January 24th, 2012
IPhone’s at the ready SpotOn Radio Spotify apps at the steady…Further to our post back in November 2010, it has now been confirmed that Londons Underground will have Wi-Fi enabled in ticket halls and on station platforms ready for the 2012 London Olympics.
Speaking exclusively to Mobile Marketing magazine yesterday, TFL director of strategy and service development Gareth Powell said that London Underground is on track to deliver wi-fi services at up to 120 stations before the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
It is unclear yet as to which provider will be supplying the wi-fi provision, this all ties in with Ofcoms plan for the Olympic games for wi-fi provision, according to an Ofcom report, a record number of media is expected to descend on London this summer for the 2012 Olympics.
Careful management of London’s airwaves is said to be “essential” for coverage of the seven weeks of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Ofcom has reportedly been working on a plan since 2006.
We are very excited about the 2012 Olympic Games, and the fantastic radio coverage opportunities, not to mention the thousands of extra radio listeners who will descend on the capital and the added infrastructure which will develop radio within the capital for the future….
Whether you want to take advantage of radio advertising audience opportunities during the Olympics or you’re just concerned that coverage you have planned for that time might be affected – please get in touch, we’re gearing up for the games!
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk. @timcradioexpert
Tags: olympics radio, radio adv, Radio Advertising
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December 7th, 2011
Massive Kudos to Smooth and Simon Bates for announcing that next week their breakfast show will be broadcast from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. Making such a bold move proves that commercially the station has balls of steel and true genuine pride in its Britishness.
Commendable, admirable, inspirational, courageous – the superlatives trip off the tongue but the real winner is the troops who will have an open portal to send messages home, receive messages from home and to tap back into the nation in a real, meaningful and live way.
From Monday December 12th, Smooth’s Breakfast Show (6-10am) broadcasts live from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. It promises to be a ground breaking piece of broadcasting. Good on ‘em.
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk. @timcradioexpert
Tags: Radio Advertising, simon bates, smooth radio
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November 30th, 2011
It’s the sickness season, and we all have to soldier on through. Just don’t be tempted to read the news if you’re as ill as this woman!
Click here to hear the audio…
Tags: Radio Ads, Radio Advertising
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November 21st, 2011
You may have noticed that as of this morning there was a big change in London’s breakfast radio landscape. On Friday afternoon news spread like wildfire that Johnny Vaughan had left Capital Radio and that Greg Burns would be filling in with Lisa Snowdon.
As London’s biggest commercial breakfast show, Johnny Vaughan’s departure from Capital will lead to an interesting shake up of London’s radio talent. In the short term, Greg Burns is nominally ‘filling in’ until a big name replacement is found. Rumour has it that Johnny Vaughan is moving on to a prime time TV commitment (Daybreak?), but for now Capital’s phenomenally successful tradition of market leading breakfast shows is under the spotlight. Will Greg Burns grow into it? Will audience grow or decline? The new year breakfast show battleground promises to be even livelier than usual, we wait and listen with intrigue…
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.u
Tags: Breakfast Show, Capital FM, capital radio, Johnny Vaughan, Radio Advertising
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October 28th, 2011
Helen Keable, consultant at Radio Experts, says it’s encouraging to see some of commercial radio’s strongest brands collectively turning in such a strong book, particularly against a backdrop not only of the notoriously slow summer months but also a tenacious Beeb…
Having taken a bit of a breather from the business over the past few months, today reminded me how much changes at the cutting edge of wireless (and how fickle the beast that is RAJAR can be)!
It’s always reassuring to see the market practising what it preaches with Global’s marketing investment, particularly on Capital, clearly paying off for them now. The fact that it was impossible to call the line up in London is evidence that the competition is hotting up again, which from an advertiser perspective is good news as nobody can afford to get complacent.
Bauer will be disappointed with the Magic numbers but hopefully celebrating the great results across their Place portfolio, where their stations are top dogs in 20 of their 21 TSAs – a phenomenal achievement given that it’s still relatively early days since the re-brand but gives a strong signal that their local strategy is hitting the mark.
It’s a shame to see Absolute’s flagship station still struggling but unsurprising that their digital 80s spin off has turned in what it is fast becoming a predictably great performance – they should feel rightfully optimistic ahead of the planned 60s launch.
But surely the shining star of today’s book has to be Smooth Radio? Delivering record levels of everything must be a great way to celebrate their first birthday as a national station, with a cracking performance in London, which has always been tricky territory for them being the icing on the cake.
