UK

A long-standing Jersey presenter has retired from broadcasting after 35 years.
Phil Taylor, who was well known for presenting various shows including a Sunday afternoon request programme, announced his departure on social media.
He wrote: “18.00 today I came off-air at BBC Radio Jersey for the final time to join the ranks of retired radio presenters.
“It has been the absolute privilege and pleasure of the last 35 years playing “The Music That Matters To You, my listeners.”
“I have honestly enjoyed every moment of that time playing your choice of music, sometimes a regularly played tune, sometimes a rarely heard cracking classic and occasionally a forgotten pearl.
“Thank you so much for inviting me into your homes, cars and workplaces.”
He continued: “It is a privilege that I never took for granted, ever.
“Until next we meet, wherever, whenever, please be kind, tolerant, understanding and accepting of each other. Thank you.
“Phil Taylor – Retired BBC Radio Jersey presenter.” […]

Nigel Farage will return to host his evening show on GB News Radio next week.

The MP will be back on the radio and television station on Tuesday following his election as the new member of parliament for Clacton-on-Sea in Essex.
Commenting on his return, Nigel said: “I’m very much looking forward to coming back to GBNews, and to a job I have thoroughly enjoyed over the last three years.
“GB News is now here to stay as a mainstream broadcaster in this country. Thank goodness for that.”
He stepped away for his show after announcing that he was returning to politics as leader of Reform UK and running for Parliament as the prospective MP for Clacton at the General Election.
Lee Anderson will also be returning to GBNews, to present his Friday night show Lee Anderson’s Real World. […]

David Hamilton is celebrating 65 years in broadcasting with a new autobiography, David Hamilton`s Long and Winding Road.
The book tells the story of his journey from growing up on a remote farm in Sussex where he listened to the stars on the wireless, of returning there many years later to broadcast from an attic in his farmhouse on Boom Radio, becoming at 85 the oldest person to do a daily show on national radio, and of all the places in between.
One of the first DJs to play rock’n’roll on the British Forces Network in Germany during his National Service in the RAF in 1959, he did one of the first interviews with a new group called The Beatles on ABC TV in 1963, was the first face to be seen on Thames TV in 1968 and had a daily show that was broadcast on both Radio 1 and Radio 2 in the 70s.
On BBC and commercial radio he has hosted over 13,000 shows.
In one of the frankest autobiographies of the year he tells of his Life, Loves and Lessons Learned.
David Hamilton`s Long And Winding road is published on July 19 by Austin Macauley and can be found here. […]

Classic FM presenters Dan Walker and Karthi Gnanasegeram are to host a new nine-part series called Perfect Pitch.

Launching this evening at 9pm, Karthi and Dan will feature the classical music that has soundtracked sport’s most iconic moments and inspired our nation’s famous sport stars.
The first series of Perfect Pitch, devised and presented by Karthi, was broadcast on Classic FM in 2019, and for this new series, Karthi is teaming up with the station’s Classic FM Breakfast host Dan Walker.
In the first programme, the pair will celebrate the many big occasions where sport and classical music have come together. Highlights are Pavarotti’s legendary recording of ‘Nessun dorma’ by Puccini, synonymous with Italia 90, Ravel’s Bolero that accompanied Torvill and Dean’s legendary routine at the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo in 1984, and Malakai Bayoh’s performance of ‘Abide with Me’ that was sung by the young treble ahead of the FA Cup final in May this year.
The first guest, joining Karthi on Friday 19th July, will be Colin Jackson, the two-time world and Commonwealth champion, and Olympic silver medallist.
Dan Walker said: “Sport and classical music just work when they are put together. They pull on our emotions, they give our hopes and dreams a soundtrack and set us up for the biggest sporting occasions on the planet. Every Friday on Perfect Pitch, we’ll ask some superstars about their perfect warm-up tracks and the music that always gets them in the zone to produce their best when it really matters.”
Karthi Gnanasegaram said: “My passions growing up were classical music and sport and I loved playing in orchestras and being part of sports teams. I feel very lucky to still be involved with both, and in this second series of Perfect Pitch on Classic FM, to chat with some of the biggest sports stars who understand that mix of personal and team inspiration. Musicians must work together for the orchestra to be in sync, in the same way that sports people work with their team to achieve their goal. It’s fascinating talking to athletes about that spirit of collaboration and the power of classical music to enrich their lives.” […]

Welsh telecoms company Ogi has signed a new deal with two of south Wales’s community radio stations in a new cross-station partnership.
From this month, Ogi will sponsor breakfast on both Bro Radio in the Vale of Glamorgan and GTFM in the Valleys.
Commenting on the new partnership, Ogi’s Brand Marketing Director, Sarah Vining, said: “Our brand has become synonymous with community-driven partnerships – and that’s something we’re very proud of.
“We jumped at the chance to continue to support local radio stations, like Bro Radio, in an area where we’re building our network. We’ve already funded their St Athan transmitter and supported a number of their events, including the recent community awards.
“Sponsoring the breakfast shows on both Bro Radio and GTFM feels like a natural fit for us. All three are about connecting communities: they do it through music and chat, and we do it digitally with our full fibre services. Together, we’re powering-up local communities, strengthening the sense of belonging to the place we call home.”
Nathan Spackman Bro Radio’s Operations Director said: “Community Radio stations like Bro Radio and GTFM are embedded in their communities, so this partnership gives companies a chance to access audience that are harder to reach through larger brands, affordably and easily.
“We’re delighted to welcome Ogi on air as our partners for Vale Breakfast, as we look to continue waking the Vale of Glamorgan up with local news, information and great music every single morning.”
Terry Mann, Station Manager at GTFM, added: “It’s great to welcome Ogi on board as the new sponsor of Valleys Breakfast. By working with Bro Radio, we’re able to provide radio coverage across much of southeast Wales for advertisers of all sizes, with the revenue generated helping us to continue to deliver high quality local radio, offer new opportunities to volunteers and support our communities.”
Since 2023, both stations have been able to offer both FM and DAB coverage to listeners and advertisers across Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan and the Valleys in southeast Wales.
Ogi is currently rolling out a new full fibre broadband network in places like the Vale of Glamorgan and Rhondda Cynon Taf, offering next-generation fibre to the premises services, often for the very first time. […]

A new consortium has been created to apply for the East Antrim small-scale DAB licence.
The team behind East Antrim SSDAB includes Blast106, Belfast 89 and Sunshine 1049 who have already launched the Lagan SSDAB Mux earlier this year covering Greater Belfast.
Sean Og Mac Braoin, Launch Coordinator for East Antrim said at the launch of East Antrim SSDAB’s bid earlier this week: “The experience that launching and successfully operating the Greater Belfast DAB Mux puts us in an unrivalled position to guarantee the success of a DAB multiplex for the people of Larne, Carrickfergus and Newtownabbey.
“For radio stations it also means that they can choose to be on the East Antrim Mux only or to expand across the wider region from Lisburn to Larne, something we can uniquely offer.”
Chairman of East Antrim SSDAB is local Newtownabbey man, Chris Barber who is also a director of Blast106. Chris is confident of the success of SSDAB in the East Antrim region saying: “I’ve been involved in local broadcasting in Belfast for almost 20 years so it will be nice to bring that experience and those contacts to my home area and making sure that local people from Larne to Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus to Ballyclare will have a raft of new local radio stations to enjoy with varied music and speech output.
“To quote a famous Irish chat show host, there’s one for everyone in the audience.”
East Antrim SSDAB has signed up 11 of the 24 stations that the mux can accommodate and are looking to hear from other services such as online stations or aspirant community audio services to join the mux. […]