Global is the most popular commercial radio group in the U.K., tallying 29.2m listeners each week, according to Q3’s RAJAR figures, which were its highest ever. Heart is its biggest brand, with nearly 13m weekly listeners (up 14% year-on-year), while hit-music brand Capital pulled in 9.7 weekly listeners (up 21.2% YoY) during the same period.

“U.K. radio is thriving, with Global leading the revitalization of British radio through a massive transformation of the commercial sector,” notes Chief Broadcasting and Content Officer James Rea. “After years of decline, commercial radio now has its largest audiences ever, surpassing the BBC in market share. This growth has attracted significant investment, further propelling the sector’s expansion, driving up digital listening figures and stimulating the entertainment sector with live events and artist promotions.”

Here, we chat further with Rea about the status quo at Global, working with the U.K. music industry, competing in an “evercrowded” media landscape and much more.

How do you support new music talent at Global radio?

We are passionate about new-music talent. More than 70% of our plays on Capital are from music released in the 2020s. Our dedication to new artists is clear through shows like Homegrown on Capital XTRA and Xposure on Radio X, where we spotlight tracks, sessions and interviews with fresh talent. Our reach doesn’t just stop at airplay: our brand, Capital Buzz, has extraordinary success in amplifying new artists, significantly outperforming streams. At our flagship events, including Capital’s Summertime and Jingle Bell Balls, we always reserve slots for emerging artists and host intimate gigs to give them the exposure they deserve. RAYE is a great example of someone who was given an opportunity at Capital’s Summertime Ball in 2017 and went on to headline this year’s event.

Can you talk me through your playlisting strategy?

Our playlisting strategy is a blend of data analytics, audience insights and gut instinct based on the experience of our team. We believe strongly in the power of combining data with the intuition and experience of our people.

How much is streaming used to inform playlist decision-making?

Streaming numbers are one of the factors we consider, but it’s only part of a much broader decision-making process.

How much risk is involved when deciding what to play and how much are you informed by stats on what’s already popular?

We look at a range of metrics in deciding what to play, honestly, no one decision is the same. When we back a song, we try and go all out, for example, as we did with Kylie’s “Padam Padam” on Capital—the first channel to give it radio airplay.

Streaming has provided strong competition for radio, especially amongst younger listeners. How are you competing?

Slightly different usage cases in one’s day we would suggest, which is why radio remains a massive force in the U.K. The sense of day, time, place and now that radio delivers is just unique. According to RAJAR’s latest audience numbers, radio’s weekly adult reach is 89%, compared to 36% for on-demand music streaming. Even among 15-24-year-olds, radio outperforms streaming, with a reach of 76% versus streaming’s 70%.

Commercial radio in the U.K. is also growing because it has adapted and innovated. Our app, Global Player, revolutionizes how people listen to the radio and consume our stations and brands, offering features like song skipping and live radio rewinding, whilst also pulling together all the great content under our roof into one easy-to-use place. Radio isn’t just keeping up, it’s leading the way with advanced technology that makes it more accessible and engaging.

There is a fear that streaming could eventually make radio obsolete. How would you respond to that?

Radio is incredibly resilient, and the numbers above prove it. Listeners form strong bonds with presenters and radio brands. It’s more than just a medium, it’s a companion that understands, contextualizes and connects with its audience. Radio’s simplicity and presence in everyday life—from cafes to taxis, from the factory floor to the family car—make it indispensable. It fits seamlessly into people’s lives, offering a curated experience that’s both convenient and enriching. Plus, technology allows us to create dedicated stations for every taste, whether it’s Capital XTRA for hip-hop and R&B lovers or Smooth Country for country-music enthusiasts. Global has all needs covered.

How have you seen audience listening habits change over the last decade? How do you see them evolving in future?

Audience habits have certainly evolved with technology, but radio has adapted beautifully. We’ve embraced digital platforms, and online listening continues to grow, often outpacing traditional analog methods. In the future, we expect even more integration of interactive and on-demand features, making radio even more accessible and personalized. We love that.

How has Global’s relationship with the music industry evolved during that time?

Our relationship with the music industry has grown stronger. Capital (Taylor’s Version)—a pop-up radio station dedicated to Taylor Swift to celebrate the U.K. leg of her tour—is something that we’re so proud of and shows what can be achieved when we collaborate with artists and labels to support and promote the best talent out there. We work closely with the industry every day, be that at a playlist level or our world-class events that give huge platforms to artists. Whatever it is, it all forms part of a fantastic symbiotic relationship.

