Radio News

Detector Van advertising campaign starts for Chris Evans

A new advertising campaign for the Chris Evans Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio has kicked off. Chris, his wife Natasha, and his two sons – seven-year-old Eli and ten-year-old Noah – have filmed the new advert in the Virgin Radio ‘detector van’, styled on the old TV detector vans. In the TV ad, Chris Evans and his family are on a mission to retune the great British public’s radios. The 30-second spot which launched on Sky over the weekend sees Chris and his family drive the Virgin Radio detector van into a quiet residential...

1Xtra Live event cancelled after Police incident

BBC Radio 1Xtra cancelled its Live event in Birmingham on Saturday night after a man was slashed during a backstage incident. West Midlands Police tweeted about the situation, saying the Arena Birmingham alerted them to an assault which took place in the backstage area at 10pm on Saturday. They said: “It’s understood that a man sustained a slash wound during the assault. He was treated by on-site medical staff and did not require hospital treatment.”

BBC Radio 4 brings The Kinks’ Arthur to life in new drama

In the year of its 50th anniversary, The Kinks’ album Arthur (Or The Decline And Fall Of The British Empire) has been transformed into an audio drama for BBC Radio 4. Arthur has been adapted by The Kinks frontman and modern music icon Ray Davies himself, alongside Olivier-nominated playwright, dramaturg and musician Paul Sirett. The story - of both the drama and the original album - sees a close-knit, working-class family torn apart when Ray's brother-in-law, Arthur, decides to move his family half way around the world to Australia.

Radio 1 joins European dance music radio simulcast

BBC Radio 1’s Annie Mac will host the first hour of an 7-hour dance show which is being simulcast across 8 radio stations in 7 European countries next month. The show will run from 7pm till 2am on Friday 11th October, with Radio 1 joining forces with Sweden’s SR P3, WDR 1Live and RBB Fritz in Germany, Belgium’s VRT Studio Brussel, RTÉ 2fm in Ireland, Radio France Mouv and NPO 3FM in The Netherlands. The BBC says the show will have an audience of more than 18 million listeners, who will hear ‘exclusive mixes’ and ‘interviews from the biggest UK acts’.

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...

Magic and Absolute Radio to broadcast from New Zealand

Bauer Radio is to partner with Tourism New Zealand and broadcast from across the country with Magic Radio and Absolute Radio. The partnership will see the two stations create a week of bespoke programming from across New Zealand, connecting audiences to the essence of Kiwi culture and local communities through on-air breakfast show promotion, online and social video content. The campaign started on Monday 23rd September and will run till 20th October as a direct partnership between Bauer Media and Tourism New Zealand.

Jazz FM and BBC Radio 3 share content in new partnership

BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds will broadcast Jazz FM content whilst Jazz FM is to share key recordings from BBC Radio 3. The partnership is in aid of the EFG London Jazz Festival bringing the two stations together. Shared content will appear on both BBC Radio 3 and BBC Sounds, and whilst the two stations have collaborated before with a digital pop-up BBC Music Jazz, this will be the first time BBC Radio 3 will be broadcasting content from Jazz FM on the network, with Jazz FM similarly sharing Radio 3 content from recorded concerts with...

BBC Radio 5 Live appoints Heidi Dawson as Controller

Heidi Dawson has been appointed as the new Controller of BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 Live Sports Extra. Heidi is currently Managing Editor of BBC Radio 5 Live and becomes Controller with immediate effect. She succeeds Jonathan Wall who was appointed as Controller of BBC Sounds in July 2019. Heidi started her career in local radio at BBC Radio Solent before working as a journalist on BBC Radio 4’s World At One and PM. She moved to BBC Radio 5 Live in 2001 as a Breakfast show producer; she has produced and edited most...

Ahadadream, Sandunes, DJ Firestarr and anu lead the new line-up for BBC Asian Network’s Residency

BBC Asian Network has announced the line-up for Asian Network’s Residency, a show that champions the next generation of fresh DJ talent. The strand brings listeners the biggest names in dance music, from the underground to the arena - with Ahadadream, Sandunes, DJ Firestarr and anu forming the Residency team from October 2019. Kicking off with London-based producer and DJ Ahadadream on 6 October, the Asian Network Residency will feature cutting-edge DJs and producers from the UK rotating each week on a Sunday night between 11pm-1am.

Absolute Radio’s Hometime expands across network

Absolute Radio’s Hometime show is to be shared across the other Absolute-branded stations, with 7 separate playlists. The programme, presented by Andy Bush and Richie Firth for the last year, will air on Absolute’s decades stations – 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s – as well as Absolute Classic Rock and the main station. The split playlist technology developed by RCS and Bauer is already used on the Dave Berry Breakfast Show to enable genre specific music for each service alongside the live presenter content.