Thats also what this site from 2008 says as another Indian radio group had franchised Virgin for India (and presumably TIML wanted to use the Virgin brand in India) but confusing there as an option for TIML to keep Virgin for the UK at extra cost which TIML did not take up.
https://gigaom.com/2008/06/01/419-vi...r-106-million/

Hr seems to be bearing up....

..........and they got 409,000 and seem very pleased with the result

This is a really good result for Virgin, particularly given the audio issues.

I wonder, though, how much of this is misattribution due to brand recognition? Not a bad problem to have, in any case.

I would say the brand recognition has helped but a lot of it has to do with better marketing than TalkRADIO (hence the big difference in figures), the Virgin group were using social media before the launch to inform people of the re-launch, which has worked, TalkSPORT has only recently started advertising it's digital stations on air.

Anyone else listening to Virgin (and/or talkRadio and talkSport2) on the Aberdeen mux?

For at least the last 12 days the sound on all 3 stations has been pausing for 3-4 seconds around once every 2 minutes. The sound then continues from where it paused then a few seconds later the it catches back up to real time. It has been making all the stations unlistenable here. I would assume it is a fault between wherever the stations are being fed from and the tx site.

I have emailed The Wireless Group about it but not had a response. I assume the stations are fine on the SDL transmitters?

Goes to show you don't need big well known presenters for the station to become successful.

Quite, a huge brand name will help. Oh wait thats still a name.

Yep, there's almost certain to be people ticking the box next to Virgin Radio having never listened to it.

What's more, while 400k listeners nationally is a good start, I'm not sure you'd call it a "success" yet.

Absolute Radio has increased its reach both quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year, so that would suggest it's not simply a case of mistaken identity.

Also, I understand that the people who deliver the RAJAR diaries have a chat with you first to discuss which stations you listen to - so I'd imagine that process would iron out any such issues.

In the last 10 minutes or so the volume has just jumped up - with any luck this means I'll be able to listen to it in the shower again - the extractor fan and shower have been drowning it out for the last few weeks - Magic Chilled, Kisstory etc have been fine.

I didn't say anything about mistaken identity. Absolutely (no pun intended) no one will be ticking Virgin Radio thinking it's Absolute. But plenty of people will put an x in the box because they've heard of Virgin as a holistic brand.

Just unfounded silliness TBH. Just no logic to believe anyone would do this.

That's good - it was so low on DAB until now (and the sound seemed poor, even in comparison to other 80kbps stations).

It's interesting to read the Chris Moyles Radio X thread - lots of people who apparently want a station with music from 00s as well as newer music, not exclusively indie. Virgin should be perfect for that late-20 to mid-30s audience that the BBC aren't really catering for.

Branson's Virgin team are masters of promotion with the launch on the train and posters etc, and why TWG have paid for the franchise.
Will be interesting to see what News Corp do, they have music radio interests in Australia, so might probably keep investment and use the Sun and Times to crosspromote the station, along with Talksport, to further boost listening figures?

The downside is Virgin are also franchised with the Liberty media corporation for cable TV promotion which clashes with News Corps Sky shareholding. But if Virgin Radio starts to be profitable for News Corp, then the cable TV link may not be too important.

Volume seems even lower than normal, not sure about higher.

Indeed. Switching between Virgin and ANY other station is several db difference. Have to remember to turn the radio down considerably before changing presets. Sort it out TWG!

Tried in the car, Virgin's volume is notably lower than the other stations on D2. Has anything official been said about the issue?

Yeah, after that temporary boost is gone even quieter, can't hear it in the kitchen now

Anyone still listening to virgin i gave up after giving it a good chance its ok but i just felt the music could be a bit random sometimes, playing stuff like Pink and Justin Timberlake if there going to play those why ignore artists like Sam Smith and Ellie Goulding.

Also lots of rock and indie artists missing.

I think Kate Lawler and Matt Richardson should co host a show I think they need someone to bounce off, of and bring in Ben Jones weekdays.

Perhaps that's what they mean by their slogan "Music you'll want to turn up?" As in you have to turn up the volume higher than any other station to be able to hear it!

They seem to have fixed the volume now - kinda hard to pull me back from Union Jack mind - I like the latters uncluttered approach! Back on in the kitchen mind, some good tunes too - hard to get back into the habit of tuning in though.

Agreed. I would say I am right in Virgins target audience.
I think I wanted to like this station far more than I actually did like the station.

Music policy isn't quite right and the air staff are possibly a bit bland. I still think it has potential though with a few tweaks.

Tuned in on the commute home one day last week. This time though it was switched off not because of the music and the presenters - it was the low volume that I couldn't turn up enough without distortion setting in on the car radio. Shame.

Why do they never bother to update there schedule page like today it still says Jamie East but he is off. They never bother to say who the guest is either on the virgin take over show on Sundays ?

Because they have no listeners!