s stage dancing alongside his wife Beyonce, actress Gwyneth Paltrow, Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, and rapper Kanye West, I’d ask them to share the acid. Failing that I’d ask them if they suffered a traumatic childhood.
So I’m glad that my Absolute colleague Ben Jones was there to witness and enjoy the very same experience. And to soften the potential blows we feared receiving from the giant bouncer who menacingly watched over proceedings.
That we dared to stay on stage long after our welcome is not surprising. Anyone in our position would have tried the same. That we never got thrown off that stage in shame is what still surprises me now. But there was nothing more surprising to me than seeing Ben (who in the seven years I’ve known him, I’ve never seen drink alcohol) holding a bottle of beer in one hand, while high-fiving Kanye West with the other. Priceless. Mrs Paltrow-Martin laughed. Mrs Z just shook her finger as if to say “you naughty boys”. We just laughed in disbelief for pretty much the whole hour and fifteen minute set. From what I remember Jay-Z’s set was pretty good.
Theoretically that should have been the end of the weekend for me. How do you beat that? Ordinarily, seeing Kate Moss walk past in a pub, while carrying two pint glasses during England’s disappointing World Cup performance against the US might have been a highlight. Even being asked to accompany Geoff Lloyd to interview Sunday headliner Sir Paul McCartney in his Premier Inn room couldn’t quite compare. It does come a close second, though. And if you’re thinking “did Sir Paul really have to stay in a room at the Premier Inn?” I would suggest you imagine the difference between Charlie’s original house and his eventual Chocolate Factory to give yourself some sort of picture of what this particular Premier Inn was turned into on behalf of the former Beatle. It was rather spectacular.
I’m looking forward to the Wireless Festival in a few weeks time where I plan to share rapping duties on stage with Mr Z.
– Nelson Kumah, Hometime Show producer
PS. Ben Jones woke the next morning with a terrible migraine!
Last night Absolute Radio added two more awards to it’s already bulging cabinet at the Arqiva Commercial Radio awards.
On the back of our 6 Sony awards, Geoff Lloyd was declared the best presenter on commercial radio and Clive Dickens was awarded the honour of Radio Programmer of the year at the ceremony which was hosted by our very own Christian O’Connell.
Geoff flew back from his holidays to pick up his prize and present an award as well. Resplendent in pink he won his category in which the fabulous Dave Gorman was also nominated. As well as hosting the event the OC was also nominated for Breakfast show of the year although that title was taken by the awards juggernaut that is LBC’s Nick Ferrari. Clive was praised for making Absolute Radio the most ambitious radio station in the UK.
Our congratulations go to our friends at Jack FM who also won 2 awards including Special Programme of the Year for Ali Booker’s cancer diaries.
- Paul Sylvester
On the back of the huge success we’ve had with audio and video on-demand content, Absolute Radio has launched an all-new podcast directory at www.absoluteradio.co.uk/podcasts.
The directory now features free downloads from the station’s presenters including Breakfast Show DJ Christian O’Connell, Hometime DJ Geoff Lloyd, Frank Skinner, Dave Gorman and Iain Lee, as well as one-off podcasts from the likes of comedian Matt Berry and music specials from big names like Coldplay and Kings of Leon. You’ll also find Baddiel & Skinner’s Absolute Radio podcasts which are currently at number 1 in the iTunes chart.
Our podcasts have come a long way since we first launched a podcast directory back in 2007 – we had something like 5 podcast channels at the time, and we now have 130 podcast channels and over 10,000 podcast episodes being downloaded 1.8 million times per month!
The podcast directory aims to make all this free content much easier to find, opening up access to our extensive archive and removing the unnecessary jargon that surrounds podcasting. Here are a few of the new features that we are rather pleased with:
- Full access to Absolute Radio’s entire episode archive, complete with individual episode synopsis and one-click share to Facebook and Twitter functionality
- One-click “Add to iTunes” integration (Users of Android’s Google Listen, Microsoft Zune, ZENcast and Stitcher can also add directly into their preferred podcast manager)
- An iTunes category filter, so users can easily find the music, comedy or entertainment podcast they are looking for
- An easy-view podcast episode calendar
- A handy new how-to guide for users who are new to podcasting.
The new podcast directory is fully optimised for natural search, and provides the station’s commercial partners with a premium showcase product for podcast sponsorships.
- Anthony Abbott
The playlist is out now.
Brandon Flowers – Crossfire (21st Sept)
The Killers’ frontman releases his debut solo album ‘Flamingo’ on September the 21st. Brandon recorded a set of songs on the road during the last Killers world tour, and will be performing them live in the Autumn while his band takes a wee break. First track ‘Crossfire’ is an epic song, sounding not unlike The Killers, with echoes of both U2 and Bruce Springsteen as well.
RPA & The United Nations of Sound – Born Again (19th July)
Richard Ashcroft’s new project release a self-titled album ‘United Nations of Sound’ on July the 19th. Ashcroft and his live band will tour in the Autumn and feature tracks from across his back catalogue – including songs from The Verve. ‘Born Again’, like previous RPA track ‘Are You Ready?’, features great guitar-work and has a live stadium feel.
Gorillaz – On Melancholy Hill (26th July)
Damon Albarn’s animated band headline Glastonbury on Saturday the 26th of June. This great track is taken from latest album ‘Plastic Beach’ which includes cameos from the likes of Lou Reed, Bobby Womack and Mark E Smith (The Fall), plus Mick Jones and Paul Simonon of The Clash.
The Gaslight Anthem – Boxers (14th June)
The New Jersey band’s 3rd album ‘American Slang’ is released this week and they play Hard Rock Calling in Hyde Park on the 25th of June – Pearl Jam day.
Amy MacDonald – This Pretty Face (19th July)
Single 3 from the Scottish singer-songwriter’s 2nd album ‘A Curious Thing’
I Am Kloot move up to daytime plays with their new track ‘Northern Skies’
We’ve just begun test transmissions on DAB in London for our next radio station. Absolute Radio 90s will launch on Monday 21st June at 10am, but before then we’re playing announcements from the station’s presenters amid a stream of songs as we build the 90s library up, decide how often the songs are played, when we should play them and generally hone the mix ready for launch.
There’s still a lot of work to be done and what you are hearing now is very much a work in progress, but something of a debate has already been struck up in the building. So in the spirit of openness in which our company blog was set up I think it would be a wonderful opportunity to bring that here.
- Tony Moorey
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