Latest news about Hits Radio

New direction for the sound of BBC Local Radio

All BBC local radio stations are getting a different sound for 2020 with a new jingle and imaging package from ReelWorld Europe. The first station to broadcast the new sound was the first BBC local radio station – BBC Radio Leicester – on Monday 6th January. A new strapline has been created “The Sound of [area] and all the music you love” along with an updated six-note logo. The previous network-wide package, produced by Mcasso, also featured a six-note logo, with listeners left to work out the words to match...

RAJAR Q3 2019: London and national brands round-up

Zoe Ball has lost another 364,000 listeners to her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show in the latest radio listening figures from RAJAR. It means more than a million weekly listeners have switched off since she took over the breakfast show from Chris Evans in January. In the period 24th June to 15th September 2019 (Q3/2019), Radio 2 breakfast had a weekly reach of 7.902m – that’s down from 8.266m in Q2 and 9.047m in Q1.While Zoe is still the presenter of the UK’s biggest breakfast show, the figures are the lowest for the slot in a decade – since...

RAJAR Q3 2019: Regional and local radio facts and figures

The big stories from the regions are that Heart has increased its audience despite rolling out a national breakfast show, and Greatest Hits Radio stations are taking a beating under their new names. Global - For the Heart brand, overall, it has seen an increase in listeners since taking its breakfast show national. It now has 9.8m weekly reach compared with 9.7m last quarter and 9.6m last year. In the regions, seven Hearts went up including Scotland and North East England, nine went down including West Midlands and two stayed the same...

Bauer Radio’s Hits Live returns to three locations

Bauer has announced details of this year’s Hits Radio Live taking place once again in Manchester, Birmingham and Liverpool. Each event features its own individual line-up including Lewis Capaldi, Mark Ronson, Rita Ora and Mabel. Liam Payne will be reunited with former One Direction band-mate Louis Tomlinson as they join the same bill at Hits Live Manchester. The Script will take to the stage at Hits Live Birmingham, with Craig David amongst other artists set to perform in the city. Fans heading to Hits Live Liverpool...

Hits Radio weekend show for Fleur East, Greg Burns and James Barr

Fleur East, Greg Burns and James Barr are to host a new Saturday morning show across the Hits Radio Network in England. The weekday breakfast trio replace Mike Toolan and Kelly Pegg – Mike is moving to Sunday morning whilst Kelly is leaving the station ‘for new opportunities’. ‘Saturday mornings with Fleur East, Greg and James’ will be a chance to highlight some of the content from the Breakfast show across the week, including celebrity interviews with the likes of Katy Perry, Lewis Capaldi and Craig David...

Garry Spence to leave Capital Scotland for Clyde 1

Capital Scotland drivetime presenter Garry Spence is leaving the station after more than a decade to join commercial rival Clyde 1. Garry has been on drive on the Capital Scotland frequencies since the station rebranded from Xfm to Galaxy in November 2008. He’d previously been on Xfm Scotland’s weekend schedule, and had 3 years at Vibe in East Anglia after starting his career at MFR in his hometown of Inverness. Bauer says Garry will take over Clyde 1’s 4-6pm Home Run show from early 2020. He’s currently the only...

Bauer to network drivetime across 11 licences in North and Midlands

Bauer Media has announced plans to network Wes Butters and Gemma Atkinson across most of its big city stations in England, meaning 7 presenters will lose their daily drivetime show. From 2nd September, Wes will be on 4-7pm across Metro Radio, TFM, Rock FM, Radio City, Hallam FM, Radio Aire, Viking FM and the four Free Radio stations in the West Midlands – in addition to his current show on Hits Radio in Manchester and on DAB across the UK. Gemma will join the show after her maternity leave...

RAJAR Q2 2019: London and national brands round-up

Zoe Ball has lost more than three quarters of a million listeners to her BBC Radio 2 breakfast show, according to the latest audience research from RAJAR. The show’s reach is down 781,000 quarter-on-quarter to 8.266m for the three months survey period up to the 23rd June 2019. In Q1/19 she had 9.047m listeners; in Q2/2018 Chris Evans reached 9.038m. Radio 2’s audience at breakfast is now the lowest its been since Q3/2010, when Evans was fairly new in the job.

Fleur, Greg & James lined up for Tuning In North

Fleur East, Greg Burns and James Barr are the first speakers to be announced for Radiocentre’s Tuning In North event this September. The event will be the industry body’s biggest conference outside London and will bring together radio stations, agencies and clients for a full morning looking at the world of audio. Attendees will hear about the latest trends and opportunities in the evolving world of radio, be provided with insight into the latest in creativity and binaural sound and learn how advertisers can capitalise on the audio revolution.

Bauer gains approval to network breakfast shows

Ofcom has granted Bauer a number of Format changes to allow all of its stations to network all but three hours each weekday rather than the previous seven. UK commercial radio stations have been allowed to submit Format changes since the Localness Guidelines were amended last year, but Bauer has only just taken the steps required to allow this. Bauer can now share all programmes, with the exception of a three-hour show on weekdays (which doesn’t have to be breakfast), in the approved areas already suggested by Ofcom.