What are the biggest challenges about working in radio?

People often think our competition is other radio stations or streaming services, and of course it partly is. But in reality we’re competing for people’s time and attention across the board. It’s about staying relevant and engaging in an ever-crowded media landscape.

And how about the most exciting developments in the space?

Technology is a game-changer. You don’t only hear but can now see our shows as we visualize our content and bring listeners closer to the action. Global Player lets listeners rewind live radio and switch between live broadcasts and live playlists with ease, making the radio experience more dynamic and interactive than ever before.

As a network, you’ve got strong competition from the BBC and Bauer. What’s Global’s USP?

Competition drives us to excel and be the best. At Global, we focus intently on our audiences, products and quality, and it’s fantastic to see that reflected in the results. Global is the biggest commercial-radio company in the U.K., with our highest ever reach, hours and share.

We are immensely proud to say that Heart is now the biggest commercial radio brand by far in the U.K., with more than 12 million weekly listeners. Capital is continuing to grow, with a new breakfast show with Jordan North that’s the buzz of British radio.

Each month, Global reaches 66% of the Gen Z audience in the U.K. and has huge engagement across all age groups. Our social reach is immense, with Global reaching 1.1b people a month and Capital alone reaching 234m. Capital is the most-followed radio brand on TikTok globally, showcasing our strong social-media presence with 2.3m followers and averaging 20 million organic video views a month. Global Player is one of the largest, if not largest, music apps in the U.K. by weekly active users, and our outdoor-advertising business also creates further exciting opportunities to support artists. Global really does offer a truly unique multiplatform offering in the U.K.

Can you tell our U.S. audience what’s unique about British radio?

British radio is thriving more than ever. Nearly 50m people, or 89% of the adult population, tune in weekly. Online listening is surging, outpacing traditional analog methods. Commercial radio in particular is leading this digital growth. Global alone reaches 27.6m people weekly, reflecting the vibrant and diverse landscape of U.K. radio. People go on about the “good old days” in radio. These are the good old days for modern British radio and its digitally focused brands.

What are your future plans and ambitions for Global’s music strategy? Are there any changes or new developments on the horizon?

Always. At Global we never stand still. We are always looking ahead, ready to embrace new opportunities and innovations.

Bauer Media Audio is the third-biggest radio network in the U.K., boasting 23.5m weekly listeners across its owned and partner stations, which is up 6.8% year-on-year, according to Q3’s RAJAR stats. Its flagship Hits Radio Network tallies 7.2m weekly listeners (up 10.7% YoY), while its catalog station, Greatest Hits, tallies 7.4m (up 12.9% YoY). Over a third of Bauer’s listening is now via connected devices including smart speakers, web and app, with a further 52% of listening on Digital Audio Broadcasters [DAB].

The network’s USP is the diversity across its portfolio, according to Head of Audio Gary Stein. “We’ve got some incredibly world-famous brands under the portfolio, including Kiss, Hits, Magic, Absolute Radio and Greatest Hits,” he says. “We’ve also got specialists, like the incredibly successful country music station we launched over the last few years, as well as jazz and rock. We’re constantly looking at other genres that are unexploited. These are all ways we’re trying to make sure we stay relevant and stand out from the competition, while making sure the curation of those stations is done in a way that is absolutely unique to Bauer.”

Here, we chat further with Stein about how streaming has had an impact on Bauer’s offerings, what’s next for its music strategy and how radio can take advantage of what he calls a “golden age of audio.”

How do you support new music talent and British talent, in particular, at Bauer?

Radio still has an incredibly important part to play in developing artists who want to have sustained, long careers and become catalog artists. Over the last couple of years, there have been a few really good examples of how we’ve supported talent.

One of our brands is Hits Radio, which is our biggest commercial hits music network across the U.K. Developing artists like Dermot Kennedy, Tom Grennan and Cian Ducrot have been part of a bigger strategy there over the past few years. These artists are now mainstream radio acts in the U.K. but they all started with conversations between record labels and our heads of music about suitability for our radio stations. We’ve also got a couple of live arena events every year where they’ve performed. There’s still real strength in that record label and radio station relationship, nurturing and finding the talent that’s going to work for the audiences of our different brands and building them through radio.

Can you talk me through your team’s playlisting strategy? What do you like to see before choosing to playlist an artist or a song?

