Radio News

Heart extra Xmas returns for festive season

Christmas radio stations are starting to reappear for 2018, including Global’s Heart extra Xmas service. Heart extra Xmas is available nationally on digital radio, and replaces Heart extra till December 26th. Global says: “It’s the UK’s biggest national radio station devoted entirely to playing the best festive hits all the way through until midnight on Boxing Day (December 26th)! Get ready to turn up the festive feel good!”

International Radio Festival conference summary

Radio professionals from all over the world gathered in Malta this week to celebrate radio and music at the International Radio Festival. Part of the event included the Global Audio Conference at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, opposite IRF Radio Studio @ Fort St. Elmo. Celebrating music radio, the IRF 2018 Malta edition explored the way major broadcasting organisations are tackling the changing nature of audio consumption; the rise of niche format radio stations

Global expands into Canada with latest acquisition

Global has acquired the digital audio sales division of Canadian based leanStream. The move signals the launch of DAX Canada, giving Global an ad sales and ad tech footprint in the country. Existing publishers with inventory on the leanStream roster include TuneIn, 8tracks and Adwave Canada. It means the digital audio advertising platform’s reach grows to 165 million people streaming digital audio through premium publisher brands.

Sara Cox to host Drivetime show on BBC Radio 2

BBC Radio 2’s Sara Cox is moving to the Drivetime show in the new year, replacing Simon Mayo and Jo Whiley. Trevor Nelson will also move around the schedule from weekends to weeknights, bagging Sara’s current 10pm till midnight slot Monday to Thursday. Sara said: “I’ve been proud to be part of the Radio 2 family for a few years now and the opportunity to present such a big show as Drivetime...

Changes for BBC Radio 1 weekend breakfast show

Matt Edmondson and Mollie King are taking over the BBC Radio 1 weekend breakfast show, swapping with Dev Griffin and Alice Levine. Dev and Alice will move to the weekend (Friday to Sunday) afternoon slot from Friday 16th November, and Dev will continue to cover The 8th till the end of the year. Mollie become a permanent member of the Radio 1 family in June when she co-hosted the 1-4pm slot with Matt as part of the new weekend schedule.

RAJAR Q3 2018: Record share of 52.4% for digital radio

Digital listening share has remained above the important halfway mark and increased from 48.8% to 52.4% in the last 12 months. Total digital listening hours grew by 5.4% year on year, or 27.5 million hours. DAB listening in cars accounted for 11 million hours (or 40%) of all digital listening growth, while listening in home via online/Apps accounted for 13.5 million hours (or 49%) of all digital listening growth.

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.

All-female radio station called JACK launching today

The latest JACK-branded radio station will play 100% female artists when it launches in the UK at midday today. JACK Radio – a brand extension from the Oxford station JACK fm and national UK station Union JACK – will take the Jack 3 slot on SDL. In 2017, the team behind JACK in the UK, Oxis Media, said a new “Jack with a twist...

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.