Happy World Radio Day!! 📻

I carry around a big sign with me all year just waiting for this precise moment…

Congratulations to Scott Mills - the new BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show host.

The magic might feel effortless, but it’s built on years of talent, hard work & knowing how to make great radio. Perfect choice for breakfast.

Great to have Ellie Brennan & Tina Daheley on board too!

Love that this was unveiled today.

Pop music is more than a soundtrack; it’s a mirror of culture, a time capsule of emotions, and a voice for generations.

It shapes trends, sparks conversations, and reflects who we are.

Sunday is for digging out old 'forgotten' songs - like this one... Innocence - 'A Matter of Fact', from 1990. Lovely smooth Soul II Soul like vibes and this 12" still plays, despite seeing better days!

Nick Grimshaw to permanently take over 6 Music Breakfast - excellent news. Think he’s sounding better than ever.👏

Global dropping local and regional shows in England - Inevitable. Sad for those involved. 😬

Bauer buying Clear Channel Europe - big move & shows intent.💰

Feeling in a Chic mood tonight so spending some quality time with @nilerodgers.bsky.social & co…

Bam Bam and Streeboy are back with a new drive show on KISSTORY “Sorry it took so long” – Bam Bam – the presenter who got KISS the biggest fine in radio history – is back at the brand to host Drive on KISSTORY with Streetboy

Great signing by KISS & perfect for the KISSTORY audience…

radiotoday.co.uk/2025/01/bam-...

Happy New Year! This was the first song I heard in 2025… mainly because the DJ played it at midnight! Sounded really good actually.

But then he played Armand Van Helden - ‘I Want Your Soul’, and order was restored on the dancefloor…

Here’s to another music filled year!

2024 Wrapped! Happy New Year everyone… 🥳

The Beatles '64 film is superb. It highlights how important radio was at creating the excitement around their US trip.

Murray The K was the hot rockin' evening DJ on WINS 1010 & persuaded the station to let him do his radio show from the Beatles' Plaza hotel suite!

Radio 6 Music - Listen Live - BBC Sounds Listen live to BBC Radio 6 Music on BBC Sounds

I’ve said it before. And I’ll keep saying it. The Huey Show on BBC 6 Music is the finest music show on radio.

Saturday morning. You’ll like it. Tell your friends.

www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

Boybands Forever - Series 1: Episode 1 It’s the early 90s, and Take That are vying with East 17 for both teenage hearts and chart dominance, giving birth to a British pop phenomenon which would define the decade.

If you’ve not seen it yet, the ‘Boybands Forever’ documentary series is superb.

Real nostalgia, insightful social history and a genuine reflection on how they were all treated.

Highly recommended.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis...

Fun Kids Presenter Day - Think Fun Kids Fun Kids is the UK’s children’s radio station. We are passionate about helping children think, create and play and all our shows and podcasts put kids front and centre. We need great communicators who...

Do you know someone that would love to be @funkidslive.com radio presenter? Then get them to apply for our Presenter Day.
👉 think.funkidslive.com/2024/11/21/f...

If you’ve not listened to any of these stations, I urge you to do so. You’ll hear some of the finest music ever written and produced, and who knows, it might just spur you on to make a little pilgrimage to the spiritual home of soul music one day…

For me, I like the fact we now have a choice, and I welcome another soul station to our now infinite dial. (Honourable mention must also go to Mi-Soul, which in fairness is a slightly different proposition).

Their brand values are similar and they’re targeting the same kind of listeners. So, are you a 'Smooth' person or do you believe in 'Magic'?

Actually, it’s all about brand in the end. Like it or not, brand has a massive role to play, particularly when the products are roughly operating in the same space. Some people will like the Smooth brand more over the Magic brand and vice versa.

Both approaches have their place. One is clearly more cost effective than the other, and they both deliver a very decent product. So, what else makes the difference?

Magic Soul therefore has, if you’ll forgive the pun, a little more ‘soul’. It feels nourishing, home-cooked and has a bit of extra flavour, whereas Smooth Soul is more like a ready-meal, albeit a very tasty one which delivers exactly what you need at that time.

Other differences? Well, the big one is presenters. Smooth Soul doesn’t have them. At all. And Magic Soul has pretty much a full schedule, with some great music jocks like Simon Phillips and Des Paul, who both know and love their soul.

Whereas due to the larger variety of song on Magic Soul, you’ll get a wider range of tempos and styles. For what it’s worth, Stevie Wonder was the most played artist on Smooth Soul during the period analysed, while Marvin Gaye was Magic Soul’s. Can’t complain with either of those!

In terms of ‘feel’, which is harder to define by numbers, my ears tell me that the bright, polished and upbeat production sound of the likes of Luther Vandross, Chic and The Detroit Spinners is fairly dominant on Smooth Soul.

A fairly similar spread, but Magic Soul’s larger universe allows it to play more songs from the last 35 years. So that means we get to hear the likes of Brand New Heavies, Lauryn Hill & John Legend. They even go so far as to play Silk Sonic - Leave The Door Open, one of the best ‘new’ soul tracks!

Whereas Magic Soul looked like this:

• 50s / 60s - 16%
• 70s - 31%
• 80s - 27%
• 90s - 15%
• 00s / 10s - 11%

What about eras? Is there a difference there? Smooth Soul shaped up like this:

• 50s / 60s - 14%
• 70s - 37%
• 80s - 32%
• 90s - 10%
• 00s / 10s - 6%

So, Smooth Soul is running a much tighter set of songs and playing them harder and faster. Magic Soul is going for more variety and trying to build hours with less repetition. Smooth Soul is going for a very defined sound and has chosen a set of songs that match that.

Obviously, this affects the rotations. Magic Soul’s most played songs get around 6 spins a week, whereas that number is more like 17 spins a week for Smooth Soul – almost 3 times more.

Taking a recent week as an example, Magic Soul played around 630 different songs. Smooth Soul played around 340 different songs in the same period.

As I’m also currently researching ‘niche’ stations, I thought it might be interesting to see what the main differences between them are. If we start with the music, then there’s a clear point of difference.

I’ve always loved soul, funk & disco. So, you can imagine I was fairly pleased when we recently got another national soul station in the UK. ‘Smooth Soul’ joined ‘Magic Soul’ as purveyors of popular soul music across the country.

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