I tuned into this for a while yesterday when Pat Sharp was on air. I was quite surprised at how good it was. Decent variety of music, with a bit of a guitar edge compared to other AC stations.

My slight worry is whether Nation really know who they're appealing to. Is it meant to have a slight male skew (that's how it comes across on-air)? I'm not expecting huge results when they report on RAJAR, but who knows? They have certainly brought in some great talent and the end product sounds better than I'd have thought. A bit like Century in its golden days (but more guitars).

I guessed as much from some of the recent comments - but, as I was previously very critical of them, it's worth confirming that the generic Pat Sharp drops between 11 and 1 have now been replaced by proper voice tracking. Much better.

Tony Blackburn tweeted this last week,

"In the fist week in December I have something very special @ThamesRadio @mydragonradio I’ll tell you about it nearer the time !! ""

Any Idea as to what it may be???

Something very unusual yesterday... Foxy was talking about the result of the US election, so was either live or recorded some of his links while the show was already on air.

My guess is the latter as, when I was listening, he referred to the fact that Clinton's campaign manager had sent the crowds home, but didn't mention Trump's victory being declared or his speech, which had both happened since.

He also said that, if we wanted in-depth analysis, we'd be listening to the Today programme, so I got a slight sense that the bit I heard was a cursory nod to the election that he'd been asked to do. Did anyone hear any more?

Still, I did wonder whether Thames would be able reflect major news at all, so good to know they're trying to.

Thames website hacked? http://www.thamesradio.london/

Not sure about a hack.
Looks like a rogue edit or update to their CMS has knackered things.

It's back to normal...

Tony Blackburn has just announced on Facebook he's doing a week of live shows on Thames between 1 and 4 pm starting December 5th ☺☺

I wonder if he will be on Dragon Radio at the same time -----
Regards

So Thames have the ability to produce live shows, that's good news and hopefully bodes well for the future.

Although I can't find that particular post on Facebook

Knowing Tony he'll have volunteered to go to Wales, just so he can do it live!

Either that or he's hiring/borrowing a studio in London as I don't think Nation have one there.

Thames Radio sounds still like more of a Capital Gold revival music-wise than a Capital FM revival. Thames is more easy/medium tempo music like Magic than upbeat what Capital was and still is with their CHR format. Also the imaging is very lousy/dull. I hope they tweak it more upbeat with music and imaging like Capital did in the 80's.

The problem is not the station it's down to the music of today.

Capital FM was 'London's hit music station' and mixed the current chart songs with music of yesterday. If Thames did the same it would sound just like Capital does now with a few oldies thrown in and wouldn't sound right.

They need some live programming during weekdays, especially at Breakfast.

Great news! I'm sure that'll be on Dragon too, then I can listen at work

Here's the post in its entirety

Good morning all on this very sunny Sunday morning here in Hertfordshire, I hope it's nice where you are. I'm looking forward to our get together this afternoon at 4pm on KMFM and The Greatest Hits Network. There's a special Mini Cruise up for grabs this month on my show on The Greatest Hits for all those of you who like the music of Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons and I'll be announcing the winner of last months P&O Ferries Mini cruise which was a special cruise for New Years Eve. Some exciting news and a great competition prize coming up on my shows on Thames Radio & Dragon Radio soon which will start on December 5th as I'm going to be doing a show every day on there between 1pm & 4pm "Live" for a week with a very special prize for you to have a go at winning. This hasn't been announced yet so don't tell anyone !! If we get my studio up and running easily this afternoon I'll be with you on Periscope and Facebook some time between 3pm & 4pm this afternoon for a chat.Have a great day and see you at 4pm

No it isn't you can still sounds like the old days of Capital, only with upbeat classic CHR 80's en 90's tracks, NO 70's in between. Good example is CBS FM NYC, what exactly sound the same as Z100 NYC in the 80's also the imaging...

Talk about Chinese Whispers!
*rolleyes*

Sounds like the studio from home has been sorted for Tony he's got loads of music

Wow, A WEEK live! Radio should be live 24/7 365 days a year. Not only boring VT's!

Although I don't disagree with that, a few of these low profile stations which are quite nice to have as an extra choice probably just would not at exist at all if they were live 24/7/365.

Though I always think that Radio Jackie manages it fine for what is supposed to be a very limited TSA (Even though it's just as good as the London stations for me).

Tony Collins brought the original Thames so Jackie could go live on FM and has views on how Jackie should be run and so far has been successful.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.t...y-in-the-life?

Thames/Dragon however is trying to be another Magic with Neil Fox at breakfast, but without the resources and using voicetracking and home studios. Hopefully will get ad revenue so it can survive and get more resources?

If anyone's interested, I've blogged about why I don't know whether to be amazed or terrified by Thames...

https://capitalmlondon.wordpress.com...-thames-radio/

Any thoughts welcome!

If Tony Blackburn said his shows will be live then why lie, so he's doing the show from either home, somewhere in London or as someone suggested Cardiff. If Neil sounds live why would he lie too? I believe the station must be building a studio in london or have one. If they can carry the investment why lie. These Radio guys know people and have money themselves who could invest and will take a return for airtime plus a salary.

A total of two ads in the last hour. That ain't good.

Oh, and in the 3pm news: "a report into the Croydon tram crash is due to be published". Er ... it was out an hour ago. Poor, very poor.

Music's good but Dean Martin's VT links lack the personality I know he has, and the station as a whole still sounds cheap despite having some decent talent.

Not quite as bad as Encore Radio, who replayed the 11am news at 12 on Friday - complete with the intro to the two-minute silence.