UK

Steve Wright’s cause of death has been revealed as a ruptured ulcer in his stomach, according to his death certificate, seen by the BBC.
The BBC Radio 2 presenter died suddenly in February at the age of 69.
A report on the BBC website says the certificate stated that the causes of death were acute peritonitis and a perforated gastric peptic ulcer.
Hundreds of thousands of tributes were paid to Steve by listeners and the radio industry earlier this year, including BBC Director General Tim Davie.
At the time, Tim said: “All of us at the BBC are heartbroken to hear this terribly sad news. Steve was a truly wonderful broadcaster who has been a huge part of so many of our lives over many decades.
“He was the ultimate professional – passionate about the craft of radio and deeply in touch with his listeners. This was deservedly recognised in the New Year Honours list with his MBE for services to radio.
“No-one had more energy to deliver shows that put a smile on audiences’ faces. They loved him deeply. We are thinking of Steve and his family and will miss him terribly.” […]

Community station Radio Leyland in central Lancashire has been found in breach of its licence for playing an offensive song.

One person complained when the station played “Let’s Go Fishing” by Aaron Lewis, which was broadcast at 10:34 on a Saturday morning in April 2024.
The track contained three uses of the word “fu**ed”.
The station said the mistake happened due to human error, and usually has a process in place to avoid non-vetted tracks being played.
Radio Leyland apologised to Ofcom for the broadcast of the offensive language and accepted that it did not comply with Rule 1.14, but added that it did not have time to broadcast an apology on-air because it was “too caught up in ensuring we could prevent any recurrence” and that it would issue an apology when it had received Ofcom’s “judgement”.
Ofcom took into consideration the Licensee’s explanation of the circumstances that led to the broadcast of the offensive language and its representations that the error occurred due to a “departure from the presenter’s usual procedure”.
However, Ofcom reminded Radio Leyland that it is the Licensee’s responsibility to ensure all content broadcast on its service complies with the Code. […]

Regulator Ofcom has announced 15 stations have been found in breach of their licences for not filing their finance reports in time.
Nine of these radio stations subsequently submitted a late report, Ofcom added.
Failure by a licensee to submit a finance report when required represents a serious and fundamental breach of a community radio licence, as the absence of the information contained in the report means that Ofcom is unable to properly carry out its regulatory duties.
Ofcom requested finance reports for the calendar year 2023 from all community radio licensees who were broadcasting for the whole of 2023.
“It is of fundamental importance that Ofcom can verify that a licensee is complying with its licence requirements relating to funding,” Ofcom says. “We therefore require licensees to submit a finance report setting out how they have met their licence obligations. The finance reports from stations also inform Ofcom’s own understanding of the community radio sector, and financial information about the sector features in the Communications Market Report.”
Those stations reporting late were:

Air FM
Awaaz FM
Bute Island Radio
EAVA FM
Fiesta FM
Juice Radio
Liverpool Community Radio
Radio2Funky
Skyline Gold 102.5

The remaining six still have not filed a report:

1BTN
Halton Community Radio
Juice FM Belfast
KCC Live
Revival FM
Ujima Radio […]

A new service offing an hourly updated travel news bulletin for radio stations is launching soon.

My Radio Group has announced the audio will be available from Monday 15th July, along with options for regional and bespoke services.
Luca Marshall, partner at the My Radio Group, expressed his excitement about the launch: “We are excited to launch our new UK travel bulletin service to radio stations from the 15th of July.
“Since the demise of Radio Travel News, small, independent stations across the UK have not had access to a financially viable travel news service.
“With the My Radio Travel News bulletin service, we aim to fill that void. Alongside our syndicated shows and Power Intro service, we hope we can continue to provide value for money to UK and international radio stations.”
You can see more information about the new travel bulletin service at MyRadioNetwork.co.uk or you can email Luca Marshall at luca@myradiogroup.com. […]

Nation’s new app has officially launched complete with free carriage for third party services.

Nation Player now has over 50 stations, including initial partner stations Fun Kids, BFBS, Panjab Radio, Colourful, Sunrise, Channel 103, Island FM, Star Radio, CountryLine Radio, Podcast Radio and Bournemouth One.
For radio listeners, the new app also has access to hours of podcasts that are free to listen to and introduces personalisation features such as trending podcasts and stations to help users quickly find content.
Additionally, it also supports Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.
For radio stations, the new app brings additional opportunities for them to grow both their audience and revenues through new managed advertising opportunities that are built into the end-to-end Xperi ecosystem that underlies the platform.
Nation’s founder Jason Bryant, said; ‘After three years of growth at Nation Player, we are delighted to today welcome these partner stations to our app that can now monetise in-app listening.
“Our tech partners Xperi have ensured Nation Player offers a best in class in-car and mobile streaming solution whilst also working with the industry’s leading streamed revenue partners to drive revenues.”
Chris Gould, vice president at All In Media, a part of Xperi said; “We’re proud to have worked with Nation Broadcasting to bring this innovative radio app to the UK market. Our technology and relationships in the automotive, tech and advertising industries helps us to bring best-in-class content and user experience to the partnership and, in addition, we are helping stations find new revenue streams to support their growth.
“We look forward to more stations and podcasters joining the platform in the coming months.”
To sign up your station or podcast to be part of the new Nation Player app see this link. […]

The change of Government brings another new Culture Secretary as Lisa Nandy replaces Lucy Frazer.
Lisa, who is also MP for Wigan, becomes the 14th Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in as many years.
Lucy Frazer, who also lost her seat in the election, was appointed by outgoing Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in February 2023.
Lisa has been an MP since 2010 and was most recently Shadow International Development minister. […]