He's doing some Radio 2 next week but I think a regular show on Virgin could be a coup for them and a tune in point.


They could hire him to do shows on the rebooted Virgin and Talk Radio maybe? I can't see him on Virgin though.


I know Danny didn't start out in radio but with 26+ years doing a variety of shows and winning awards I think he can be classed fully as a radio person.

He's marmite but as a liker I think radio is the best medium for him.

It seems to be that if someone is well known on TV the current current radio groups think they will relate to radio audiences better than experienced radio presenters.
Magic took Richard Allinson for drive rather than a celibrity from TV. Hopefully the new Virgin will go for radio people who know their music, but "celebrity" Craig Charles seems to know soul music and doing well at 6 music and R2 cover.

The ammount of launch funding for presenters and promotion may depend on the UTV restructure announcement next week. If they go for someone well known and experienced like Ross or Moyles (if the news on XFM turns out to be just a rumour) they will expect a good fee for getting up early.

TV and radio are totally different skills. TV presenters generally make bad radio presenters imo.

I totally agree,

Pity Radio 2 management don't seem to think that and are constantly using TV "names" rather than skilled radio people for daytime cover.

You would have thought that if there was someone who you think might be worth a shot, they would try them out on a graveyard shift, to see what they were like.

Oh no, these "stars" are parachuted in and we have to endure their cringeworthy presentation.

Well actually, we don't - I just listen to a different station and I'm sure many others do as I do when the likes of Zoe Ball, Patrick Kielty, etc. etc. are on.

Sara Cox, Zoe Ball, Reggie Yates, Fearne Cotton, Paul O'Grady, Michael Ball, Frank Skinner, Dave Gorman, Johnny Vaughan, to name a few have transitioned well from other medium to radio.

You can say that you made a very sweeping statement

Don't forget Nick Ferrari, Iain Dale, Craig Charles, Chris Tarrant or Ana Matronic...

Any more news yet?

Only various stories online about management appointments and the appearance of a holding webpage.

http://www.virginradio.co.uk/

Launches in March. Multiplex on engineering test intermittently. Could start trade tests shortly.....

This?

http://radiotoday.co.uk/2016/01/richard-wilkinson-joins-the-new-virgin-radio/

I wonder which way they go music-wise. The old way: Classic Album Rock after Absolute Radio, or CHR-ish like the current stations in Canada and France.

You would've thought that they would've adopted the CHR format and go in direct competition with Capital? The only difference between both Virgin France and Canada are the specialist dance shows on at the weekend.

I do hope that they'll (in a few years time) launch spin off stations like they did in the past.

Why should they do that? Capital is all over on FM, Virgin only DAB and online. They must find a niche. My hope is a classic/new album rock station like they did in 1993. Absolute is by far like that so they could try that way.

I doubt that UTV would be able to control the format of the station / make the UK version unique from the rest. It's a franchise agreement.

On the other hand, Virgin here means a different thing than Virgin elsewhere. I assume UTV would be allowed to at least give a nod to that station's history before it flipped to Absolute.

Richard Wilkinson's background is CHR, except for the time at 6 music
From radiotoday

,
so might be CHR with a few rock hits mixed in? Will also be easier to network in with the format of the UTV local FM stations?.

Absolute 00s format might work- a rock base but credible pop and dance music mixed in.

It needs to be more than a jukebox, though. It'll be interesting to hear what names they're able to attract to a station with limited coverage.

Virgin Radio France has a similar format.

I hope they go for something like that rather than trying to replicate the original Virgin Radio and sounding just like Absolute.

The whole UTV network rebrand wouldn't work with it also being available on national DAB. But the rock hits would be the same as Virgin in France (Simple Plan being one of their playlisted artists.)

Found the info in the bid

What I was thinking if Virgin only do weekday breakfast and drivetime, now the local UTV network is no longer for sale, then it could take the networked Signal 1 programmes off peak rather than automation?

I'm thinking that Russ Williams must be in the frame for Breakfast.

That would be fine providing they could tempt Jono Coleman back as well.

Russ & Jono on Virgin were leagues ahead of Chris Evans on Radio 1. Politically incorrect, decent music and two genuinely funny guys.

The only decent thing that came out of the Evans era on Virgin was John Revell on a Saturday afternoon. Otherwise Evans did what he's done to pretty much everything he's taken over - it's been screwed up as he seems to be doing to Top Gear at the moment.

That would be ideal but I can't see Jono quitting Oz to come back to the UK.

Virgin arguably had their strongest line-up when Evans owned the station.

Evans, Williams, Abbot, Banks, Cokes and Davies for a while on weekdays. Jonathan Ross at the weekend.

Of course Evans was at the height of his uncontrollable ego-maniac days and systematically dismantled what he built almost as swiftly as he constructed it.

I thought that the signal shows were live on overnights? If you're saying that this idea could work, perhaps they could buy lincs group and / or Time 107.5 in the next couple of years for the Virgin Network? I know they've just sold juice, but imagine the listening figures.

UTV had a major drain in launching UTV Ireland TV,
http://www.independent.ie/business/m...-31486170.html

now UTV will be just a radio group and assuming the new Virgin, Talksport 2 and Talkradio station launches go well, they maybe able to buy more local stations later?