Looking for the video of the orchestra for the BBC promos. What thread again?
Global, the UK’s largest commercial broadcaster, will be introducing networked breakfast programs for their Capital, Heart and Smooth brands in England, Scotland and Wales.
Local programming will be reduced to a weekday drive shift across newly expanded regions, with the group closing 10 studios across the UK. More than 100 redundancies are expected as a result.
https://radiotoday.co.uk/2019/02/global-to-network-capital-heart-and-smooth-breakfast-shows/
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Recently there was a Youtube clip posted of the making of imaging production for a regional BBC station, orchestra and singers were featured. Where is the link? Am interested in looking again. Thanks.
This?
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Thanks, that was the example of jingle production I was looking for.
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Danny Baker has been sacked after a tweet on the newborn son of Meghan and Harry.
British radio executive John Myers has died, aged 60. He was involved in the launch of the Century Radio, Real Radio, Smooth Radio and Rock Radio brands in the UK.
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What is going on with the US style obit artwork? Very un-UK. Cheapens the solemnity.
Charming.
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Based in Australia, how can you access BBC radio stations?
Feel free to send a private message if you prefer.
The players on their website aren’t geoblocked as far as I know
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I have a UK app store account and downloaded there new BBC Sounds app which works outside the UK.
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There’s a bit of geoblocking (eg; when 5Live carries commentary of certain sports) but they’re fairly assessable
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You can also use Tune-in - I occasionally stream BBC 2 in the car using that.
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Am spending some time in the UK, so expect some sporadic posts from me through most of July.
Spent 4 nights in London but didn’t get a chance to pick up a radio; the BBC’s national stations and a few of the large commercial brands are, however, carried on Freeview. I actually don’t mind this experience, given most televisions are able to avoid screen burn-in when an audio channel is left on for extended periods of time.
Yesterday was the drive from London to Bath, deviating south for a time. Had Absolute Radio on FM for quite a distance along the M4 before switching to the D1 National DAB multiplex. For my first introduction to original flavour DAB, this journey gave it all - 80kbps mono, muddy audio and drop-outs along some of the rural A-roads.
What was good about the hire care Passat’s stereo was switching automatically between FM and DAB when the DAB signal dropped out. I couldn’t tell you if this worked for the BBC stations - it certainly did for Absolute Radio on the edge of the 105.8FM listening area.
RDS and DAB RT is generally consistent across stations. Some of the stations on the new SDL National also carry station logos, which the Passat decodes quite well. Not convinced it’s a necessary use of bandwidth, especially on original flavour DAB.
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Have you had a listen to Virgin on DAB? I don’t think it’s everywhere but certainly in London. Their supplementary station Virgin Anthems is a bit of fun. Classic Rock with a British slant.
Smooth in the UK isn’t as good as here imo. It’s very sleepy. Magic Soul isn’t a bad listen on DAB only.
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Another update to wet your radio whistles (steady!) - this time from the Cotswolds, while I’m staying relatively put for the time being. Have split this into two posts to keep things tidier.
Started off from Bath listening to Kiss, which despite holding a regional licence for the West of England and South Wales has no local identifiers and takes all programming from London (more on that here). Curiously, the RDS PS is ‘Kiss 101’, although this may be to distinguish it from the National feed available on the Digital One DAB multiplex. It’s your general CHR fare, seemingly live on a Sunday morning and supported by strong brand extensions in Kisstory and Kiss Fresh.
So, given Bauer succeeds so well with Kiss, Absolute and Magic, we have to ask why their local brands are in such a state. Hits Radio - much like our very own Hit Network - is a super weak brand, built off the back of an attempt to reboot a stagnating local station and a now defunct breakfast show. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
I’ve been meaning to write a post about what’s happening to CHR radio, but until then I’ll instead try and understand what Bauer are doing. I think they’re trying to distinguish two different approaches to CHR: Kiss is the rhythmic station, a national brand with a young breakfast show; think a more polished version of The Edge. Hits, or whatever Hits is called where you’re listening, is a middle of the road CHR station, built around local markets with familiar names aimed at the 25-39 demographic; think contemporary era Nova.
ARN have shown that you can build two CHR brands in a market that attract different audiences. Many North American markets also have a number of CHR stations next to Urban or Rhythmic formats. Bauer’s plan is not as obtuse as it sounds, but their execution is way off the mark.
Also had a quick listen to JACKfm and JACK2 Hits from Oxford. Not much to remark upon, except to say that Clive Dickens is sorely missed in the radio space. Nice to see they’ve kept the late Paul Darrow as their voiceover artist.
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On the subject of BBC Radio 2 in the Random Radio thread:
Gave this a go earlier but it looks like I’m too far west to pick up Caroline on AM or on DAB. Will definitely give it a shot before I leave, if not around Glasgow where it’s also carried on DAB. Likewise for Radio 2 - aiming to give it a good listen in the next few days.
