Will Pete Waterman still be on Saturday evenings and Paul Hollins on a Sunday evening or will these new shows replace them completely?

I wonder whether Lynn Parsons and or Simon Bates could appear on Magic in the not too distant future?

According to the schedule which is online now, Saturday has Motown & Soul with David Andrews at 6pm followed by The Great British Songbook at 8pm. Sunday has Movie Songs with Paul Hollins at 6pm followed by the Great American Songbook at 8pm.

Some changes to Magic schedule for this weekend. Magic Meets is no more, just as Smooth introduce Andrew Castle Meets.

Also a new early breakfast on weekends 5-7am with Gary Vincent pre-recorded and Paul Hayes on Saturday evenings.

However it looks that Magic havent chosen who will replace Paul Phear permamently yet as the covers just seem to be keeping things ticking over until they announce.

For god sake that is a complete overhaul. Simon, Lynn out.... I feel sorry for them all.

You must be.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8ylJiyWldU

I would guess if there is a new early breakfast weekends there could well be weekdays as well maybe from 4-6am although it would be better even if it was pre recorded that there was a presenter on right through the night.

That will mean Andrew Leaving LBC and Kate Leaving Daybreak which is changing soon anyway.

I just love the quote from Mylene Klass when she's quoted as saying :

"I'm looking forward to playing some of my favourite tracks on Smooth."

Has she not read her contract properly - surely it says, creativity, individuality, personality and affability not required under any circumstances.
Your chief responsibilities will be :-

A) to press buttons it operate a mouse in order to broadcast music programmed by a Global minion or robot and

B) the ability to read a script 4 times an hour in no more than 45 seconds, pared by said Global minion/robot.

Favourite tracks . . . Silly girl, you're 'avin a larf!

When does this all start?

March 3rd.

Presumably Andrew Castle will be go out on the regionals aswell for a time before new shows introduced for each region?

next Monday

If it was the 1980s she would be.

Don't you just love the same burnt out lines of PR puff! Surprisingly, she didn't say she "can't wait to get started" or "I got the call and had to say yes" blah blah!!

And on a Sunday evening Jo Parkerson ex LBC is joining.

On a separate note Simon Dale ex Heart is covering Drivetime this week.

Must be a first that both the departures of Simon and Lynn have been announced before they actually leave, presuming they will be on air for the rest of this week.

I imagine they have known for a while but had to keep quiet.

Both Andrew & Kate are both used to talking for a living, it's not going to be easy adapting to the Smooth format unless they will be given more speech content in their shows.

Maybe a space for Simon can be found on Global's new station.

From The Guardian -

"Castle will present the breakfast show on the London Smooth Radio, with a Sunday evening interview show, Andrew Castle Meets, broadcast across the network."

If Smooth goes on all local DAB multiplexes (alongside or in place of Gold) the UK DAB coverage will be sufficient for it to qualify as a national DAB station, and Smooth WM won't need to carry any local programming.

Global may choose to do local shows on Smooth WM but under the rules they don't need to if Smooth's UK DAB coverage is at or close to 80% minimum.

Smooth AM in Cardiff & NE Wales will need to do Welsh news bulletins in daytime and a 4 hour show each day (probably the same as currently- 12-4pm voicetracked).

http://www.smoothradio.co.uk/shows-p...usic-mix/b35a6

So is Andrew Castle's show starting on Monday, as the above article is a bit vague. It definitely states that Kate Garraways show starts Monday 3rd March, but there's no specific date stated for Breakfast. There is a reference to 'The brand new Smooth schedule, launching across March' which suggests it might not all start at the same time. Castle's Breakfast show is London only, so I assume all the new local Breakfast shows will start at the same time?

If all the regional shows were going to launch at the same time then you'd assume we'd know by now who was hosting them.

I thought I read earlier that Simon would be in air for another 4 weeks, although Radio Today' States all changes start march 3rd

Just looking at the schedule. Mylene scheduled for this Saturday 10am and Tina's show now 10am on Sunday for 4 hours with Gary King dropped on Sundays but Saturday afternoon instead.

Yes but on Smooth they will need to learn to shut up as very little talking is allowed.

I just fail to see how this abysml offering is going to get Smooth more listeners. The programmers at Leicester Square would appear to have lost the plot.
I think they will come to regret running down Gold.

I thought I'd read somewhere else either a well-informed hint, or well-reasoned speculation, that all the FM Smooths would get regional shows. But that was before the AM announcement.. for which they'll have to keep the London feed neutral.. so maybe not.

On the flipside, I'm not really clear why the fact a station is franchised means it has to have local shows? If Communicorp just sold local airtime on Smooth NW, surely it would be fulfilling the CC's concerns (or is it considered necessary to have a significant weight of local S&P revenue too?)

" The Great American Songbook" Smooth Radio V " The Great British Songbook" Radio 2.

Some ideas from Radio 2 creeping in.

Sad that the Golden Hour will be gone. We lost Our tune last year. I'm sure it'll return somewhere else someday.

Chris Skinner was former Radio Mercury evening presenter.

I agree

The connection Dean has with his callers in evening is something very special