If you go back 10 years, it was really simple. You would just use your own insight and research. We still have that, and we test our music weekly with our listeners and our potential listeners, but now, we will look at everything. “Lose Control” by Teddy Swims is a great example of a choice that was streaming-led and a massive U.S. hit. We saw that blow up, and Hits was one of the first stations [in the U.K.] to play it. Recently, we saw the Mark Ambor track “Belong Together” blow up on TikTok. It felt right for our audience, and we jumped on it. We are looking at all of these different data points, but ultimately, we still test the music we’re playing with our audience and make sure that it’s right. You have got to program the music for the specific audience that you’re targeting.

How much risk taking is involved in playlist decisions? How much of a chance do you take on songs that don’t have a lot of data behind them yet?

That ultimately comes down to the human element of the playlist meeting and I don’t think that has massively changed over the years. You have experts in the room who have a long history of seeing the type of music, genres and artists that are going to work for a particular audience. There is, of course, always an element of risk-taking and the team still tends to get [choices] right most of the time. With a new record that you’re putting in the playlist, you can’t really use testing to see how that’s going to perform, that comes later. Hopefully, that discovery element is what makes radio exciting.

How have you seen audience listening habits change alongside the evolution of streaming?

In the U.K., five years ago we launched a new station, Greatest Hits Radio, which is a Classic Hits format. We had a really clear strategy, which was, let’s create a station for over-45s, built around music that was played on the radio when they were growing up, presented by presenters they know and love. We signed up some pretty well-known broadcasters in the U.K., including Ken Bruce from BBC Radio 2, who had the biggest show in Europe in terms of audience. That station has, over five years, become the most listened to commercial radio station in the U.K., and has grown to an audience of 7.8m listeners. There is still a huge opportunity to grow audiences but obviously, that example is an older audience who are very comfortable listening to radio.

In terms of younger audiences, with Kiss, we have had to look at things in a very different way. What we’re seeing is that it’s getting harder and harder to get younger audiences, especially those age, to spend a lot of time with radio. What we do know about this audience is they’re spending a lot of time on social media and they’re spending a huge amount of time listening to audio. So we’re having to change the way we think about measuring success. The content we’re serving them is not just judged on what its performance is on a linear radio station, it’s how successful that brand is across all different platforms.

As those older audiences get slowly replaced by younger generations who’ve grown up with streaming, where does that leave traditional radio?

I think people have been ready to write radio off for a long time. The fact is, radio has survived because it’s a complementary service to what is offered by the streaming platforms. It offers a liveness and a companionship that has huge value and has proved to be incredibly successful. 89% of the population in the U.K. are still listening to radio every single week, so I don’t see that going anywhere.

In the U.K., we target some very different audiences across the country. The strength that we have in different markets is also down to the way that radio can be specific, whether it’s news or sports content. In Scotland, for example, you’ve got big markets like Glasgow and Edinburgh where football is hugely important. One of the biggest shows in Scotland is a football phone-in every single night. These shows are still massively popular with young and old audiences alike. I don’t think that’s something that streaming platforms can necessarily compete with in the same way.

There are challenges around fragmentation, technology, the need for constant evolving and adapting, and that’s something every operator has got to think about. Earlier this year, we launched a streaming platform called Rayo, which brings together all our live radio stations under one place for the first time. We need to take steps like that but it’s really about the content and having live radio at the forefront.

What’s the future for Bauer’s music strategy?

Bauer has always been a very digital-first business. We’ve been at the forefront of popularizing DAB with a number of successful digital-only spin-off stations, including KISSTORY and Absolute ’80s. We think that by 2030, the number of people that are going to be consuming our stations [online] is going to be far and away higher than anything else.

Over the next six years, it’s about investment in content and working with record labels to do 360 campaigns around artists. It’s not just about a playlist anymore; it could be about a live event or doing something extremely special in the digital space to build careers. A tech platform is one thing, but Netflix isn’t successful because it has a great tech platform. It’s successful because it invests in content.

How has Bauer’s relationship with the music business evolved over the last decade?

Bauer has always been seen as a really collaborative partner. The relationship around championing artists and driving music discovery hasn’t changed. The element that has possibly changed is that we are now seen as a much more valuable partner in terms of catalog. That’s because we’ve got formats like Greatest Hits that have such a significant share of U.K. radio and catalog has become more important for record labels. Streaming platforms have obviously driven that change as well.

