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Old 01-05-2014, 15:08
suffolkblue
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I have to disagree. Gary Kings cheerfull voice at least tried to keep me awake. Paul Phear sound too relaxed anx he sounds bored. But he dont really have to say much to earn his money anyway.
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Old 01-05-2014, 15:12
GeorgeS
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I have to disagree. Gary Kings cheerfull voice at least tried to keep me awake. Paul Phear sound too relaxed anx he sounds bored. But he dont really have to say much to earn his money anyway.
Communication is about using the right word rather than the most. Quality not quantity.
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Old 01-05-2014, 17:18
Vonny 10
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Communication is about using the right word rather than the most. Quality not quantity.
Paul was superb this afternoon. I have now selected the north west Smooth. Miss Carlos on the London station and he's brilliant on drive. He started his show today by saying it was good to be back with his friend Paul. Am I right thinking they were together at The Hot FM?
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Old 01-05-2014, 18:00
radio-rover
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Great blog from John Myers on the new sound of Smooth:

http://myersmedia.co.uk/2014/smooth-britain/
Yes an interesting read,
I admit to not being a current listener for various reasons that have already been mentioned.
I used to listen when it was Saga and occasionally when Tony Blackburn was on .

I get the idea of more music less dj chat and the relaxing music mix.
A good alternative from radio 2 which can be too much chat at times.

But what I dont get is the very small playlist, if smooth had a large playlist of relaxing music I would try it out.
The other thing that has annoyed me is that Global have destroyed a reasonable oldies station in Gold by removing most of the presenters and replacing it with smooth in most
areas.

with Dab radio there should have been a way to have
kept Gold and provided the extra choice of Smooth.

That would have kept the Gold listeners and not driven alot them away?
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Old 01-05-2014, 19:18
Amara
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I have to disagree. Gary Kings cheerfull voice at least tried to keep me awake. Paul Phear sound too relaxed anx he sounds bored. But he dont really have to say much to earn his money anyway.
All the male presenters now blend into each other you can't tell the difference between Phil Phear & Andrew Castle they are in the same category - BORING.

At least Gary King had some life in him the daytime presenters are now so laid back they are permanently reclined. Even Magic sounds lively if you tune directly to it after listening to Smooth.

I agree with John Myers its rather strange to employ expensive TV presenters and then tell them to keep there mouths shut what's the point?

BTW to date listening to what's playing in Norfolk I have only found one garage that plays Smooth all other businesses seem to be on either Radio 1, Radio 2 or Heart. A couple that used to have Gold on appear to have moved to Radio 2.
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Old 01-05-2014, 20:51
djfunnyman
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I haven't quite warmed to Paul Phear. I preffered Gary King's "schoolmaster" style

Has anyone noticed that they only play Van Morrison Have I told you lately that I love you directly after the news? On that subject, I think Van Morrison is fantastic and very underrated
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Old 01-05-2014, 20:59
Amara
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I haven't quite warmed to Paul Phear. I preffered Gary King's "schoolmaster" style

Has anyone noticed that they only play Van Morrison Have I told you lately that I love you directly after the news? On that subject, I think Van Morrison is fantastic and very underrated
I suppose it makes a change from Brown Eyed Girl but then that's a little lively for Smooth.
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Old 01-05-2014, 21:11
occy
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Gary King still stays and Smooth London Saturdays. Paul Phear should target Magic Afternoons where left off as those listeners should move over. I'm sure Magic will hit back though - I'm sure Martin Collins has his favourites. It's Radio 2 they need too watch out for.
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Old 01-05-2014, 21:21
Amara
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Gary King still stays and Smooth London Saturdays. Paul Phear should target Magic Afternoons where left off as those listeners should move over. I'm sure Magic will hit back though - I'm sure Martin Collins has his favourites. It's Radio 2 they need too watch out for.
On current output I don't think Radio 2 have much to worry about. Smooth have taken the "relaxing music mix" to the extreme of just boring. I really don't think Global understand how to programme for the older audience. Gold provided personality & more music. Smooth only has the latter. The speech content is lifeless.
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Old 01-05-2014, 22:07
djfunnyman
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I suppose it makes a change from Brown Eyed Girl but then that's a little lively for Smooth.
But they play Moondance and Bright Side of the Road which are lively songs
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Old 02-05-2014, 09:07
dpb
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All the male presenters now blend into each other you can't tell the difference between Phil Phear & Andrew Castle they are in the same category - BORING.<snip>
When is Phil Phear starting? Is he related to Paul?
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Old 02-05-2014, 10:01
PhilH
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On current output I don't think Radio 2 have much to worry about.
Radio 2 will always be extremely popular. Smooth won't change that.

However, Radio 2 absolutely sucks at just shutting up and playing music and there's an audience for that. Global will have infinitely more success doing what they're doing than trying to be Radio 2 with ads.
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Old 02-05-2014, 10:51
dpb
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Radio 2 will always be extremely popular. Smooth won't change that.

However, Radio 2 absolutely sucks at just shutting up and playing music and there's an audience for that. Global will have infinitely more success doing what they're doing than trying to be Radio 2 with ads.
I don't think there's any point of the commercial radio sector trying to directly take on Radio 2 with a similar service - there's not the budget to match like for like - even if it had a national FM network.

