Vernon Kay Makes On-Air Apology
Presenter of All Star Family Fortunes today used his Radio 1 show to say sorry to his family.
Vernon Kay (courtesy of TheBoltonNews)
It follows the discovery that he'd been sending lewd text messages to five different women.
Kay halted his show shortly after it began at 10am. He told his 2 million listeners: "You may or may not be aware that, because of some foolish decisions I've made, I've disappointed and let down a lot of people. To my family and everybody else I am very sorry."
The apology was perhaps chiefly directed at his wife, and fellow TV personality, Tess Daly.
And Now, Here’s Chavez
The Venezuelan President deploys shock tactics to turn around dwindling listenership to his broadcasts.
Hugo Chávez (courtesy of Fox News)
Hugo Chávez hopes to sneak up on listeners with unscheduled presidential programming.
His 8-hour-long radio shows every Sunday have somehow struggled to maintain audience figures. The all new Suddenly Chávez hopes to avoid this problem by not giving people chance to make other plans.
The shows could be broadcast at any time, day or night. Each starts with a characteristic musical interlude.
"When you hear the pluck of a harp on the radio, maybe Chávez is coming," He said in his inaugural broadcast yesterday. "It's suddenly, at any time, maybe midnight, maybe early morning."
RAJAR: Figures Released for 2009 Fourth Quarter
The latest figures from RAJAR show digital and mobile listenership continue to grow.
Digital radio listener hours are up by 11% since the same period last year.
However, a 14% increase between the third quarters of 2008 and 2009 shows that the rate of increase in listenership is actually slowing.
Mobile phone listenership also continues to rise, though at a slower rate than in the last quarter. Listener hours went from 6.2 million to 6.7 million between the fourth quarters of 08 /09 - but have overall fallen from the 6.9 million recorded in quarter 3 of 2009.
Mobile listenership amongst 15-24 year olds fell by 2.1% but over the year, however the 25+ age group are listening much more often (an increase of 13%).
Ofcom Propose Scrapping Local Radio Ownership Rules
A report published today by the broadcasting regulator suggests removing the rules which limit the ownership of multiple stations in the same local area.
The report outlines a number of recommendations for the Sectretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport - Ben Bradshaw.
Currently local station ownership is limited by what's sometimes known as the '2+1' rule - the 2 representing commercial owners, and the 1 representing the BBC. What this means is that where there are at least two commercial stations, as well as a Beeb station, there must be at least two different commercial owners. (Click below if you don't get it).
Absolute Ditch the Xtreme for the Eighties
Absolute Radio are dropping 'Absolute Xtreme' in favour of an eighties music platform.
It comes after competition from BBC 6Music, NME Radio, Xfm and Kerrang proved too overpowering for Xtreme.
'Absolute 80s' will be available on DAB in London and up the M4 corridor from early December. Absolute say they aim to connect with a brand of adults who aren't quite ready to give up their childhood.
Chief Operating Officer, Clive Dickens, told the Media Guardian, "These are people who have responsibilities, are members of families but still want to participate and have fun and be involved in music. A huge chunk of our audience grew up in the 80s."
The new station will work using a 'jukebox' system, meaning playout is computerised - so no presenters. Programmed in will be the likes of The Human League, Duran Duran, Adam and the Ants and Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
Fans of Xtreme are being pointed in the direction of Absolute's listener-lead Dabbl service, which is changing its playlists to include new music.
RAJAR: Mobile Phone Listening’s Up
More of us are listening to the radio on our mobiles.
The latest quarterly figures from RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) show seven million people are tuning in on their phones every week - up 7.5% on this time last year.
Youngsters have been the most eager to take to the medium, with listenership amongst 15 to 24-year-olds rising above the overall national level at 8.3%. A third of the age-group say they've listened to the radio on their phones at some point. 3.2% say they listen every single day.
The new figures also show a 14% rise in digital radio listenership since last year.
Nine out of ten of us listen to the radio every week.