For the first time this year, we’re able to put on major arena shows. The new Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, which is one of the biggest venues in the whole of Europe with a capacity of over 20,000 people, will host our first-ever catalog artist event for Greatest Hits in late November. We’ve got more in our portfolio now to open up different types of conversations. I’d say it’s a more holistic partnership involving artist development, live events and content creation.

What are the biggest challenges about working in radio in 2024?

Audience fragmentation, evolving technology, constant adaptation. But that’s something that radio has always done. The most exciting part is that audio is so powerful now. That’s speech audio, music radio—which is still very strong for many parts of the audience—and the rise of podcasts. The U.K. has also adopted smart speakers incredibly fast. That’s driving a lot of our listening now and it’s bringing radio back into people’s homes. There are new ways of engaging audiences, through social media, live events and Rayo. For me, we’re in a golden age of audio. Radio’s opportunity is to take advantage of that and lean in.

What would you say is unique and special about British radio in particular?

Radio in the U.K. has always held a really special place in the history of the country. It’s got an incredible amount of diversity, creativity and cultural significance. It has played a big role in shaping British music culture since back in the late ’60s. The live local output and strong connection some of our radio stations have with our community is incredibly powerful. Across Scotland, we have seven radio stations that all share, for the most part, the same output, but news, travel and any local information from presenters can be split out by market. That works incredibly well for us because an audience in Glasgow is very different to an audience in London. We still think about that and take that into account in a big way in terms of how we program these radio stations. All of that makes British radio quite unique in the world.

According to the latest RAJAR results, BBC Radio 1 is in rude health. Its audience of 8.1m listeners aged 15 and above is up 5.6% year-on-year, while Radio 1 Breakfast With Greg James remains the biggest for young audiences in the country. It’s the third-most-listened-to BBC station in the U.K., behind Radio 2 and Radio 4, respectively. The brand’s social-media stats are also impressive—the Radio 1 YouTube channel has more than 8.3m subscribers, and there are 9.5m followers across its Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and X accounts.

As head of BBC Radio 1, Aled Haydn Jones tells us in an expansive interview that he and his team are as committed as ever to using their reach to help the U.K. music industry grow artist careers at home and abroad. We also chat with Jones about the evolution of radio, the biggest challenges about working in the space and the most exciting developments.

You’ve been head of BBC Radio 1 for four years now. What was your vision for the station upon taking on the role and how has that been realized?

The first thing in my mind when I started the job was not to mess it up. Radio 1 is such a heritage, legacy behemoth of a station that has so much clout and importance for the U.K. and the global music industry that it isn’t the station I needed to fix. I wanted to make sure it was doing its right job and doing it as well as possible, but doing it in a way that didn’t ruin anything. On that front, I think we’re good. We’re still the biggest radio station for young people in the U.K. We still have music industry buy-in and regular conversations with some of the biggest global superstars in the world.

The thing I wanted to make sure we focused on was what our strengths were when the market was changing so dramatically for consumption. We’ve done two things: We’ve focused on under-35s and under-25s to make sure that young people are getting what they need from the BBC. Also, we’ve homed in on not just playing lots of music, which we do effortlessly, but doing it in a way that has artist journeys at the heart of it.

How do you choose which new acts to back? I’m wondering how much of a role streaming and social-media stats play in playlisting decisions.

It’s a factor, of course, but the playlist is so unique these days. The playlist meetings are 10 young people in a room with the Radio 1 music team. Some producers in that room produce the specialist shows, which play new music and new artists, and they can give first-hand reactions to how tracks have been going down. You’ve also got some producers from the daytime shows who are experts in music and youth culture and are able to use their gut for what feels right. Then there’s the relationships the music team have with labels about what support they’re getting and how artists are coming through on TikTok or socials. It all comes together, rather than it being a stats-driven model.

Our team can have conversations with artists to say, ‘We will back you’. We’ve launched Brit List, which supports certain artists through a number of tracks to help them gain traction with an audience. A streaming site, say, operates on a track-by-track basis. There you’ll get large visibility if a song happens to connect and do really well. But the next one could disappear because you haven’t built a fan base around it in the way you would through a radio station that is championing your name across billions of impacts across the radio industry over a course of several months.

You mentioned focusing on attracting an under-25 and under 35-year-old audience. How are you able to do that and compete with the many other things out there clamoring for their attention?

