Latest news about Hits Radio

Dawn French to be the voice of Greatest Hits Radio

Dawn French will be the station voice of Bauer’s Greatest Hits Radio brand when it officially launches in January. The station, playing music from the 70s, 80s and 90s, will be on numerous DAB multiplexes around the UK, 105.2 FM in the West Midlands and 105.9 FM in Liverpool, AM in the North and online.

Ofcom resolves complaint over Hits Radio competition

Bauer has added an extra set of Terms and Conditions to a competition as a result of a complaint from a listener about the Sarah-Jane Crawford show. Ofcom received correspondence alleging that a round of “Sarah-Jane’s Split Second Song” competition was conducted unfairly on 17 July 2018 at 19:00hrs. Sarah-Jane asked for listeners to text into the normal none-premium studio number to guess what the song was, and...

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.

RAJAR Q3 2018: Regional and local radio round-up

Manchester is once again our focus on the local radio round-up, where the station previously known as Key 103 has lost more listeners. Hits Radio (Manchester) is reporting 325,000 weekly reach, compared with 374,000 last quarter. This is half the amount of listeners it had four years ago. Newly rebranded Key Radio (previously Key 2) has 53,000 listeners compared with 81,000 three months ago. Hits Radio’s Market Share has dropped from 5.2% to 3.9% and hours are down by 561,000 in three months.

Three cities to get the new Hits Live concert

Events previously known as Radio City Live and Free Radio Live will be known as Hits Live, promoted by Key 103 replacement Hits Radio. Hits Live will take place in Liverpool with Radio City, Birmingham with Free Radio and in Manchester with Hits Radio. Acts lined up includes Little Mix, George Ezra, Olly Murs, Ellie Goulding and Cheryl.

Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2018 – winners

Podcasters, local radio and the independent sector challenged the big networked radio groups at this year’s Audio & Radio Industry Awards, picking up some of the evening’s biggest awards. The ceremony at the first direct Arena in Leeds saw podcasters picking up three of the big awards on the night, with Best New Show going to You, Me & the Big C; Best Specialist Music Show was won by Edith Bowman with her podcast, Soundtracking and Best Sports Show was...

UK stations line-up for International Radio Festival

BBC Radio 1, BBC 1Xtra, Jazz FM, MiSoul, Fun Kids, United DJs, Hits Radio and Flex FM are just some of the radio stations taking part in the International Radio Festival in Malta this year. They’ll be broadcasting live from the Piazza D’Armi in Valletta, reaching over 100 million potential listeners around the globe. Now in its 9th year, this international broadcasting event represents the first and only global conference...

Final agenda confirmed for Drive to Digital event

Digital Radio UK has confirmed the final conference agenda for Drive to Digital 2018: The Future of Radio. Drive to Digital 2018 will be chaired by Gethin Jones, co-presenter of the new Hits Radio Breakfast Show, and has a line up of senior speakers from broadcasters, supply chain, the automotive sector, the audio market and podcasters, who will be sharing their views on the future of radio.

More speakers for the International Radio Festival

More speakers have been announced for the International Radio Festival taking place in Malta next month. BBC R&D’s Executive Producer Nicky Birch will cover exciting developments in voice-first audio formats, while international radio consultant and former Real Radio director John Simons will lead a panel on the rise of niche radio services from rock to jazz.

RAJAR Q2 2018: London and national brands update

Kiss has taken over from Capital as the biggest commercial radio station in London in the latest Q2/2018 RAJAR listening figures. Capital’s audience in the capital is down 10.8% year on year to 2.063m, while Kiss has had a great quarter, hitting 2.087m weekly listeners – 24,000 more than its rival. In third place is Magic (1.667m), which leapfrogs rival Heart this quarter (1.404m). LBC is in fifth on reach with 1.280m listeners in the capital (down 9.3% year on year).