Like A Virgin...

I know its an old joke and not very original but I could not resist!

When Virgin relaunched and was associated with Chris Evans(A DJ in the UK for all readers outside of these shores)I wrote for some publicity photo's and was surprised to receive a T- Shirt as a gift.

Virgin has gone through many changes and I suspect in its case through the advent of DAB Radio, Internet streaming, Satellite and so on it has deservedly managed to be one of the strongest commercial music radio brands in the Britain.

Using the above has allowed it to expand its services and offer quality sounding broadcasts and from their point of view all the above digital platforms and what may come it makes sense to embrace the new technology.

I can always learn something and James in an earlier posting on my blog has told me one thing that is news to me and perhaps to many across the nation(and if this is so I am happy to relay this information here)



Virgin Radio if you live in London is offering more than the service heard on the AM wavelength, via DAB you can hear the following:

The original AM Virgin station.
Virgin Extreme offering new music.
Virgin Classic Offering the best of the rock genre.
Virgin Groove Offering Soul, Disco and Motown
Virgin 105.8FM as heard in the London Area.
That's some choice.

The good news being that if you have access to a sky satellite system you too can hear these extra stations.

I know that Virgin is there to attract a particular audience but wouldn't it great if they could divert a spare channel to play music that by some is seen as probably not commercially viable but as digital radio can serve a smaller and more narrowly defined audience and can be run on a smaller budget possible a station playing easy listening music in the future. I dislike the term but by that I mean the artists that have a large catalogue of material that was not always defined by a chart position. The artists that sang during the 30's, 40's, 50's, the big bands and orchestras that played light music. Is it really out of fashion? How many of the established artists and new artists have suddenly delved into the older material and produced and recorded material that normally has no place on radio anywhere these days but they are selling great numbers of cd's etc...often without the radio promotion behind their success.

We have Tony Bennett, Barry Manilow and Rod Stewart realising that there is an audience alongside the music they have been known for over the years and totally different in some cases to the rock music they made a career out of. Whether its a cynical exercise, the sales are there. I enjoy such a wide range of music but I would like to see someone still offering more than just a couple of hours that we now get on BBC Radio 2 as featured in programmes such as Desmond Carrington and/or David Jacobs. The easy music may be harder to find but its still available in the States and other countries across Europe.

Then we have big sellers of today that managed to cross over from different genres. You'll know from an earlier entry I recently purchased cd's by Diana Krall, Patrizio Buanne and Madeline Peyroux. I bought it because I heard some of the music and liked it. We have a new DAB station starting on Christmas Day promising to do what Classic FM has and run by the same company this time with jazz and Madeleine Peyroux has been mentioned as being a featured artist. I did not know that I was listening to jazz. There are so many pieces of music neglected and I still think that some of this music still should be heard. Even the BBC has given up and apart from the specialist programmes or features usually heard between 7pm-10pm on Radio 2. Most of their music output is now available via commercial radio the only difference being that BBC Radio still is able to broadcast more live concerts and events and the main reason is the lack of programming being broken up by advertisements. The BBC Radio will tell you and pay tribute to many artists alongside todays performers and say about their place in musical history but then rarely play anything by them. Of course you have to promote and bring on new talent but there has to be room to appreciate the great performances of the past.

Maybe the next stage of Radio in the UK when we are offered more National Radio from Commercial radio rather than what has been based on a local/regional model until now will offer us so much more.

And some radio stations know the worth of putting their name against or promoting an artist on tour even if they do not play that artists music, we have Dionne Warwick appearing in London at present and its getting promoted by...LBC 97.3FM which is...a speech station not a music station.

I appreciate Virgin Radio's James Cridland popping in and reading my thoughts and takes the time to leave comments and put me right on matters regarding broadcasting especially as being mainly a listener I have to search for information and obviously miss much of what is happening. Especially as my blog is not always about broadcasting.

I don't see myself as a radio anorak, its more that I have an affection for the medium and hope that it will survive and grow stronger.





I go back to Radio Luxembourg listening under the bedclothes. Let us not forget we are talking of only a three year period 1964-1967 for Pirate Radio. Radio's 1,2, 3,4 and BBC local Radio from then until 1973. From 1973 onwards the commercial radio business. And now here we are talking of digital delivered services in a number of ways. That's a lot of change in a relatively short space of time. Compared to the approx 40 years previous to all that.

Though, I did struggle to hear one final Pirate from the coast of the Netherlands in the early 70's Radio Northsea International.

Also listening to Radio 270 off the Yorkshire coast(Caroline and Radio London was unavailable as far as I know in the North East of the UK or my radio could not pick it up. Above some of the DJ's of the Station which included Paul Burnett and Phillip Hayton(Yes, that's the BBC Newsreader)

I see the Pirates that we had in the 1960's in a totally different light to those that broadcast these days and mess up the listening of legitimate radio stations in major cities so I can understand the appeal of DAB in cities such as London.

If you get the chance to read the history of Radio Luxembourg from its early days to its English Service close down some years ago and Radio Northsea International what a story these stations have to tell.