Radio news from 9 February 2007

Rough times at Smooth FM (Radio Today)
After the recent departure of Programme Director Mark Walker from Smooth FM in London, owners GMG Radio have announced his replacement. From Tuesday, former Head of Presentation at Primetime Radio Gavin McCoy will join as Programme Controller. more

BBC first to launch DRM trial in UK (thenoise.co.uk)
The BBC is to launch a trial of Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) to find out whether the use of medium wave for digital radio is a practical option.As part of the trial, BBC Radio Devon will use DRM technology for a year from its existing medium-wave transmitter in Plymouth. more

Red Dragon listeners on show (Radio Today)
Red Dragon is going down the Big Brother route for their latest on-air competition. The Love Room will be a purpose built room housed in the Red Dragon complex in Cardiff Bay. The room will feature just one double bed, and will be available for viewing 24/7. more

Ofcom Award Licence to Classic Hits (Merry Media)
Ofcom have announced the award of the new FM local commercial radio licence for Herefordshire and Monmouthshire to Herefordshire & Monmouthshire Classic Hits.. more

BBC trials DRM in Devon (Radio Today)
Digital radio on medium-wave took another small step closer to the mainstream today as the BBC announced trials of the technology in Plymouth. more

Ofcom - the ability to suprise (Radio Today)
COMMENT: Whoever said that Ofcom was becoming predicable needs to take back their words. Here at RadioToday.co.uk, we already had the recent licence award stories written, all we needed to do was press the big red publish button. more

Banks joins Unique Interactive (Radio Today)
Unique Interactive has appointed Nick Banks as its new Development Director. Unique provides many services such as EPG Management Server solutions and a Digital Music Download system to clients around the world, including Emap and the BBC in the UK. more

Songs by Subject: Valentine's Day - the Lovelorn (radio.about.com)
Radio stations, programmers, and deejays have used The Green Book of Songs By Subject for years. Each week it provides a new list of songs for a particular topic exclusively... more

Trial For Digital Radio on Medium-Wave (Merry Media)
BBC Radio and National Grid Wireless have announced a trial of a new transmission technology which will allow the two organisations to assess the practicality of digital radio services in the medium-wave bands.. more

BBC announces location of nine further DAB stations (Media Network Weblog)
The BBC has announced the build-out of the next phase of the BBC’s DAB digital radio transmitter network. This confirms the location of the next nine transmitting stations which the BBC hopes will be on-air by the end of April. more