Speaking exclusively to Mobile Marketing magazine yesterday, TFL director of strategy and service development Gareth Powell said that London Underground is on track to deliver wi-fi services at up to 120 stations before the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

It is unclear yet as to which provider will be supplying the wi-fi provision, this all ties in with Ofcoms plan for the Olympic games for wi-fi provision, according to an Ofcom report, a record number of media is expected to descend on London this summer for the 2012 Olympics.

Careful management of London’s airwaves is said to be “essential” for coverage of the seven weeks of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Ofcom has reportedly been working on a plan since 2006.

We are very excited about the 2012 Olympic Games, and the fantastic radio coverage opportunities, not to mention the thousands of extra radio listeners who will descend on the capital and the added infrastructure which will develop radio within the capital for the future….

Whether you want to take advantage of radio advertising audience opportunities during the Olympics or you’re just concerned that coverage you have planned for that time might be affected – please get in touch, we’re gearing up for the games!

Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk. @timcradioexpert

The show focussed on volunteer communities at Christmas and went out to the show’s phenomenal 7 million plus listeners. You can hear an extract here or it is available here on the BBC iPlayer. Happy New Year!

Posted by Tam McGregor – Logistics Officer at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. You can follow Tim Cowland on twitter @timcradioexpert

Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk. @timcradioexpert

Commendable, admirable, inspirational, courageous – the superlatives trip off the tongue but the real winner is the troops who will have an open portal to send messages home, receive messages from home and to tap back into the nation in a real, meaningful and live way.

From Monday December 12th, Smooth’s Breakfast Show (6-10am) broadcasts live from Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. It promises to be a ground breaking piece of broadcasting. Good on ‘em.

Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk. @timcradioexpert

From Jan 2012 Dave Berry and Lisa Snowdon will team up to try to keep Capital as London’s most popular Breakfast. Berry himself has had a roller-coaster ride to the breakfast summit. The former male model’s metrosexual ying could be a perfect counterpart to Lisa Snowdon’s foxy WAG yang. Millions of Londoners will be holding their breath and pausing their cornflakes to see whether we get on air chemistry or boredcast monotony.

Berry’s Xfm Breakfast Show experience will be thoroughly tested under the intense scrutiny that comes with London’s number one breakfast slot, with the burning question to the fore “can Berry fill Johnny Vaughan’s shoes?” (from detailed visual analysis of photos of their feet from the Radio Experts back office staff we think he can).

Berry actually did a stand in stint as Capital’s Breakfast presenter just recently (hmmmmm…..suspiciously convenient in retrospect) meeting with some acclaim, some medium approval and some predictable ‘where’s Johnny?’ type reactions. Dave Berry may not be the big name that some thought Capital Breakfast would have lined up but investing in young internal talent is not a bad thing really is it?

We’re sure that the ratings will be watched hawkishly over at Leicester Square. Will Berry’s compote sweeten Snowdon’s Pro-biotic Breakfast bowl?…….. we wait and listen with interest.

Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk. @timcradioexpert

We’re getting some pretty good vibrations about this new project from Absolute’s now prolific gang of digital station brands.

But will Absolute Radio 60s prove to be a house of the rising sun for Absolute Radio or will it be a ‘bad moon rising’? Its hard to say.

Sure, Absolute 80s has been a compelling success with close to a million listeners but Absolute 70s, 90s and noughties have proved less ‘come on baby light my fire’ and more ‘where did our love go?’

So, all in all, a committed sixties sound for digital radio will be a welcome addition, we’re sure you’ll give it a try – and then the big question “will you still love them, tomorrow?’

Absolute Radio 60s launched this morning at 10am – unleashing a wave of big hair and bell-bottoms. People Get Ready.

Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk

As London’s biggest commercial breakfast show, Johnny Vaughan’s departure from Capital will lead to an interesting shake up of London’s radio talent. In the short term, Greg Burns is nominally ‘filling in’ until a big name replacement is found. Rumour has it that Johnny Vaughan is moving on to a prime time TV commitment (Daybreak?), but for now Capital’s phenomenally successful tradition of market leading breakfast shows is under the spotlight. Will Greg Burns grow into it? Will audience grow or decline? The new year breakfast show battleground promises to be even livelier than usual, we wait and listen with intrigue…

Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk

Helen Keable, consultant at Radio Experts, says it’s encouraging to see some of commercial radio’s strongest brands collectively turning in such a strong book, particularly against a backdrop not only of the notoriously slow summer months but also a tenacious Beeb…

Having taken a bit of a breather from the business over the past few months, today reminded me how much changes at the cutting edge of wireless (and how fickle the beast that is RAJAR can be)!

It’s always reassuring to see the market practising what it preaches with Global’s marketing investment, particularly on Capital, clearly paying off for them now. The fact that it was impossible to call the line up in London is evidence that the competition is hotting up again, which from an advertiser perspective is good news as nobody can afford to get complacent.

Bauer will be disappointed with the Magic numbers but hopefully celebrating the great results across their Place portfolio, where their stations are top dogs in 20 of their 21 TSAs – a phenomenal achievement given that it’s still relatively early days since the re-brand but gives a strong signal that their local strategy is hitting the mark.

It’s a shame to see Absolute’s flagship station still struggling but unsurprising that their digital 80s spin off has turned in what it is fast becoming a predictably great performance – they should feel rightfully optimistic ahead of the planned 60s launch.

But surely the shining star of today’s book has to be Smooth Radio? Delivering record levels of everything must be a great way to celebrate their first birthday as a national station, with a cracking performance in London, which has always been tricky territory for them being the icing on the cake.

It’s encouraging to see some of commercial radio’s strongest brands collectively turning in such a strong book, particularly against a backdrop not only of the notoriously slow summer months but also a tenacious Beeb.

See our original article on mediatel here…

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Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk

RAJAR Day is always a busy one for our team and amongst the media comment sought from us, was this BBC radio interview with Tim Cowland.

The question, posed by the presenter was ‘why is radio still going from strength to strength?’. It made for an interesting conversation, so here’s a snippet.

For detailed analysis of the RAJAR results and how they affect your clients and the stations you use, please just contact one of the Radio Experts team.

Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk

At first glance, you might think it means Jack. But look again,

The South Coast TSA is huge and is filled with ABC1s galore. After London, its one of the most desirable radio advertising audiences the UK has to offer. Then there’s Jack FM’s deliriously fast rise in Bristol – indicating that the audience is ready for the brand.

Put the two together and we could be looking at a perfectly balanced competitive 3 way play for the Hearts, Waves, Jack’s and minds on the South Coast.

Celador’s Jack FM launched yesterday. We’ve been listening with interest.

Tim Cowland is a Founder Partner at Radio Experts, a London based specialist radio advertising agency. tim.cowland@radioexperts.co.uk