It’s a million-dollar question, and if I got it right I’d be a very rich person. The good thing about Radio 1 is we’re not just a linear radio station; we’re part of BBC Music, which has access to iPlayer, BBC Sounds, BBC TV channels and other radio stations. That gives us clout. We have partnerships with music festivals, which means we’re able to host stages and artists in front of young people when they’re having the time of their life, and they’re able to connect that experience with the Radio 1 brand.

We’re the world’s biggest social channels for a radio station and the world’s biggest YouTube channel for a radio station. When we did Big Weekend, we had five-and-a-half million streams for the festival in the U.K., through iPlayer and Sounds. We had around the same number, if not a little bit more, from live listening to the radio. Across the BBC social channels we had over 100 million views of our content.

That figure is multiplied three times when you take in all the audience members at the festival with us. We see ourselves as content creators with a range of platforms to broadcast on. Radio 1 is the big one; that’s the one that brings in 8 million young people on a weekly basis. But when you add in everything else, it levels up to a big impact for artists.

How do you see audience listening habits evolving?

It’s more targeted. The amount of hours all audiences in the U.K., but young people especially, are listening has gone up considerably. That’s because you’ve got listening on YouTube, streaming sites and radio. When you look at under 25s and under 35s, they’ve grown up with media that’s personalized to them, whether that’s Netflix, TikTok, Spotify or YouTube. If you’re a broadcaster like Radio 1, you are a broad broadcaster, not a narrowcaster that’s personalized. It’s important we understand our audience and have access to different platforms to be able to serve content to different need states.

For example, 20 years ago, most audiences in the U.K. just listened to Radio 1, day and night, whatever we put on there, whatever mood you’re in, it was Radio 1. Nowadays there’s so much choice. You might have Radio 1 in the daytime but in the evening, if I’m having some friends over, I might want a mood met and that will be different to what radio would supply.

We need to meet the moods of social media, which is time-killing entertainment and snapshots of attention span. We need to be able to take the content that we consume, the artist journeys we’re working on, the relationships we’re having with the industry, and supply that content to meet those moods in those spaces. No longer is it a passive one-stream linear output from Radio 1, it’s infinitely more complex because the audience is more complex, has more needs and more opportunities to meet them.

How are you tackling diversity in your output and striking the right balance between supporting U.K. and international acts?

Our service license requires us to play 45% U.K. music and we exceed that. We do that with gender and we do that with genres. Radio 1 is hugely, overwhelmingly, a force for good for U.K. artists and acts. Hand in hand with that fact, we’re also a reflection of popular culture and it’s a global artist industry. Having a space like Radio 1 is important because we’ve got to keep the U.K. music industry strong. The BBC plays a huge role in making sure that U.K. artists get that first leg up, from new tracks to traction in the U.K., to someone like Stormzy, who can then leapfrog to a global perspective.

There was a lot of disappointment over the decision to reduce the number of the BBC’s Introducing shows across local radio last year, which provide a platform for new talent and acts that may not have a big audience yet. What role does BBC Radio 1 play in filling any gaps left by those cuts?

Sixty percent of our daytime playlist is new music released in the last six weeks. After 6pm, 100% of our music is new music. We play over 1,000 unique tracks per week, which is more than our nearest competitor plays per year. The vast majority of that percentage is music from new acts who have never achieved traction in the U.K. Radio 1 is already a massive machine giving new artists, whether U.K. or abroad, a huge platform for hundreds of thousands or millions of people to listen to.

What I believe is most important for Introducing is that the department is connected to the rest of the BBC. I don’t think it is solely the job of local radio to do the Introducing job; otherwise they’ll only achieve a certain amount of results for the artists in those areas. What’s much more important is that the local BBC networks connect with the national BBC networks, which connect with the festivals that we put on. We have a BBC Introducing stage at Big Weekend, as well as Reading and Leeds Festivals, Glastonbury and many others. 6 Music has Introducing, as does 1Xtra, Asian Network, Radio 1 and Radio 1 Dance. The connection of local, national and festival is really what the power of Introducing at the BBC is.

Much has been said about the fear that streaming could eventually make radio obsolete. How would you respond to that?

In the pandemic, I saw a stat that said 99% of under-25-year-olds have some access to some streaming sites and, at that time, over 76% listened to radio. The best way to look at streaming, and the way I see it working, is back in the day you’d have your private collection of songs that you’d go and buy and then you’d listen to the radio. That then morphed into iTunes, where you can download and then listen to radio. Nowadays, you are paying a subscription to have access to the music that you want to listen to regularly, but when it comes to a live connection with other audiences, the fear of missing out, Beyoncé or Billie Eilish releasing a new album and you want to know what you’re meant to think about it, massive news stories like the death of the Queen, that’s when people tune in in mass numbers to radio. Those needs never go. Streaming music sites will supply a part of the thing that’s needed but not the full story.