My experience is a lot of people dip in and out of Radio 2 depending on what they are in the mood for, especially with the range of specialist stuff they do. If they dip out as they are not in the mood for the chat but want music then Smooth is a good alternative.
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Old 02-05-2014, 10:59
Amara
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When is Phil Phear starting? Is he related to Paul?
Oh you are so funny. I had never heard of him until yesterday.
Strange to start a new show mid week they seem to just come and go on Smooth. Must be all the hard work they have to do whilst on air.
Where are the required new listeners coming from if not Radio 2 or is only London important and getting the Magic listeners. It doesn't seem like the ex-Gold listeners have hung around?
Also noticed no mention of AM at the top of the hour wonder if this is because the new station will also be on AM?
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Old 02-05-2014, 11:03
omnidirectional
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Oh you are so funny. I had never heard of him until yesterday.
Strange to start a new show mid week they seem to just come and go on Smooth. Must be all the hard work they have to do whilst on air.
Presumably because it was the 1st of May and any contractual obligations with Magic expired at midnight on 30th April.
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Old 02-05-2014, 11:05
Amara
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Presumably because it was the 1st of May and any contractual obligations with Magic expired at midnight on 30th April.
Even so you might have expected him to start from next week.
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Old 02-05-2014, 13:33
Tazman1966
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...Also noticed no mention of AM at the top of the hour wonder if this is because the new station will also be on AM?...
I noticed that too. A small thing maybe, but with the station trying to cover aas many platforms as possible then the top of the hour intro should say "on AM and FM" etc.

By the way in spite of the changes I'm still listening to a large extent. The station seems to be finding its feet again. Not at all keen on Kate though and as for poor Tina Hobly
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Old 02-05-2014, 14:22
Luca
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Just out of interest, what do the Smooth Radio continuity announcers do while the music is playing?
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Old 02-05-2014, 14:24
LaurelandHardy
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Just out of interest, what do the Smooth Radio continuity announcers do while the music is playing?
Probably go to sleep, just like the audience do!
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Old 02-05-2014, 14:25
soul_girl
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Just had a glance at the Facebook page, quite amusing reading the comments about George Clooney, Smooth certainly know how to please the current audience....maybe he might soon have a stint at presenting, oh and maybe Michael Buble too, they'd be onto a real winner there methinks!
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Old 02-05-2014, 14:50
omnidirectional
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Probably go to sleep, just like the audience do!
It's probably more interesting than being a TV announcer, on one of the main channels which still do live continuity. If a 2 hour film starts at 9pm you wouldn't get to speak again until the next show at 11pm..
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Old 02-05-2014, 15:05
Shrewn
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Just out of interest, what do the Smooth Radio continuity announcers do while the music is playing?
I used to know a guy who had his own antiques buy and sell business, and lets just say he did quite a bit of trade whilst he was on air.......
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Old 02-05-2014, 16:37
Steve Buck
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Where are the required new listeners coming from if not Radio 2 or is only London important and getting the Magic listeners.
What dpb is suggesting is that, rather than Radio 2 listeners abandoning the station completely, many will fall back on Smooth at times of the day when Radio 2 doesn't appeal, because most people have a listening repertoire of multiple stations. Radio 2 is so heavily personality-based that there are bound to be dayparts that particular listeners dislike, because strong personalities can be divisive. For example, I like Steve Wright but hate Chris Evans. Smooth will be there as a fall-back, consistently inoffensive with minimal speech and long sweeps of familiar music that Radio 2 listeners will love. Smooth will gain listenING at the expense of Radio 2, not listenERS outright.

It doesn't seem like the ex-Gold listeners have hung around?
Oh, you have tracking or interim RAJAR data? Please share. Or are you just making a baseless assumption based on social media, forums, and what your friends say?
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Old 02-05-2014, 16:56
Amara
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Oh, you have tracking or interim RAJAR data? Please share. Or are you just making a baseless assumption based on social media, forums, and what your friends say?
Obviously not RAJAR but experience of many Gold fans at 2 recent Gold Weekenders and yes social media & forums there is no other data available at the moment. I wouldn't call the Gold weekenders views baseless. I did find one female around 50+ who liked hearing Eamonn Kelly on Smooth apart from that no enthusiasm whatsoever. It doesn't matter though does it as long as Magic 105.4 loss turns into Smooth 102.2 gain and sod the rest of the country as usual.
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Old 02-05-2014, 17:07
Steve Buck
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Obviously not RAJAR but experience of many Gold fans at 2 recent Gold Weekenders and yes social media & forums there is no other data available at the moment. I wouldn't call the Gold weekenders views baseless. I did find one female around 50+ who liked hearing Eamonn Kelly on Smooth apart from that no enthusiasm whatsoever. It doesn't matter though does it as long as Magic 105.4 loss turns into Smooth 102.2 gain and sod the rest of the country as usual.
I don't doubt they'll be experiencing some "churn" as disgruntled Gold listeners defect and new Smooth listeners come on board, but we won't see a full picture for a couple of surveys yet.

Overall I don't think they'll lose much sleep over the AM figures though. Essentially it's just about adding reach, hours and geographical spread to the Smooth brand as a national sell.
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