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Virgin Radio
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Absolute Radio, (previously known as Virgin Radio), is one of the UK's three Independent National Radio stations. The station rebranded to its current name at 7.45am on 29 September 2008.
The station is based in London and plays popular rock music. It currently broadcasts on mediumwave and DAB across the UK, on 105.8 FM in London, Sky Digital (channel 0107), Virgin Media (channel 915), Freeview (channel 727) and Tiscali TV (channel 620).
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Encyclopedia
Absolute Radio, (previously known as Virgin Radio), is one of the UK's three Independent National Radio stations. The station rebranded to its current name at 7.45am on 29 September 2008.
The station is based in London and plays popular rock music. It currently broadcasts on mediumwave and DAB across the UK, on 105.8 FM in London, Sky Digital (channel 0107), Virgin Media (channel 915), Freeview (channel 727) and Tiscali TV (channel 620). The station also recently launched on the new free to air satellite service Freesat (channel 724). It is also available in other parts of the world via satellite, cable, and on the Internet.
History
Originally called Virgin 1215, it was launched nationally on 1215 kHz (although some regional transmitters used other frequencies) at 12.15pm on 30 April 1993.
The first song was a special version of the Steppenwolf song "Born to be Wild", recorded by Australian group INXS. Richard Branson and Russ Williams were the first voices to be heard, live from the Virgin Megastore in Manchester, with Richard Skinner the first voice back in the London studios.
Some months later after the station launched, it also began broadcasting in stereo on satellite via Sky Television. This has continued with the switchover to digital broadcasting. Virgin Radio later acquired a local FM franchise for London, allowing it to broadcast on 105.8 FM in that area. This service launched on 10 April 1995 and initially carried regional programming for the London area, although this has now ceased.
Ginger Media Group, SMG & Times Group
The station was then sold to Ginger Media for around £85m, owned by Chris Evans, who was a mainstay on the station, presenting a breakfast show from 1997 until 2001. Evans sold Ginger Media to SMG plc (now STV Group plc) for £225 million GBP in March 2000 and was subsequently fired by his new employer in 2001 for failing to report into work for 5 consecutive days while reportedly partying with his then wife Billie Piper.
On 13 June 2006 SMG plc signed a deal with YooMedia to make Virgin Radio available on Freeview. It has always placed a great emphasis on other methods of transmission than medium wave, as the 1215 kHz frequency suffers from considerable interference, particularly after dark – BBC Radio 1, which used 1215 kHz for its first eleven years on air, moved to higher-quality medium wave frequencies (now used by talkSport) in 1978 mainly for this reason.
On 1 June, Bennett, Coleman & Co. aka Times Group (an Indian media conglomerate) agreed to buy Virgin Radio (sans the Virgin brand) for $104 million with British radio consultancy firm and radio operator Absolute Radio UK as its British partner, although the financial backing for the deal comes from Bennet, Coleman & Co. The deal was expected to be formalised at a meeting of shareholders of owners STV Group plc (formerly SMG plc) in July.
Sale to TIML Golden Square ltd
with Absolute Radio branding.]]
On 12 April 2007, it was announced that SMG plc were to sell Virgin Radio, to enable the company to focus on its television station, STV. On 30 May 2008 SMG sold Virgin Radio to TIML Golden Square Limited, a subsidiary of the Times of India Group for £53.2 million with £15 million set aside for rebranding. TIML were given 90 days grace in which to rebrand the station.
On 1 September 2008 it was announced that Virgin Radio would be rebranded as Absolute Radio at the end of the month (28 September). At the same time some changes to the line-up were made known with JK and Joel, Robin Burke, Tony Hadley and John Osborne leaving the station and Allan Lake, Joanna Russell (of Trent FM's Jo & Twiggy) and Tim Shaw joining, though Osbourne would return shortly after.
However Listening figures revealed an the last Quarter of 2008 has revealed that almost 1/5th of former Virgin Radio listeners have been lost since the rebranding to Absolute Radio.
Presenters
News staff
Editor
Andrew Bailey
Broadcast Journalists
Ed Draper
Adrian Hieatt
Tumshie Smillie
Tania Snuggs
Former presenters
Virgin Radio's original line-up included Russ Williams, Richard Skinner, Mitch Johnson, Tommy Vance, Jonathan Coleman, Nick Abbot and Wendy Lloyd. Other past presenters on the network include Danny Baker, Robin Banks, Greg Burns, Martin Collins, Gary Davies, Daryl Denham, Chris Evans (who also owned the station), Mark Fox, Alan Freeman, Nicky Horne, Janey Lee Grace, Gary King, Jezza (aka Jeremy Kyle), Tim Lovejoy, Kevin Greening, Pete Mitchell, Al Murray, James Merritt, Lynn Parsons, Vic Reeves, Richard Skinner, Suggs, Clive Warren, Sandy Beech and many others.
