We’ve added a rising star from Heart to our daytime presenter line-up – Andy Bush joins us to host weekday afternoons and weekend programming.

Currently the host of the number one breakfast show in the West Country, Andy’s contribution to the industry has been well recognised with no less than five Sony Radio Academy Award nominations, including the prestigious Best Breakfast Show and Best Entertainment categories. His Heart West Country breakfast show is listened to by 362,000 listeners, 17% of its potential audience. (Source: Rajar Q4, 2011)

Andy joins our stellar line-up which includes Christian O’Connell, Frank Skinner, Ian Wright, Ronnie Wood, Dave Gorman and Geoff Lloyd.

Andy said:

Since grabbing a coffee with Clive Dickens 5 years ago , I knew there and then that Absolute Radio is where I wanted to be. It’s a radio station with a tradition of excellence, the guts to take risks, and a leadership that knows how to get the best from its talent. It’s going to be a real honour to go to work with so many people I’ve admired for so long. I’m well excited about the idea of sharing a lift with Wrighty or making Geoff Lloyd a cup of tea. Most importantly to me Absolute Radio holds a huge stake in shaping radio’s future – the inspirational ‘Redefining Radio’ seminars proof of a confident, intelligent brand thats a market leader not a follower. My wife and little girl are very excited about our move to London and I can’t wait to get started and play some great music. Finally being able to stick on The Stone Roses will be the sweetest moment of my career to date.

Andy is also an accomplished writer in both print and magazine and will be familiar to viewers of Sky News where he has appeared as a guest commentator.

Andy Bush will join the Absolute Radio on-air team on April 2^nd,broadcasting on daily on Absolute Radio Monday to Friday from 1-5pm and weekend programming, details of which to follow.

Welcome Andy!

Read what Broadcast have written about us here

Noel Gallagher – Dream On
The 4th single from ‘Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds’ – one of the biggest releases of 2011. Absolute Radio is dedicating an evening of special programming to Noel on Sunday 4th of March, which will include a live concert and new documentary.

The Maccabeess – Feel to Follow
The Maccabees have really upped their game with new album ‘Given To The Wild’. This epic new single is the follow-up to the excellent ‘Pelican’.

M83 – Midnight City
A big track by French musician Anthony Gonzalez which has seen plenty of TV syncs the last couple of months. Its from his double-album ‘Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming’.

Foster The People – Don’t Stop (Color on the Walls)
The L.A. band’s debut album ‘Torches’, featuring the anthem ‘Pumped Up Kicks’ has now sold over a million copies worldwide.

The Absolute Radio Network has posted a solid performance this RAJAR, significantly increasing its reach by over half a million – taking the station to 2.8 million listeners, (+27%) year on year . On the quarter, the station has remained steady (-1.0%).  Absolute Radio Network’s hours have risen to 18.9 million, an increase of +18.6% year on year with only a dip on the quarter of -7.2%.

The Absolute Radio main station now has a 1.6 million reach, an increase of 16.3% year on year, and stable on the quarter (-0.3%). The station now has 11.2 million hours, an increase of 18.1% year on year and 8.8% on the quarter.  Absolute Radio also enjoyed reach & hours gains in London – Year on Year hours (+29.8%) & Quarter on Quarter hours (+11.5%)

A strong RAJAR for us bolstered by both on the quarter and the year in the highly competitive London Radio Market. It’s also a great set of numbers  from the Commercial Radio Breakfast Show of the Year – Christian O’Connell.

Source:
RAJAR / Ipsos – MORI / RSMB, period ending December 2011, all stations and groups results are reported on their specified reporting period and TSA.

We are all set to broadcast a series of special programmes for ‘Noel Gallagher Night’ in an evening of music and conversation with one of Britain’s most successful and charismatic musicians. The line-up looks like this:

• An exclusive stage set recorded at Noel Gallagher’s sell-out gig at the O2 Arena in London
• A documentary on Noel’s extensive career and a music special in which Noel talks picks some of his favourite tracks.

The Noel Gallagher documentary – ‘The Good Rebel –  The Story of the Boy  from Burnage’ is set to be narrated by Manchester music expert and host of Absolute Radio 90s, Pete Mitchell – who talks to Noel, his fans and the people who played a part in his career.

From his life in music from the early days as part of Inspiral Carpet’s road crew, to world domination in Oasis and now one of the biggest selling solo albums of 2011, Noel Gallagher with his High Flying Birds.

Noel Gallagher Night airs on Absolute Radio on Sunday 4^th March from 7pm – and the documentary will be specifically repeated on Absolute Radio 90s on the 5^th of March at 9pm and Absolute Radio 00s 14^th of March at 6pm.

Read what Music Week are saying about us here

We are rolling out our biggest marketing campaign ever with a brand new creative for ‘Faces for Radio’. We are also making history by claiming a radio media first with a dynamic ‘Now Playing’ live feed on digital outdoor sites! This feature uses live RSS feeds to indicate the artist that is currently playing live on Absolute Radio giving you an  immediate and interactive taste of the Absolute Radio
playlist.

The new ‘Faces for Radio’ creative showcases our flagship DJ’s: Christian O’Connell, Frank Skinner and Dave Gorman as well as featuring Rock ‘N’ Roll Football host  Ian Wright and Hometime Show’s Geoff Lloyd.

