UK

BBC Radio 5 Live is making a number of changes to its schedule including Chris Warburton moving to Drive and Tony Livesey returning to Lates.

Chris, who has been co-hosting Weekend Breakfast for 10 years, will join Clare McDonnell on 5 Live Drive from December.
Tony, who has been on Drive also for a decade, returns back to where he started his 5 Live career on weeknights 10pm till 1am.
On weekends, mornings are set for a shake up, as former Olympian Jeanette Kwakye MBE steps into the spotlight to present the weekend breakfast programme alongside Eleanor Oldroyd on Saturdays and Gordon Smart on Sundays.
Jeanette Kwakye
Regular Weekend Breakfast host, Eleanor Oldroyd, remains as co-host on Saturdays but has decided to take a step back from Sundays, making way for Gordon Smart, who is moving from weeknights to co-host alongside Jeanette on Sundays.
Gordon will also regularly present across the 5 Live schedule as well as other BBC programmes.
Heidi Dawson, Controller of BBC 5 Live, said: “It’s fantastic to be welcoming Jeanette in to the 5 Live family. After an outstanding year of big impact events, from the election, Euros football and Olympic Games, 5 Live continues to be the voice of the UK, and our brilliant new schedule line up will continue to bring people together for the country’s biggest moments.”

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A new radio station covering Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire has launched called Radio Big Sky.

The service launched on Saturday 28th September and is offering a playlist of 70s, 80, 90s music plus a few familiar tracks from today.
It will also have local traffic and weather news.
“At Radio Big Sky, we know from our research that whilst listeners do want to hear about their local communities, they don’t want to hear long interviews.” Said David Miller, one of the five founders behind Radio Big Sky
He continued: “What they do want is great music interspersed with short, snappy bitesize chunks of information about the areas in which they live.
“Above all, our listeners want more music and a lot less chat and that’s what we at Radio Big Sky promise to bring!”
The station is streaming now via radiobigsky.com.

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Radio Hallam staff who were at the station from day one held a reunion recently at Maggie May’s in Sheffield.
The station began broadcasting to South Yorkshire & The North Midlands on 1st October 1974 from studios at Hartshead, off the High Street in Sheffield. It was the 8th Independent Local Radio station to come on air.
The photo shows 11 of the surviving people who attended who were there 50 years ago, and from left are: Jonathan Craymer, Colin Slade, Beverley Chubb, Marie Slade, Keith Skues, Lindsay Reid, Darryl Adams, Stuart Linnell, Graham Blincow, Roger Brooks and Frank Carpenter.
The reunion was held on Sunday 29th September 2024.

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One of GlitterBeam Radio’s presenters has entered the Big Brother house for the latest series on ITV2 and ITVX.
Dean Quinton, also known as ‘Queenton’ has been part of the GlitterBeam team for a few years, presenting a weekly show and podcast called “The DQ Experience“.
He’s also co-hosted with other GlitterBeam presenters at Gravesham Pride.
“As everybody, we didn’t know why Dean was going to be absent for 6 weeks” GlitterBeam founders Eugenio Ceriello and Michael Walton-Dalzell said, “but Sunday evening our phones literally exploded with notifications and we are over the moon to have Dean representing the community and our radio station in the house.
“We are sure Dean will bring sparkle to the house like it happens on air every Monday/”
The station will cover everything happening in the Big Brother House with particular attention in the “Reali-Tea” show, with Brandi Morris, airing every Thursday at 7pm.

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Gareth Brooks, Hywel Evans, Shell Zenner and Jack Wood have left XS Manchester as the station introduces more nonstop music sequences.

Breakfast presenter Alex James stays with the station and will host 7am till 11am, whilst current evening host Jam Salveson will be on-air from 4pm till 8pm.
Gareth hosted daytimes whilst Hywel, who joined the station eight months ago, did Drive. Shell Zenner and Jack Wood hosted weekend shows.
The station’s owner, Communicorp, or CCUK, confirmed the news to RadioToday after the Manchester Evening News revealed the changes, saying fans have been left “in a spin”.
A spokesperson said: “We can confirm that scheduling changes on XS Manchester will come into place from Monday 5th August.
“Breakfast with Alex James will run weekdays, 7am to 11am, and from 11am to 4pm, the Soundtrack to the City continues with more music for Manchester.
“Jim Salveson will be on air from 4pm to 8pm, Monday to Thursday, featuring new music after 6pm.
“Friday nights will see Gareth Brooks celebrate the weekend with XS Manchester Anthems from 4pm.”
The station started life as Rock Radio in 2008, and was rebranded to Real XS, then XS Manchester. It applied to change its format in 2019 to become Capital Xtra but permission was refused in 2020.
Under new broadcasting legislation coming into force next year, the station will be able to ‘flip’ format to any music or speech genre without seeking permission.

Last show on xs today. Truth is @mrgarethbrooks and I are off to pursue our dream of alpaca racing.I want to thank every person who’s listened for the last few months. @deanmnc and @R3DLFC especially. Thanks to team xs and @therealboon for inspiration and support x
— Hywel Evans (@hywelesq) August 2, 2024

2018-2024, thanks for 6 awesome years @XSManchester pic.twitter.com/y06SllkQ0T
— 🐚 Shell Zenner 🐚 (@shellzenner) August 2, 2024 […]

BBC World Service English has partnered with DMS Broadcasting to rebroadcast its programming to audiences in the Cayman Islands.

DMS Broadcasting is based in the Cayman Islands, with seven FM radio stations with music, entertainment, news, and information formats.
BBC World Service English will be rebroadcast on Bobo FM 89.1 from 10.30am to 7.30am, five days a week, with a variation near the end of the week, and on average 21 hours on weekends.
Fred Durman, BBC’s Head of Business Development for the Americas and Europe, says: “The BBC is delighted to expand its reach in the Cayman Islands through this rebroadcasting agreement with DMS Broadcasting.
“By offering a significant number of hours of programming daily on Bobo FM 89.1, we continue our mission to inform, educate, and entertain a global audience.
“This initiative not only extends our footprint but also ensures that more listeners can access high-quality, trusted news and diverse programming from around the world.”
Blake Rogers, DMS Broadcasting General Manager, adds: “We’re thrilled to finally announce our partnership between the BBC and DMS Broadcasting.
“As one of the most renowned and trusted news organizations in the world, the BBC will make it possible to elevate our news products and service elements for our listeners. And, as the new official BBC radio station in Cayman, Bobo 89.1 FM will be THE place for news and talk in the Cayman Islands.” […]