PAST RADIO
NEWS
End
For Evans - Breakfast For Penk
28 June 2001
Virgin
Radio has confirmed that Chris Evans is "no longer a presenter
at the station." In a statement released today (Thursday),
the station has said that Evans' was in breach of the
terms of his contract and that under the circumstances
they were left with no option but to terminate his contract.
Virgin
has also confirmed that Steve Penk will take over the
breakfast show from July 9th.
Francis
Currie
To Programme Chrysalis Flagship Station
18 June 2001
Francis Currie has been appointed Programme Director of
Chrysalis Radio’s flagship station, Heart 106.2, London.
It marks Currie’s return to programming a major station
in the capital.
He
worked on programming Magic 105.4 during a period when
that station, owned by Emap Performance, overtook Heart
in the ratings. Currie is set to take up his new post
next month, replacing Jana Rangooni, who departed the
station back in April.
Francis
Currie will report to Group Programme Director Jim Hicks
and Managing Director Steve Parkinson.
Currie
has held Programming roles at Invicta FM (Kent) and Birmingham’s
BRMB. After those positions, he joined Melody Radio and
helped re-brand it as Magic 105.4 following the sale of
the station by Lord Hanson to Emap in 1997. In 1999, Francis
Currie moved to join Emap’s digital music tv channel The
Box, which the company had acquired in a multi-million
pound deal from former Radio Caroline Sales Director Vincent
Monsey. During Currie’s reign the service became the top-rated
music channel on Sky Digital. Last year, Currie became
Music Director for Emap and worked on an array of cross-media
projects including launches for Kiss and Q television.
Currie will continue to be a Director of First Person
Media, an integrated creative media company, which he
formed some months back.
Commenting
on the development, Jim Hicks, Chrysalis Radio’s Group
Programme Director, said: “I am delighted to welcome
Francis to Heart 106.2. In n increasingly competitive
London market, Francis’ experience in successfully growing
Magic 105.4 from its position as a total outsider to one
of the top three commercial radio stations in London is
a real credit to his talent. This appointment will help
strengthen Heart 106.2’s position for the future.”
Francis
Currie added: “I am thrilled to have been asked to
lead the programming for Heart 106.2 at such an exciting
time. It is already one of the most successful radio stations
in London and there is a real opportunity to build on
that success over the coming months. I can’t wait to start
working with the rest of the team…”
Francis
Currie is to undertake a complete review of every aspect
of programming at Heart 106.2.
Sunrise
Radio Fined
12 June 2001
London-wide Asian station Sunrise Radio has been fined
£10,000 by the Radio Authority for breaching the Broadcasting
Act 1990. The station broadcast an interview with Dr Avtar
Lit, owner of the station, in advance of his candidacy
in the General Election. The station twice carried extracts
from an interviews with Lit in which he expressed the
political dissatisfaction of people living in Ealing and
Southall, and outlined his policy proposals for the constituency.
Richard
Hooper, Chair of the Radio Authority, said: “Those
who hold radio licences should be in no doubt that they
may not use that privileged position to publicise their
own views on political matters. The Broadcasting Act and
our Codes make it clear that this applies at all times,
not just during elections.”
Members
of the Authority took into account Sunrise’s admission
of error and the absence of further breaches. However,
they also voiced concern about the implication of this
breach for compliance issues at Sunrise Radio. The Authority
has asked the station for assurances that suitable action
will be undertaken to ensure future compliance with the
Act and the Codes.
The
Wireless Group Sell Scot FM to GMG For £25.5m
11 June 2001
Kelvin MacKenzie's Wireless Group has entereted into a
deal to sell Scot FM for £25.5 million. The price
represents a multiple of historic revenue of around 13
times. In the year to 31 December 2000, Scot FM had pre-tax
losses of £900,000 on turnover of £3.7m. The
central Scotland station was acquired by The Wireless
Group as part of its acuisition of Independent Radio Group
in December 1999. It was then valued at £10 million.
XL
Jock Dougie King Recovering After Heart Attack
5 June 2001
Presenter Dougie King is in Kettering General Hospital
in Northamptonshire after suffering a heart attack. King,
whose career includes stints at Hereward, WGMS and KCBC
is current breakfast presenter at Radio XL, the Fenland
commercial station.
Pirates
Raid Commercial Radio Station?
4 June 2001
For the second time in a year, thieves have stolen the
broadcast equipment of 107.7 Chelmer FM, the local radio
station covering Chelmsford, Maldon, Danbury, Witham and
South Woodham Ferrers.
At 11.20pm on Friday (1/6) the station went off-air
following the removal of transmitting equipment worth
over £10,000 at the Danbury site.
Commenting
on events, 107.7 Chelmer FM's Managing Director, Martin
Mumford told The RADIO Magazine: “It's
so frustrating, the equipment stolen can only be used
for broadcasting a radio signal and again it was only
the Chelmer FM equipment taken from a site shared with
other organisations. It seems clear that we are being
deliberately targeted, probably by a pirate radio station.”
He
added: “This time all of our equipment was stolen,
so it was impossible to establish even a low-power standby
signal. We reported the incident to our transmission engineers,
ntl shortly after 1am and they worked through the early
hours of Saturday morning to source and build the equipment
we needed and courier it to Danbury.'
“On
Saturday morning, listeners deluged the radio station
with telephone calls to find out why Darynn Garrett's
Breakfast Show was not on-air. Thankfully, by midday Saturday
with ntl's loan equipment installed, we were back on air,
missing just over 12 hours of programmes…..we are now
back to normal….”