It’s encouraging to see some of commercial radio’s strongest brands collectively turning in such a strong book, particularly against a backdrop not only of the notoriously slow summer months but also a tenacious Beeb.
See our original article on mediatel here…
Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency.
Tags: Radio Ads, Radio Advertising, Radio Specialists, RAJAR
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February 17th, 2011
Hats (and pants) off to BRMB, Orion’s flagship radio station for Birmingham, who’ve gone one step further than their famous promotion last held in 2006 when they ran a competition to choose two strangers prepared to get married to each other.
This time the love-matching BRMB team have returned to the basic idea of strangers getting married – only this time it will be a naked wedding. Youch, I wouldn’t want to see the photos of the dancing.
Bit in this age of ever-decreasing localness and radio stations that trophy celebrity over on-air creativity, I take my hat, pants, socks, vest and cravat off to BRMB. Good radio breaks boundaries and great radio creates memories that last for a lifetime.
So well done BRMB, I hope they’re naked wedding promotion is a massive success. And quite frankly, its something I’d rather listen to than watch!
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: brmb, Radio Advertising, radio advertising agency
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September 16th, 2010
Well the big news is that Global are continuing in their industry leading charge to roll a smaller number of bigger radio brands out across the UK.
Hot on the heels of their Heart roll out (Heart went from 3 to more than 30 stations in the blink of an eye), they are now rolling the Capital brand out to 8 additional stations. In the future we won’t just be listening to Capital in London but also in Scotland, North East, Yorkshire, Manchester, Birmingham, East Midlands, South Wales and the South Coast.
Sadly, it’s the Galaxy brand which will bear the brunt of the changes as it disappears and becomes Capital, other notable changes will see Capital become the on air brand for Red Dragon, Trent FM, Ram FM and Leicester Sound.
Just like the Heart roll out, the changes will be met with a degree of despair in some quarters and it remains to be seen whether the brand roll out will simply aid Global to cut costs or whether it will actually build audience after the initial honeymoon period.
The UK radio market is travelling faster and faster towards a smaller number of brands, each of which have less middle of the road averageness and more national scale with niche targeting. From a media planning point of view this means that we’re losing the niche geography to some extent but we’re gaining the niche demographics on the other hand. And although we’re losing some geographical identity, we’re not really losing the ability to pick and choose where we want to place our radio advertising and where we don’t.
As radio media planners and radio creative experts, we welcome stronger more niche targeting. Knowing what audience a station gives you makes it easier and easier to deliver great focussed results to the right brands on the right stations. We watch with continued interest.
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: Capital FM, Capital Roll Out, Galaxy Capitalisation, Galaxy Radio, Heart FM, Heart roll out, Radio Advertising, radio brands, radio creative, Radio Experts
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September 7th, 2010
As a London based company, we’re all affected by some of the marvellous delays on the tube, none so much as today, with the walkout of over 800 tube staff in a dispute over safety or coffee or something.
So, we all spent the early hours of the morning falling asleep on somebody’s shoulder on the ‘sardine tin’ bus getting to the office or donning the trouser clips and hopping on the London hire bikes .
But now we’re all here…..at our desks…..in various stages of dishevelment (is that a word?), who do we turn to in order to get us home?
The answer, of course, is that we listen to the radio. Our cuddly friend in the corner is pumping out up to the minute updates on the changing situation as radio becomes our critical ally in the battle against the dark forces of the tube strikers.
Wouldn’t this be a great time to advertise on radio your bike brand / hotel chain / train company / stiff drink????
At Radio Experts, we’re always on top of what’s up, what’s down and what’s not even left the tube station in the UK radio advertising marketplace. And because we’re such a committed bunch, you can rely on us to get to our desks, come rain, wind, sleet, snow or London Transport meltdown (conditions apply).
Now….how am I going to get home?
Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: London Bike Hire, Radio Advertising, Radio Advertising Campaign, Radio Campaign, Radio Experts, Tube Strike
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August 12th, 2010
Once again the media industry turns to Radio Experts for expert comment on all things radio. Click here to listen to our Managing Partner, Tim Cowland speaking to Peter Allen, Aasmah Mir and Radio 5’s near 7 million weekly listeners.
The subject was an anti terrorism radio campaign and it appeared on the afternoon drivetime show (5 Live Drive). As you can hear, Tim didn’t pull any punches as he fought the corner for the commercial radio industry.
Well done Tim!
Posted by Tam McGregor, Marketing Co-ordinator at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. office@radioexperts.co.uk
Tags: BBC, Radio, Radio Ad, Radio Advertising, Radio Experts
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