Had Virgin on for most of the afternoon. It was one of UTV/Wireless Group’s brands which launched with the Sound Digital mux in 2016, and is technically national if you count national to mean 75-80% of the country.
It has definitely shifted into a middle of the road AC format, flanked between Absolute and, to a lesser degree, Global’s Radio X. I remember from streaming the station a few months after its launch that it definitely had more of an AOR lean, possibly in homage to the original Virgin 1215 format.
The Chris Evans Breakfast Show (with Sky, you daren’t forget it!) was promoted in probably every second talk break* during Christian Williams’ shift, although less so during spot breaks. For the uninitiated, Evans’ show - defected from Radio 2 earlier this year - runs advert free, sponsored by Sky. Sky happens to be owned by News UK, and News UK also happen to own Wireless Group. Funny that.
*The Brits on here may insist I refer to breaks as ‘links’. Much like Marmite, you can keep it.
Also as an aside, if I have to listen to another Costa Coffee ad I may well go insane.
Like Kiss, both Virgin and Absolute have had live shifts over the weekend. You could tell because they were constantly complaining about the heat, then reading out text messages from listeners who were also complaining about the heat. Today, it’s more Glastonbury envy. I’ll have a go at the brand extensions later this week and get back to you.
A comparison, if you like, from both stations from 1:30-3:30pm today (Sunday, June 30) courtesy of Lava: first up, Virgin Radio UK:
|Time|Artist|Title|Year|
| — | — | — | — | — | — |
|13:33:16 BST|Catfish And The Bottlemen|2all|2019|
|13:37:18 BST|Red Hot Chili Peppers|Californication|1999|
|13:44:38 BST|Blondie|One Way Or Another|1978|
|13:46:37 BST|Soul Asylum|Runaway Train|1992|
|13:52:18 BST|Bastille|Joy|2019|
|13:56:07 BST|The Police|Message In A Bottle|1979|
|14:03:42 BST|Pink|Just Like A Pill|2001|
|14:07:27 BST|Fleetwood Mac|Everywhere|1987|
|14:11:16 BST|Keane|The Way I Feel|2019|
|14:15:06 BST|James|Laid|1993|
|14:16:57 BST|Avril Lavigne|I’m With You|2002|
|14:24:34 BST|The Lemonheads|Mrs. Robinson|1992|
|14:26:25 BST|Queen|Bohemian Rhapsody|1975|
|14:32:09 BST|Liam Gallagher|Shockwave|2019|
|14:37:50 BST|Coldplay|Adventure Of A Lifetime|2015|
|14:45:27 BST|Nirvana|Smells Like Teen Spirit|1991|
|14:49:22 BST|Imagine Dragons|On Top Of The World|2012|
|14:53:02 BST|Vampire Weekend|This Life|2019|
|15:00:37 BST|Blur|Song 2|1997|
|15:02:33 BST|Peter Gabriel|Sledgehammer|1986|
|15:08:18 BST|Ed Sheeran|I Don’t Care (Acoustic)|2019|
|15:11:59 BST|Muse|Starlight|2006|
|15:15:52 BST|Hozier|Take Me To Church|2013|
|15:25:17 BST|Radiohead|Creep|1992|
|15:29:07 BST|Bryan Adams|Run To You|1984|
Absolute Radio from the same time period:
|Time|Artist|Title|Year|
| — | — | — | — | — | — |
|13:33:16 BST|Ash|Shining Light|2001|
|13:40:50 BST|Ocean Colour Scene|The Day We Caught The Train|1996|
|13:44:38 BST|Blur|Charmless Man|1995|
|13:52:18 BST|The Rolling Stones|Sympathy For The Devil|1968|
|14:01:46 BST|Blink 182|What’s My Age Again?|1999|
|14:03:42 BST|Arctic Monkeys|Arabella|2013|
|14:07:27 BST|Tears For Fears|Head Over Heels|1985|
|14:11:17 BST|The Vaccines|If You Wanna|2011|
|14:18:47 BST|The Stone Roses|Love Spreads|1994|
|14:24:34 BST|George Ezra|Paradise|2018|
|14:32:09 BST|The Coral|Dreaming Of You|2002|
|14:37:50 BST|Lenny Kravitz|Are You Gonna Go My Way|1993|
|14:41:37 BST|Liam Gallagher|Shockwave|2019|
|14:45:27 BST|Iggy Pop|Real Wild Child (Wild One)|1986|
|14:49:22 BST|Snow Patrol|Chasing Cars|2006|
|14:53:02 BST|The Charlatans|North Country Boy|1997|
|15:00:37 BST|Garbage|Stupid Girl|1995|
|15:04:20 BST|Foo Fighters|Times Like These|2002|
|15:08:18 BST|Bon Jovi|Wanted Dead Or Alive|1986|
|15:14:00 BST|Kings Of Leon|Fans|2007|
|15:17:46 BST|Happy Mondays|Kinky Afro|1990|
|15:25:17 BST|James|Laid|1993|
|15:27:15 BST|Muse|Time Is Running Out|2003|
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