Refreshed from the first ‘Face for Radio’ creative , this campaign is designed to further raise brand awareness, encourage trial and intrigue with the positioning line “Presenting for your curiosity – The Faces For Radio”. The design includes Wrighty as the ‘Faces For Radio’ host, presenting his fellow station DJs locked away behind bars.

The new ‘Faces for Radio’ campaign will commence on 1st February 2012 with a digital launch on 13^th February which includes outdoor, digital media and print media – with a combination of digital, backlit and scrolling 48 and 6 sheets specifically focussing in central and greater London, so make sure you look out for them!

There will be plenty of ‘Faces For Radio’ activity at  www.absoluteradio.co.uk and we are also using special banners that will appear across the ‘Absolute Radio Mobile App Network’ which of course includes our recently launched and free to download 6^th generation Absolute Radio player apps. We’ll also be placing the creative across a number of 3^rd party websites which will feature the ‘Faces for Radio’ creative with the ‘Now Playing’ RSS feed.

The last ‘Faces for Radio’ campaign in 2011 helped drive us forward to a ten year record audience high according to RAJAR! We’ll keep you posted on all of the campaign updates as and when; in the meantime read what Campaign have said about us here

On the day he celebrated his 55th birthday, he also revealed to listeners of his Saturday morning show that he is set to become a father with long-term partner Cath.

The comedian and award-winning radio presenter spoke in hushed tones as he cleared his throat and said, “I have something of an announcement to make….I’m going to be a Father”.

His co-presenter Alan Cochrane immediately replied, “Congratulations! Are you paranoid of any jokes you’ve made about ageing fathers in the past?”

To which Frank replied, “David Jason wasn’t he 67? The way I’m seeing it it that I probably won’t have to deal with those difficult teenage years. I’ve already made certain pledges – it means I’ll be up for the show a lot earlier and things like that and what I’m saying to the listeners is – get knitting!”

You can hear the moment Frank revealed his big news here and read how some of the UK’s biggest news outlets covered the story – such as the Daily Mail and The Sun

Don’t forget to listen to Frank’s Absolute Radio show every Saturday morning from 8am.

Gotye – Somebody That I Used to Know
Moves up to A-list – a massive record.

Coldplay – Charlie Brown
Next single (March) – moves up to B-list.

The Fray – Heartbeats
The lead track from the U.S. band’s 3rd album ‘Scars & Stories’ (out 5th March) is added to our C-list this week.

This week’s RadioTalk is a look back at our  Redefining Radio event. The podcast is presented by Matt Deegan and is a round table discussion on how the internet is transforming radio, especially relating to partnerships, social media, targeted advertising, new platforms and devices and digital strategies.

The podcast has some audio from the Redefining Radio event itself including:

• Ed Vaizey MP’s opening
  comments, relating to the UK’s digital strategy and the importance of
  radio within that
• James Wigley’s
  presentation of Absolute Radio’s Instream model
• Tim Davie’s comments on
  the importance of growth and innovation in the radio industry and what new
  opportunities are on the horizon

Click here for the podcast  

Anyway, the lack of a digest last week meant that I sort of missed the boat on any coverage whatsoever on this year’s Consumer Electronics Exposition.  Which like Ron Burgundy, was kind of a big deal.  The International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new product announcements.  Thank you Wikipedia.  I missed you.

Past consumer electronics revealed at CES have included HDTV’s, VCR’s, Tetris, and DVD’s – all staple commodities that we either take for granted, or used to take for granted and simply don’t care about today, so it’s usually a good indicator of what we can expect to see in our living rooms, studies, bedrooms and kitchens in the very near future.  In fact I suppose it’s a bit like Spaceship Earth at Epcot.  That’s right Epcot, the world’s most boring theme park.  Unless, you run into the animals from the 100 Acre Wood.  Anyway, it’s time to take a look at what was on show at this year’s CES…

Personal favourite has got to be the Samsung Smart Window.  Is it a TV?  Is it a window?  Is it a massive tablet?  Is it an elephant?  It’s all of the above!  Apart from an elephant.  I’ll let the chap in this video explain, as by the sound of the strain in his voice, he’s been doing nothing but explain the Smart Window since the beginning of time, and as such nobody could explain it better.  Part TV, part computer, part, well, window, it’s set to revolutionise the domestic domain and block out all natural light for years to come.

If you prefer your television to be of the more traditional variety, then why not take a look at the new LG and Samsung OLED TV’s.  Here’s a video for LG’s offering.  I mean just look at it.  It’s fit.  It’s Rachel Bilson fit.  I don’t know if it’s wrong to fancy a television, but I think I do.  Not only do they look the sex, but they’re 3D ready, and smart.  A bit like going to take Voderman to see Avatar.  I know, I’ve used the Voderman gag before.  But I liked it, and you’re only reading this, I’m the one writing it.  So it stays.  No word on how much the TVs cost, but it’ll be a small fortune.

Finally, because I’m a bit of a geek, and because of their Xbox’s presence at our Redefining Radio event, it’s probably worth mentioning that Kinect is coming to your desktop PC or Laptop very soon.  Just imagine what this means.  Powerpoint is going to be so much fun!  And Excel!  Oh my god Excel, the thought of using your hands and voice to autosum and create pie charts just fills me with a joy only usually found within the first moments of waking up on a Christmas morning.

So thats it for another week, I leave you with this baby (words fail me), the world’s most impressive dog, and my favourite Superbowl commercial of all time.

Same time next week. Woo!