If someone wants new music or to reminisce with songs that are a surprise, that will come from curated playlists through radio stations that are streaming at you through the car, the radio or the smart speaker in the office or home, rather than the set of songs you listen to regularly as your own private playlist on one of the streaming sites. They are 100% coexisting. As for podcasting, there’s more people listening to more audio and that’s how we’re able to have such a high percentage for radio, which for all audiences is still in the 90s percentile of people listening, and still have the growth of podcasts. There’s room for all in the more established markets.

What are the biggest challenges about working in radio today?

There’s a perception that radio isn’t new or cool tech, whereas actually we reach 76% of very young audiences to 90% of all. For the music industry, where are the levers you pull when it comes to streaming sites? You’re either going to have an algorithm that gets your song played or it’s not. There’s no conversation. There’s no building of relationships like you do with the radio industry. When Ariana Grande comes to town, she can have a Live Lounge performance where she shows off her skill set, she can have an interview with someone about the craft of music and what she puts into it in the evening, and she can go into our breakfast show and have a game, which means that a new slew of audiences can see a different side to her, pick up that personality and become connected to who she is as a person, which is way more than what technology can bring with playing you tracks in a playlist.

How about the most exciting developments in the space that you’re working in?

Data is not all bad. When it comes to selecting music, you don’t want to replace the human, but when you want to know what audiences are into, data has been really insightful. With radio moving to digital, whether that’s smart-speaker apps or connected devices, we’re able to see what levers we can pull that make audiences listen for longer and consume us for more moments across the week.

It means that we’ve changed how we do things. For example, for Radio 1 in Ibiza in August, we broadcast 80 hours of dance, rather than a six-hour Ibiza performance night, because we’ve seen how to make audiences stay with us across the whole weekend. We repeated that two weeks later in Malta. For Reading Festival, we’ve extended how much coverage we do. Again, from audience insights about what it is they want from us, it’s given us a lot more insight into how to better serve audiences, and that’s happened in the last three, four years. I’ve been in radio for 26 years, and it’s really changed how targeted we can be in our broadcasting.

What’s unique or special about British radio in particular?

In the U.K., you’ve got a very strong and healthy commercial radio market and you’ve got a very healthy license-funded public-service radio market. The two of them coexist really well. For Radio 1, because of the license fee, we’re able to do what’s healthiest for the music industry and take bets and artists at a very early stage and work with them, management and labels for the entire journey. Commercial radio then comes in once we’ve done the legwork and started getting traction to take those artists to other parts of the population that don’t consume the BBC. That symbiotic approach in the U.K. is extremely strong and is quite unique around the world. There’s only a few other markets that have that balance.

Here’s a final question for you: What does the future look like for BBC Radio 1 and its music strategy?

It’s about personalization and how far we can go with that. Our Sounds app is going to get better and better at serving BBC content that meets your needs. We have a second stream on BBC Sounds called Radio 1 Dance, and we’re working on a second brand extension. We have Radio 1Xtra as well. It’s about the BBC being able to meet more of your needs, no matter where you are, whether that’s audio, visual or social. We’re going to continue with that strategy and continue to work with the music industry, not just for playing songs in the U.K., but using our huge footprint around the world on YouTube and social media to create impact for all artists, but particularly U.K. artists.

There’s little doubt that British radio is thriving. Radio attracts 51m listeners every week across the U.K., which is 88% of the adult population, according to stats from research body RAJAR.

A recent report from communication services regulator Ofcom says that despite strong competition from streaming services, live radio continues to be the most popular form of audio across the country for those aged 15+. Commercial radio leads the market, thanks to strong brands like Global and Bauer, with a listening share of 53.3%. The BBC, a public-service broadcaster, takes second place with a 44.5% share.

Radio remains a key promo avenue for labels and artists, as you’ll hear across the rest of these pages. It looks set to become even more important in the future as stations commit to supporting artists in an increasing variety of ways, notably investing in content and technology.

As BBC Radio 1 Head Aled Jones tells us, “We see ourselves as content creators with a range of platforms to broadcast on.” These platforms include the traditional airwaves, alongside social channels, festivals, events and streaming sites.

