Latest news about Magic FM

Bauer launches Magic 100% Christmas in August

Bauer Media has today launched pop-up station Magic 100% Christmas – four months before the big day. The station will be online only this year, with Bauer saying the service is needed to lift the spirits of the UK. Tony Moorey, Group Content Director, Magic Radio, told RadioToday: “At Magic Radio we are constantly evolving our offerings and launching innovative new shows and stations to ensure that we reflect our audience’s needs. “With listeners seeking cheer and fun during these challenging times and a strong understanding of how music and Christmas are interlinked, we knew that the next expansion of the Magic brand had to be around the joy of Christmas.” ...

RAJAR Q1 2020: London and national brands roundup

BBC Radio 2 has lost almost a million listeners in the last year, according to the Q1/2020 audience research from RAJAR. The reach of the UK’s biggest radio station fell from 15.356m at the start of 2019 to 14.362m over the first three months of this year. The two biggest commercial radio networks – Heart and Capital – both lost significant reach over the 12 months too. The Heart network lost 787,000 listeners to leave a reach of 7.737m, while Capital dropped 815,000 to 6.386m. When you add in the other Heart and Capital branded stations – 70s, 80s, 90s, Dance, Xtra and Xtra Reloaded – the Heart brand reaches 9.365m and the Capital brand 7.502m...

Ronan & Harriet join Tuning In Livestream line-up

The line-up for the Tuning In Livestream event has been announced by Radiocentre. Magic Radio’s Breakfast hosts Ronan Keating & Harriet Scott will join in to discuss broadcasting their show from home, and how it feels to present a radio show during a crisis. Radiocentre CEO Siobhan Kenny will open the conference with a presentation about the work of commercial radio and Radiocentre during the Coronavirus pandemic, both on-air and behind the scenes. Songwriter and artist Amy Wadge will discuss the importance of radio’s role in making a hit song with KISS presenter Swarzy. Geoff de Burca, Chief Strategy Officer at Mediacom, will look at what next for the economy, brands and media and suggest where radio fits in...

Radio presenter special version of PopMaster planned

BBC Radio 2 has announced a special radio presenter version of PopMaster, which will air on the station on Bank Holiday Monday at the end of this month. Instead of just being in its usual 10.30am slot, the feature will run through the day on 25th May, with separate rounds taking place from 7.35am to 5.30pm. Presenters taking part in the quiz will include Zoe Ball, Greg James, Dotun Adebayo and Magic’s Ronan Keating – as well as other as-yet-announced BBC and commercial radio hosts. Ken Bruce will be quizmaster for hourly heats through the day, starting on the breakfast show with Dermot O’Leary, running through...

Kat Shoob joins Magic for weekend evenings

Former Big Top 40 presenter Kat Shoob is joining Magic to host the Mellow Magic strand on weekend evenings. She’ll begin on the Bauer-owned station from this Sunday (1st March) in the 8pm to Midnight slot on both Saturdays and Sundays. The show will also be simulcast on digital station Mellow Magic. Kat co-hosted the commercial radio chart show for almost a decade until the end of 2018, when she also departed the weeknight slot on Heart. Prior to that she’d presented other network shows on Heart and also did evenings on Capital with Rich Clarke...

Bauer plans big night of radio coverage at BRITs

Bauer’s Hits Radio and KISS are broadcasting live from The BRIT Awards tonight as the event marks its 40th anniversary. Gemma Atkinson and Wes Butters’ drivetime show across the Hits Radio Network stations comes from backstage at the event, with breakfast presenter Fleur East chatting to nominees on the red carpet as they arrive. The networked evening show in England with Jordan Lee will then keep listeners up to date with the awards as they happen, while Callum Gallacher presents a BRITs special on the group’s stations in Scotland...

RAJAR Q4 2019: London and national brands round-up

Coverage of the general election helped 5 Live, Radio 4 and LBC each add half a million listeners across 2019. 5 Live is up from 4.9m to 5.4m in the Q4/2019 RAJAR listening figures, while Radio 4 has added a similar amount, rising from 10.4m a year ago to 10.9m now. LBC, including new digital station LBC News, posts a record high of 2.7m listeners (up more than half a million year on year), while talkRADIO is up more than 40% from 12 months ago to now have 433,000 listeners a week – another record high for the Wireless station...

Bauer’s Cash for Kids raised £20.9 million in 2019

Cash for Kids, Bauer Media’s dedicated charity network, has announced that £20.9 million was raised in 2019 to help disadvantaged children. Over 1 million sick and underprivileged children benefited from Cash For Kids’ campaigning, thanks to generous donations from the British public. Cash For Kids runs a number of initiatives throughout the year which is driven by Bauer brands including the Hits Radio Network, Absolute Radio, Magic Radio, Take a Break, That’s Life, Grazia, Closer and Total TV Guide...

Shortlist out for Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020

The shortlist for this year’s Radio Academy’s ARIAs have been announced at an event at News UK headquarters in London. Presenters getting nominated include Chris Evans, Greg James, Stephen Nolan, Zoe Ball and Frank Skinner. Bauer leads the Commercial Radio nominees with just over two dozen, whilst we count that News UK has around 15. Global isn’t mentioned due to not submitting any entries once again this year. The rest of the shortlist includes newspapers, independent podcasts, independent producers and presenters, along with a few local radio stations including...

Magic to switch to all-Christmas music again this year

Bauer has announced its main Magic station will be flipping to 100% Christmas music from Monday 25th November. Magic 100% Christmas was announced at The London Palladium this afternoon (Sunday), at a special event hosted by the station. Robbie Williams will officially launch the festive move, ‘pressing the button’ in the studio at 9am Monday with regular Breakfast presenter Harriet Scott and guest host Rick Astley. Magic of Christmas saw performances by Robbie, Will Young, Simply Red, Jack Savoretti and Beverley Knight, and Harriet Scott was joined on hosting duties by Martin and Shirlie Kemp, who also performed a festive song for the sold-out audience...