Cover presenters
Cover presenters have included many notable people.
These have included:
The Station, its audience and playlist
Before the relaunch, Virgin Radio's former chief executive Fru Hazlitt, when interviewed for The Guardian (25 September 2006), described what type of music the station champions. When told of comparisons between Virgin and other MOR, or "Middle-of-the-road" music radio stations, such as BBC Radio 2, she remarked that "that was [during] the Chris Evans era. Now, it's pretty much mainstream rock festival type music. Razorlight, Keane. These bands are becoming some of the biggest in the world."
The station's output does mainly consist of contemporary British-based guitar "MOR" rock-pop bands, such as the aforementioned Keane and Razorlight but also artists like Coldplay, Snow Patrol and The Feeling. It also plays various other "Adult album alternative" artists from Britain, Ireland and America, like Oasis, U2, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, R.E.M. and The Killers, as well as "Golden Oldies" such as The Beatles, Queen, The Clash and The Who to name a few.
Absolute Radio's target audience is predominantly those aged 25–44). Its "spin-off" digital radio stations (see below) exploit the 'niche' musical tastes of this target audience, and leans on a particular rock sub-genre that is played on Absolute Radio, or to cater for an audience that is within its target demographic but are not served properly by the flagship station.
However, despite its popularity, the station has received criticisms for the infrequent rotation of its playlists. The criticisms focus around the playing of the same songs throughout the day, for example more than once on each radio "show". Since becoming Absolute, they have introduced the 'No Repeat Guarantee' to avoid repeating songs 'through the workday' between 10am and 5pm during weekdays. Absolute will only reflect on real music as their slogan says and will not play any manufactured music from reality based tv shows.
Frequencies
In a number of areas, particularly in areas where the signal from the main 1215 transmitters overlap with each other, Absolute Radio operates a number of filler transmitters on different frequencies :-
- 1197 kHz - Brighton and Hove, Cambridge, South Devon, Dorset, South Essex, Gloucester, Oxford, South Nottinghamshire, Medway, Merseyside
- 1233 kHz - Berkshire, North Essex, Northampton, Sheffield, Swindon, Gatwick
- 1242 kHz - Teesside, Dundee, Lincolnshire, Staffordshire
- 1260 kHz - Guildford, East Kent
Sister Stations
During SMG plc's running of the station, the company launched a number of sister stations within its then called Virgin Radio Network. These are:
Absolute Classic Rock
A radio station on DAB, Virgin Media, Sky Digital and the Internet playing classic rock from the sixties to the nineties.
Absolute Classic Rock launched as Virgin Radio Classic Rock, with live presenters (Richard Skinner, Gordon Loncaster and Alice Cooper) by Lali Parikh.
Absolute Xtreme
A radio station on DAB, Virgin Media, Sky and the Internet which plays rock music, and is aimed at teenage males.
Absolute Xtreme was launched as Virgin Radio Xtreme on September 5, 2005, by Lali Parikh (Station Manager) with Steve Harris being the main on air talent.
All 'Absolute' branded channels broadcast on DAB in London, the Internet, Virgin Media cable television and Sky Digital.
Ex-Virgin Radio Spin-off stations
During the last year of Virgin Radio being owned by SMG plc's they removed some of Virgin Radio Network by closing them down. These were:
Virgin Radio Viva
Virgin Radio Viva, which was due to launch on the new Channel 4 platform in 2009, aimed at 15- to 29-year-old women, will now not go ahead.
Virgin Radio Groove
A radio station on DAB, Virgin Media, Sky and the Internet which played motown, soul and disco music. Virgin Radio Groove closed at the end of 2007.
Virgin Radio Party Classics
Launched on Thursday 15 June 2006, Virgin Radio Party Classics played party pop music. The radio station was based on Suggs' Virgin Party Classics show broadcast on Virgin Radio. The station closed down on Friday 13 October 2006.
All 'Virgin' branded channels broadcast was on DAB in London, the Internet, Virgin Media cable television and Sky Digital.
External links
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