Latest news about talkRADIO

Cristo Foufas replaces Iain Lee on talkRADIO lates

talkRADIO has replaced Iain Lee with Cristo Foufas on the 10pm till 1am slot. Cristo started his show on Tuesday night after Iain hosted his last show on Monday. Iain says he was told on Tuesday that he wouldn’t be on-air again. Cristo is now covering the slot until a replacement is announced. “From tonight, and every weeknight from 10pm to 1am I’ll be stepping into the late show @talkRADIO where we’ll give you the chance to discuss the days’ big news, tell your stories, and keep each other company in the small hours. Can’t wait to talk to you all!,” Cristo tweeted...

Iain Lee announces departure from talkRADIO after 4 years

talkRADIO’s late night presenter Iain Lee says last night’s show was his final programme on the station, after receiving the news that his contract isn’t being renewed. He joined the station from its launch in 2016 and during that time has won two Radio Academy ARIAs – for Best Speech Presenter in 2017 and Radio Moment of the Year in 2020. In a post on Facebook and Twitter, Ian wrote: “I’ve been waiting for a while to find out if my contract was going to be renewed and today I was finally told that, no, it isn’t. I won’t be going back on air. My last show was last night’s (which I thought was a little dull, a 5 out of 10 only! Out with a whimper!)...

RAJAR Q1 2020: Four percent growth in digital share

Digital listening share has increased to a new record of 58.6% up from 56.4% year on year in the latest RAJAR figures. Digital reach is also at a new record with 36.9 million adults, or 67% of the population, tuning in via a digital platform, up from 36.3m in Q1 2019. Listening via online and apps now accounts for 14% of all listening and nearly a quarter (24%) of digital listening, having grown by 25.4 million hours (or by 23%) year on year. With 32% of adults now claiming to own a smart speaker, online listening in home was for the fourth consecutive quarter the fastest growing platform and location, increasing by 21 million hours (or by 26.6%) year on year...

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...

Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020 – Winners

The winners at the Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2020 have been revealed at an event at the London Palladium. The BBC took home 17 awards including Emma Barnett for Best Speech Presenter on BBC Radio 5 Live, Radio 1 Breakfast with Greg James for Best New Show, The 1Xtra Breakfast Show with Dotty forBest Music Breakfast Show and Elis James and John Robins for Funniest Show on BBC Radio 5 Live. Bauer Media radio brands were recognised on the night with Absolute Radio winning Gold for their coverage for Mental Health Awareness Week as well as their regional station Forth 1 who won Best Local Radio Show...

talkRADIO fined £75,000 for George Galloway comments

National digital station talkRADIO has been fined £75,000 after three complaints about former presenter George Galloway were upheld by Ofcom. The station will also have to broadcast a summary of the regulator’s findings, relating to comments made on air between March and August 2018. The first complaint related to a discussion on the poisoning of Yulia and Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, while the second and third concerned allegations of anti-Semitism in the Labour Party.Ofcom ruled last year that each of the three programmes failed to maintain due impartiality and had breached Rules 5.11 and 5.12 of the Broadcasting Code...

RAJAR Q4 2019: New record for digital radio listening

Digital listening share has increased by 11% to a new record of 58.5%, up from 52.6% in Q4 2018 in the latest figures for Q4 2019. They were boosted by the launch of new national commercial digital stations, and the growth of listening online via smart speakers in home and DAB listening in car. Overall digital listening grew by 43.4 million hours or 8% year on year. Listening via online and apps grew by 28.5 million hours (or by 30%) to now account for 12.5% of all listening and 21.5% of digital listening...

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...

Eamonn Holmes replaced by Dan Wootton on talkRADIO

The Sun’s Executive Editor Dan Wootton is to replace Eamonn Holmes on talkRADIO Drive from February 2020. Dan has hosted a weekly weekend show on the digital station since March 2018, and more recently Friday Drive, but will now be promoted to a full-time show, whilst continuing his work on the newspaper. Wireless CEO Scott Taunton said: “I’m absolutely thrilled that he has committed to expanding his contribution to talkRADIO, bringing his insider take on the day’s news and the best guests from his bulging contacts book, as the station continues to drive record growth...

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...