The next six years of evolution at Bauer Media Audio is about “investment in content and working with record labels to do 360 campaigns around artists,” says the division’s head of Audio, Gary Stein.

Radio isn’t just “keeping up” with advances in technology, according to James Rea, Chief Broadcasting and Content Officer at Global. “It’s leading the way with advanced technology that makes it more accessible and engaging,” he says, while pointing to the company’s app, Global Player.

Rebecca Allen, President of UMG U.K.’s Audience and Media division, says radio’s role in 2024 is “largely driven by curation and context. It has always dared to put the unfamiliar next to the familiar. And, whether on the airwaves or elsewhere, people we know are those we trust most to make a new-music recommendation.”

She continues: “Radio exposes listeners to tracks, artists and genres they may otherwise never have fallen upon.” Beyond traditional radio, Allen also points to online platforms like London-based global online network NTS, “which is driven by huge, global communities of passionate music curators.”

There’s no doubt, she adds, that a bespoke radio moment done right can lift an artist. This can be seen in Capitol U.K. artist Olivia Dean’s Live Lounge performance for BBC Radio 1 last October, which Allen calls “a catalyst for lots of global discovery.”

In addition, she says the BBC’s support for Island U.K. breakthrough act The Last Dinner Party, from early playlisting to their winning the BBC’s Sound Of 2024 poll, has played a key role in their success. You’ll hear more about both of those acts in this issue.

Sony Music U.K. Chairman and CEO Jason Iley echoes Allen’s remarks about radio remaining a champion for human curation. “While the medium of consumption has evolved, radio can still open doors and provide opportunities for emerging artists,” he asserts. “DJs who are passionate about music and are willing to take risks and back an artist early are vital to the music ecosystem.

“That first play can move the dial for an artist, and one thing that isn’t likely to change is the joy and excitement an artist feels when hearing their track played on the radio for the first time.”

As Iley points out, the diversity of British radio, which ranges from BBC flagship channels Radio 1 and Radio 2 to a wealth of specialist and local stations and offerings that focus on today’s hits, catalog music and much more, is a key factor in its strength. He says: “The BBC have always played a crucial role in shaping the landscape of broadcasting in the U.K. and have provided vast and varied music for many years. The melting pot of genres and artists they support is unique and not replicated in other markets around the world.

“We have huge commercial networks around the country, including Global, who organize successful events annually, and Bauer, who continually help increase audience reach nationally.”

Warner Music U.K. CEO Tony Harlow urges the music industry and broadcasters to continue to support the variety mentioned by Iley. “I’d ask that everyone values all these openings and they aren’t the victims of funding cuts and increasingly tough advertising markets, and we can continue to be spoiled for choice.”

When asked about the role of radio in 2024, Harlow says that while “it’s always great to see a song gain traction on streaming platforms, we start to get really excited that we have a big crossover hit when we see it climb the airplay charts.”

He explains: “Radio is a great indicator of how well the track is connecting with a wider audience and how established an artist is in the mainstream. After a few radio hits you really start to see an artist become a staple in the public consciousness. Streaming can break a song, but radio helps break an artist.”

The format is also essential, Harlow adds, for cutting through the amount of choice that music fans are faced with. “In the U.K. there’s so much music out there—radio helps people who are overwhelmed by that to find a way through it, and focus on finding songs they love. It also continues to ‘event-ize’ and localize our hits, with content that helps bring artists to life through interviews, live lounges, major outdoor events and so on.”

Discussing the relationship between streaming and radio, Harlow says the latter adds fuel to a burgeoning fire. “When we see a song start to stream, that’s when we push hard to get it up the radio playlists. We can add impetus to a track that’s doing well on streaming platforms and turn it into a proper hit, and give it longer life, through radio play.”

Disney Jr., in partnership with Terrapin Station Entertainment and Proactiv Entertainment, is taking “Disney Jr. Live On Tour: Let’s Play!” to the U.K. for the first time with six performances at London’s Royal Festival Hall next 3/15-16.

The immersive concert experience boasts an interactive musical performance that includes singing, dancing, 3D special effects and acrobatics with performances all designed for Disney Jr.’s most devoted young fans. The tour will continue to the Middle East and Asia, with additional 2025 tour dates to be announced.

The concert features hit songs from several popular Disney Jr. series, including “Hot Dog!” from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, “Do the Spidey” from Marvel’s Spidey and his Amazing Friends (written by Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump) and “Oopsie Kitty” from SuperKitties (written by Keith Harrison Dworkin).

