RadioInsight

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First Listen: Boom Radio UK

Posted: 14 Feb 2021 12:00 PM PST
https://radioinsight.com/ross/204956...boom-radio-uk/



When I began covering the new Classic Rock format, along with the
burgeoning Oldies format’s return to FM in the late ‘80s, I could count on
a general manager or program director telling me “we’re not a nostalgia
station; just because we play old records, doesn’t mean we live in the
past.� And that was more than 30 years ago when stations that played even
20-year-old songs were still willing to be called “Oldies,� rather than
“Classic Hits.�

Nine months ago, when “okay, boomer� went from meme to front page news
story, I wondered if Canada’s “Boom FMs� were in any way nervous about
their station names. Soon after, generational divisions were upstaged by
every other event of 2020 (even if they informed our other issues). On Feb.
14, veteran U.K. radio execs Phil Riley and David Lloyd doubled down with
the official launch of Boom Radio, after months of pre-publicity and
several weeks of on-air testing.

Boom Radio is in DAB in London and other major markets; it’s currently
streaming-only elsewhere. Its fortunes will be a test of how upset the
audience of BBC Radio 2 really is about the full-service behemoth’s ongoing
musical modernization, including the addition of relatively contemporary
dance music. Are older listeners grudgingly still along for the ride, or
have they come to sort of like this Clean Bandit fella?

It will also be a test of how older audiences want to self-identify, after
30+ years of radio dictum that listeners don’t wish to be reminded about
their age. I doubt Riley and Lloyd think of their audience as “living in
the past,� but Boom is talking to people who aren’t uncomfortable visiting
there. In the pre-launch promos, both station presenters and listeners
talking about the first single they bought. (Many were ‘60s MOR. The newest
first single was by Donny Osmond and it was interesting to hear that female
listener talk about the Osmonds as brash foreigners in the way that
Americans talk about the Beatles.)

One Boom Radio music promo lays out the mission statement as “the music you
grew up with, the music you discovered later, the music your parents liked
[that you came to like], the [more contemporary] music that you came to
like [the song hook here was from Adele] and the music you like now.�
That’s the remit of any gold-based AC, but I loved hearing a station lay it
out that way.Â*

I’m going to update this story later in the week, including more of a look
at the U.K.’s upper-demo radio landscape, but Boom Radio has been a big
story in the U.K., and I didn’t want to wait on a First Listen.

Here’s the first official hour of Boom with former Capital Radio morning
host Graham Dene at 10 a.m., local time on February 14 from the station’s
Website:

Beatles, “All You Need Is Love�
Abba, “One of Us�
Beach Boys, “Sail on Sailor�
Paul Anka, “(All of A Sudden) My Heart Sings�
Chris Farlowe, “Out of Time�
Aretha Franklin, “Respect�
Frank Sinatra, “Come Fly With Me�
Becky Hill, “Forever Young�
Mel Carter, “Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me�


And here’s the segment I heard just before 3 p.m. local time with Roger Day:

Ben E. King, “Stand By Me�
Starland Vocal Band, “Afternoon Delight�
Move, “Flowers in the Rain� (the song that kicked off BBC Radio 1 in 1967;
“we’ve gotten a lot of requests to make this the first song. I don’t know
why,â€� Day joked).Â*
Tavares, “More Than A Woman�
Spanky & Our Gang, “Sunday Will Never Be the Same�
Elton John, “Kiss the Bride�
Beatles, “She’s Leaving Home� (played as part of an Album of the Day
tribute to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, one of a number of songs
encountered over the course of the day’s listening and logs that were
themselves salvos at a previous generation)
Michael Bublé, “Lost�
Bruce Channel, “Hey! Baby�
Queen, “Another One Bites the Dust�
Bob Dylan, “Forever Young� (in 1974, and when Rod Stewart released his take
on the same title, it was a blessing to one’s kids; Day frontsold it as “an
anthem for boomers, growing old disgracefully�)
Chas McDivitt Skiffle Group, “Freight Train�
Marianne Faithfull, “Come And Stay With Me�
Lightning Seeds, “Life of Riley�
Brook Benton, “Endlessly�
Hollies, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother�
Roxy Music, “Same Old Scene�
Diana Ross, “Love Hangover�




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FCC Report 2/14: Alabama Operator's Stations Designated For License Hearing

Posted: 14 Feb 2021 11:11 AM PST
https://radioinsight.com/headlines/2...cense-hearing/



Former Alabama Speaker of the House and Auburn Networks owner Michael
Hubbards stations have been designated for a license revocation hearing
over whether Hubbard should remain qualified to hold an FCC license.

Hubbard was convicted in July 2016 of six felony charges for misusing his
office for personal gain and had his appeal denied last August. Hubbard
filed in September to sell the broadcast assets to Lee Perrymans Auburn
Networks LLC for $775,000.

The sale filing requested an exception to the FCCs Jefferson Radio policy,
which generally prohibits the assignment or transfer of a station license
when character qualification issues are pending against the licensee. The
FCC has determined that an exception here is not warranted under existing
precedent and is holding the transfer in abeyance pending the resolution
of the proceeding.

Perryman will continue to operate Classic Hits Wings 94.3 WGZZ Waverly,
News/Talk 1400 WANI Opelika/98.7 W254AY Auburn, Sports ESPN Auburn 106.7
W294AR Auburn/WGZZ-HD3, Soft AC 96.3 WLEE W242AX/WGZZ-HD4 via LMA through
the proceedings. Auburn Networks also owns a pending application for a
translator on 105.1 Auburn and a CP for low-power TV WHBD-LD Auburn.


The FCC has issued fines to three operators for failing to file timely
license renewals.

Blount County Broadcasting Companys 1470 WBCR Alcoa TN was fined $3000 for
not filing before April 1, 2020. Its application was not filed until July
27, four days ahead of its August 1 expiration.

Iglesia Sinai Pentecostess 105.9 WLDC-LP Goshen IN and Gerard Media LLCs
106.7 W294CY Valparaiso IN were each fined $1500 for not filing before the
April 1 deadline. WLDC-LP filed its renewal on June 25, while W294CY did
not file until July 23.


The FCC continues to reach consent decrees with operators over missing
documents from their online political files. Each of the groups have agreed
to admission of liability and compliance plans:

Bott Communications, Inc. licensee of KLTE Kirksville MO
Maquoketa Broadcasting Company licensee of KMAQ and KMAQ-FM Maquoketa IA
Powell Broadcasting Company licensee of KKMA and KLEM Le Mars and KQNU
Onawa IA
River City Radio, Inc. licensee of of KCJJ Iowa City IA
Times-Citizen Communications, Inc. licensee of KIFG and KIFG-FM Iowa Falls
IA
Trending Media, Inc. licensee of KFJB and KXIA Marshalltown IA
Zimmer Radio, Inc. licensee of KSYN and KZYM Joplin and KJMK and KXDG
Joplin MO

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