Latest news about Classic FM

Global Awards hosts return for second year

Heart’s Rochelle Humes, Capital Breakfast’s Roman Kemp and Classic FM and Smooth presenter Myleene Klass will host The Global Awards once again this year. The ceremony takes place at London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith on Thursday March 7th featuring performances from Mark Ronson, Little Mix, Lang Lang, Blossoms, Mabel, Anne-Marie and more.

Performers revealed for Global Awards 2019

DJ and producer Mark Ronson, RnB singer Mabel, Little Mix, pianist Lang Lang, Blossoms and Anne-Marie are all confirmed to perform at the Global Awards on March 7th at London’s Eventim Apollo Hammersmith. The event brings together Global’s radio stations including Capital, Heart, Classic FM, Smooth, Radio X, Capital XTRA, Gold and LBC to celebrate music, news and entertainment.

Scala Radio to launch on full DAB in stereo

Launching a radio station in stereo should not be a news headline in 2019, but the industry has long decided it would rather provide more services in mono than fewer services in stereo. A radio station playing classical music needs to be in stereo to fully appreciate the content, and if Scala Radio has any chance of competing with Classic FM, it needs to at least match its bit rate of 128 kbit/s stereo.

Bauer to launch classical station Scala Radio

Simon Mayo is returning to daily radio with Bauer from 4th March as host of mid mornings on a new classical music station called Scala Radio. The station will be the first national classical station in nearly 30 years and is set to challenge Classic FM. RadioToday understands it will broadcast on the SDL national DAB multiplex, replacing heat Radio.

Classic FM signs newsreader and presenter Moira Stuart

BBC Radio 2 morning newsreader Moira Stuart is joining Classic FM from February. Moira will be joining Tim Lihoreau on breakfast and then Classic FM’s morning programme with John Suchet to read the news each weekday. Then from July, Moira will join the weekend line-up to present her own Saturday afternoon show, Moira Stuart’s Hall of Fame Concert, replacing Nicholas Owen who will remain on Classic FM to present other programmes throughout the year.

Keeley Hawes made Classic FM’s female station voice

Classic FM has hired actress Keeley Hawes to be the new female voice of the station alongside the actor Robert Lindsay, who is the male voice of the station. Keeley is well known for her part in the BBC’s recent Bodyguard drama, along with top roles in series such as Spooks, Ashes to Ashes, and the ITV comedy-drama The Durrells. Sam Jackson, managing editor of Classic FM, said: “Keeley is one of our most talented and popular actors, and we’re so excited to welcome her to Classic FM...

RAJAR Q3 2018: Record share of 52.4% for digital radio

Digital listening share has remained above the important halfway mark and increased from 48.8% to 52.4% in the last 12 months. Total digital listening hours grew by 5.4% year on year, or 27.5 million hours. DAB listening in cars accounted for 11 million hours (or 40%) of all digital listening growth, while listening in home via online/Apps accounted for 13.5 million hours (or 49%) of all digital listening growth.

RAJAR Q3 2018: London and national brands update

Nick Grimshaw left the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show with half a million more listeners than a year ago – handing them to Greg James who took over the show halfway through the last quarter. The show now attracts 5.75m listeners (Mon – Fri) and is up 465,000 Year on Year. In London, Capital is back on top with almost 2,100,000 listeners according to Reach in the London commercial radio battle, as Kiss slips back under the 2m listener mark (1,958,000). Magic is in third place (1.5m) whilst Heart comes in 4th (1.4m). But BBC Radio 4 continues to lead the London Reach with 2.4m listeners.

Global raises more than £4million for Make Some Noise

Global has spent today raising money for its Make Some Noise charity with a number of special activities taking place across all of its brands. The national charity gives a voice and a lifeline to small projects across the UK that struggle to be heard. Since Global’s Make Some Noise launched in 2014, it has raised over £15million and raised awareness for 224 charities and projects around the country.

Aled Jones to go Walking in the Air for Global

Classic FM presenter Aled Jones is kicking off Global’s Make Some Noise fundraising this year by taking on a wing walk challenge in the skies above Britain. Aled’s career started over 30 years ago with the release of Walking in the Air, but the song will take on a new meaning when he takes off for his flight in September – and the more money raised, the higher, faster and steeper the pilot will fly.