"Disney Jr. Live has been delivering memories and magic to families in the U.S. for the past six years," Terrapin Station Producer Jonathan Shank noted. "It is so exciting to have the opportunity to bring that same magic to the U.K. and the rest of the world, bringing children closer to their favorite iconic Disney Jr. characters."

Tickets go on sale Thursday (11/21). Find more information here while we mourn our youth.

Katy Perry will donate £1 from every ticket sold at five 10/2025 U.K. dates of her The Lifetimes Tour to the Music Venue Trust. They're her first shows in the region in seven years.

Proceeds will go directly to initiatives that support the U.K. grassroots music community. According to the charity, venues have been closing at a rate of two per week due to rising costs.

Other acts to have pledged a portion of ticket sales to MVT this year include Coldplay, Enter Shikari and Sam Fender.

A recent Government report encouraged the U.K. live music business to adopt this approach on a mass basis by bringing in a voluntary levy for stadium and concert tickets.

The final four honorees for the U.K.’s Artist & Manager Awards have been revealed, with Paloma Faith (pictured), Riverman Management, Milk & Honey and Finesse Foreva set to be celebrated 11/21 in London.

The event will salute Faith with the Icon award in celebration of her long career in music, which spans six Top 10 U.K. albums and five Top Ten tracks, including one #1. Her most recent album, The Glorification of Sadness (Sony), reached #2 in February.

Riverman Management, which recently celebrated its 35th anniversary, will take home the Managers’ Manager award. Launched by Alex Weston and Dave McLean in 1989, the company initially cut its teeth as a concert promoter before moving into management in 1995. Its current roster includes Placebo, Friedberg, Dea Matrona, Tom Fleming (ex-Wild Beasts) and Dougie Poynter.

The 2024 Writer & Producer Manager of the Year will be awarded to Ant Hippsley, the head of U.K. operations for Milk & Honey. The company reps Finn Keane (aka Easyfun), who co-wrote and produced “Speed Drive” (Atlantic), Charli xcx’s contribution to the Barbie soundtrack, as well as five tracks on BRAT, including global hits “Von Dutch” and “Sympathy Is a Knife.”

Finesse Foreva, which was founded in 2017 by childhood friends SK, TK and producer JB MadeIt, will receive the Team Achievement award. The company operates as an independent record label, production house and management company and works with acts including Russ Millions, rap duo Skengdo x AM and producers Gotcha and JB MadeIt.

Previously announced honorees include Pet Shop Boys and Angela Becker, Chase & Status and Sophie Kennard, Yungblud and Special Projects Music, the late SOPHIE, Cymande plus shortlists for Breakthrough Artist and Breakthrough Manager. This year’s ceremony will introduce a new award, the Secret Weapon Award, which recognizes a critical member of a management company who has made invaluable contributions behind the scenes.

The U.K.’s live music industry should introduce a levy on arena and stadium concert tickets to support the grassroots music sector, per a report from the new Labour Government backing the proposal.

The suggestion was first introduced in a report on the issues facing grassroots music venues published by the Culture Media and Sport Committee in May. The British Government responded to the recommendation, agreeing that the levy would be the “quickest and most effective mechanism” to support the grassroots sector and ensure the “health and future success” of the U.K.’s live music ecosystem.

The Government is recommending that the levy be voluntary and led by the industry for potential use in 2025. The music sector is being encouraged to invest in an independent evaluation to assess the effectiveness of its impact.

If action isn’t taken, the Government says it’s willing to use its “convening powers” to bring people to the table to start the process, if necessary. It will also consider progress made on the implementation and effectiveness of a levy and whether further action is needed to support a sustainable grassroots sector.

Mark Davyd, CEO and founder of the Music Venue Trust, welcomed the news. “We strongly support [the Government’s] stance on the necessity and desirability of a grassroots contribution and believe this response sets out a clear and achievable path for the live music industry to swiftly adopt such a contribution,” he said.

“Everyone knows grassroots live music is in crisis. The current situation is untenable," added Music Managers Forum CEO Annabella Coldrick. "Every week I hear from music managers trying to do the impossible and bridge catastrophic shortfalls in their artists touring budgets. A ticket levy on all large-scale live music events to support touring artists at this level to get out on the road remains the most practical solution. It is now imperative that we in the industry stand up and deliver it.”