Absolutely

It was announced last week that Virgin Radio is soon going to be known as Absolute Radio, having been acquired by some new owners a while back. Listening to the station over the past few weeks I haven't been able to escape the constant bombardment of efforts designed to effectively manage the change. Amongst them were a series of little promos describing "what makes this radio station great, by the people that work here". I wasn't sure what reaction this was supposed to provoke in me. My first thought was that they were reminding me how much my life sucked. I don't have a really cool media job where I can just pop downstairs and see a gig while I'm having my teabreak. I've never met anyone famous in the lift. I'm not one of the great and the good who beavers away behind the scenes to make the eighties hour happen, thus bringing the delights of Aha to a wider audience. Well, I might as well give up now. Thanks, Virgin, for that little reminder. If you make a few changes to the radio station I listen to most, it's not really going to make my life any worse, is that what you're trying to tell me?

Naturally Virgin/Absolute radio care not for my personal rancour, broken dreams and unfulfilled ambitions. They have embarked on a fiendishly clever marketing strategy that works on a number of different levels. Firstly it works within the organisation concerned to reassure staff. The good folks that work at the station are, after all, the ones who are going to be affected most by changes in ownership, management and so on, so to get them publicly onside, talking about the happy aspects of their job, makes sense. It's like a big broadcasting hug - "don't quit guys, we love you!" It says that everything is going to be all right in a highly attractive manner. Face it, we all desire a bit of fame, and I'm willing to be that a good proportion of those working at radio stations, from the people that clean the lavs to the receptionists, harbour a few ambitions to actually be on the radio themselves. It's true "...all the stars who never were are parking cars and pumping gas...".

All those new radio stars definitely seem valued by the station management, because they've set up a blog where all staff can post their thoughts about work, change, running the station and so on. This blog is public and anyone, inside or outside the organisation, can read it. I really like this idea. Having worked in large-ish places where change used to happen via various twists and turns of subterfuge accompanied by gossip and rumour, this kind of candour is extremely refreshing. A lot of the things that are being said are interesting too, especially the discussions about playlists, branding and advertising. As a listener I'm well aware that I'm the target for all sorts of messages trying to sell me music, products, maybe a lifestyle even. As the possessor of an MA in Media and Culture I'm also aware that the way in which these messages are put across is changing. I spent a year researching the shift towards online news reporting as opposed to traditional media forms (hey, ma, ain't I clever?), so I particularly appreciated an article on the blog about about finding a place for old media like radio in a new media world. The author saw radio as providing the audience with key words to Google. This struck a chord with me because that's exactly how I found the blog in the first place. I heard something on air about Virgin changing, got interested, typed Virgin Radio into a search engine and eventually found a link to the blog. Now I'm further augmenting the advertising loop by blogging about the experience myself. So that's another way in which the "what's great about this radio station..." campaign worked - they've turned me into a willing soldier in their army. I'm listening, I'm talking about what's going on, and of course I'm not the only one.

The final, possibly most ingenious and subtle aspect of the campaign was that it made me think about what I like about the station. I can listen for sustained periods without getting annoyed by the music or what the presenters say. I enjoy the occasional moments when they play very bad rock, like Whitesnake and Aerosmith, because I can give public vent to what should be a very private passion and turn the radio up so I can sing along. I like the way in which Russ Williams can read out messages from sponsors or obvious advertising scripts without trying too hard or being over-enthusiastic, but still sounding respectful to whoever happens to be helping to pay his salary this week. It's a gift - you can tell he's just saying daft things because he has to, but the man comes across as a true professional. I don't much care for Christian O'Connell, but I think I grew out of oh-so-very-funny breakfast radio several years ago. It's the Today Programme all the way for me, these days, I'm afraid. Anyway, I'm starting to realise that overall I like the station and I'll keep on listening even if it's called something different. There are also bound to be a whole lot of people out there who are thinking the same thing too. So the slightly quirky bit of promotion has achieved its wider objective. I'm interested in what will happen in the future and I shall keep listening to find out what Absolute Radio is all about. And as I've now given them lots of publicity (no doubt my blog reaches millions of readers... well, I have a very loyal following in certain quarters, I'm sure... some people must be reading this, surely), I shall assume that they're sending me a nice big fat cheque in the post :-)

Trawling the Depths

It's true. It's not a spoof. There really is a programme on Channel Five called "Extreme Fishing with Robson Green".

Does he sing "Unchained Melody" whilst spearing carp in a volcano perhaps? Or maybe he's just got piranhas inside his waders?