Radio News

Bauer to launch Magic at the Musicals on DAB+

Bauer is launching another new radio station from Golden Square, this time playing music from musicals. Magic at the Musicals will be available on DAB+ in and around London from Thursday 21st November with presenters including Ruthie Henshall (Chicago, Cats) and Jonathan Bailey (Broadchurch, Doctor Who, W1A, Company) The schedule will also include Louise Dearman (Wicked) John Owen-Jones (The Phantom of the Opera), alongside Julian Bird (CEO of SOLT and UK Theatre) and special shows from Luke Evans (film: Beauty and the Beast, Clash of the Titans; Stage: Rent, Miss Saigon), Alfie Boe (Les Miserables) and others.

Kenneth Branagh returns to Radio 4 in Stalingrad

Kenneth Branagh, Greta Scacchi, Mark Bonnar, Ann Mitchell, Doon Mackichan, Kenneth Cranham and more star in a dark and honest account of the epic battle of Stalingrad by celebrated war reporter and author, Vasily Grossman. Two part drama based on war reporter Vasily Grossman’s account also stars Greta Scacchi and Mark Bonnar. Anton Lesser reads Grossman’s private journal - translated into English for the first time - in a Book Of The Week special. Translated by Robert and Elizabeth Chandler, Stalingrad is a prequel to Grossman’s novel Life And Fate which was adapted by Radio 4 in 2011 and featuring many of the same acclaimed cast.

Kemp, Garraway, Roberts and Wright rumoured for I’m A Celeb

Radio presenters Roman Kemp, Kate Garraway, Adele Roberts and Ian Wright are being tipped to appear on this year’s series of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, which starts next weekend. The Sun lists the four as part of it’s rumoured line-up for the ITV reality show. Roman was on air on his Capital breakfast show with Vick Hope and Sonny Jay yesterday (Friday) as normal, but next week’s schedule lists Rob Howard and Lauren Layfield as covering breakfast across the UK...

Student Radio Award winners to host BBC Radio 1 shows

A number of winners from the Student Radio Awards 2019 will be hosting their own programmes on BBC Radio 1 next month. The winners of the Best Student Radio Chart Show will be hosting the Official Top 40 between Christmas and the New Year, as announced by Scott Mills whilst giving out the award to URY. Also, some of the winners from Station of the Year Smoke Radio will also get their own shows over Christmas. The special shows are in addition to the 20+ people who will be chosen from a previous initiative to put more local and community radio presenters on the network.

Nominations out for BBC Local Radio’s Gillard Awards 2020

The shortlist is out for the annual BBC Local Radio awards event, the Gillards. The awards will be announced and handed out at a ceremony in Sheffield on February 5th 2020. Last year, Radio Sheffield won the most Gold awards, taking home three in total. Kat Harbourne and Jenny Eells won Best Presenter for their Naked Podcast, Toby Foster won Best Breakfast, and the whole team won Station of the Year. Here’s the full list: ...

Global announces the return of Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball

The first acts for Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball 2019 were announced by Roman Kemp on the breakfast show on Monday morning, with more to be announced during the week. DJ Jax Jones, Liam Payne, Aitch, isLauv, Jonas Blue, Ava Max, Young T & Bugsey, and Rita Ora are on the line-up so far for the two-night event in December. Ashley Tabor-King OBE, Founder & Executive President of Global, said: “The countdown to Capital’s Jingle Bell Ball is well and truly on! We have another amazing show in store for our listeners with some of the hottest" ...

BBC Radio 2 secures world exclusive first play of new George Michael song

On Wednesday 6 November, the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on BBC Radio 2 will broadcast the world exclusive first play of a new song from George Michael. The track, entitled This Is How, is from the soundtrack of the forthcoming film Last Christmas, a festive romantic comedy inspired by and featuring the music of George Michael and Wham!. Zoe Ball says: "I was, and am, a huge Wham! and George Michael fan and even though he is no longer with us, his music remains a joy to us all. I’m honoured to be premiering this previously unheard song from George on my breakfast show." ...

Heart extra turns into Heart extra Xmas

Heart extra will be playing non-stop Christmas songs for the next two months as it transforms into Heart extra Xmas. Global’s only annual festive station is once again promising the very best feel good festive hits non-stop, 24/7. Heart extra Xmas says it has “All the festive favourites including Mariah Carey’s All I Want for Christmas Is You, Wham!’s Last Christmas and Band Aid’s Do They Know it’s Christmas? will help provide the perfect soundtrack to the festive period, as the countdown to the big day starts right now.”

BBC Local Radio comes together for Brexit Special

BBC Local Radio’s planned network programme Brexit Special will go ahead on Thursday evening despite Brexit being postponed. The programme, on 39 local stations, will be hosted by BBC journalist Adrian Goldberg and BBC North West political editor Nina Warhurst and will gather opinions from the public on what’s happening. Local Radio political reporters and presenters will be based across the country capturing the mood of the public from Merseyside, Brighton, Luton, Devon, Preston and York – as well as guests from business and agriculture communities...

Matt Lucas and David Walliams return to BBC Radio 4

A special edition of Little Britain, called Little Brexit, will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 this week. It’ll be the first time in almost 10 years that Matt Lucas and David Walliams will be back on the station, where it first broadcast in 2000. Little Brexit will broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday 31 October at 1830 and will catch up with many of Matt and David’s characters to see how the hottest topic of modern British history is affecting their lives. Characters we’ll be hearing from include Dafydd, Vicky Pollard, Emily Howard, Marjorie Dawes, Mr Mann, and Lou and Andy...