U.K.: Absolute Radio 60s and 70s prepare for launch

New digital stations to be fronted by Pete Mitchell and Richard Skinner

John Plunkett

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 18 October 2011 00.01 BST

Absolute Radio is to turn the dial back to the 1960s and 1970s with two new digital radio stations fronted by Pete Mitchell and Richard Skinner.

Absolute Radio 60s will launch on 22 November with a weekday mid-morning show hosted by Mitchell, a DJ on Absolute Radio's previous incarnation, Virgin Radio.

Absolute Radio 70s will launch a week later, on 29 November, with a breakfast show hosted by Skinner, the former Radio 1 DJ and Old Grey Whistle Test presenter who was also one of the anchors of BBC1's Live Aid coverage.

Having launched bespoke services dedicated to the 80s, 90s and "noughties", it was only a matter of time before Absolute came up with more.

"The beauty of it lies in its simplicity," said Absolute Radio chief operating officer Clive Dickens.

"Absolute Radio 80s is now the 11th biggest radio station in the UK and it is not even two years old. Around 50% of the Absolute Radio audience is now enjoying one of our digital services.

"Like our other digital stations, the spirit of these services will be the music of the 60s and the 70s through the lens of Absolute Radio.

"They won't replicate Gold or Magic or Smooth Radio. You won't findHerman's Hermits or the Searchers on Absolute Radio 60s."

Both stations will be on digital audio broadcasting (DAB) radio, although the 60s station will be more widely available than its new sister station, with both on air in London.

Absolute Radio 60s will be the "home of the Beatles, Stones and Motown" combining the "swinging 60s" with "the sound of young America". Its opening week will feature documentaries on Motown, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, and the Velvet Underground.

Absolute Radio 70s will feature a playlist heavy with David Bowie, Elton John, Kate Bush, Marvin Gaye and Blondie.

Both stations will also feature the Christian O'Connell and Frank Skinner shows from the main Absolute Radio station.

They will also be available online, including the Radioplayer, and on Absolute's smartphone apps.

Absolute 80s was its first digital spin-off station, launched at the end of 2009, and is also its most popular, with an average weekly reach of 894,000 listeners.

Absolute Radio 90s followed in June last year, with Absolute Radio 00sbeginning broadcasting last December.

Absolute Radio also has a Classic Rock station, taking the combined audience for its four digital services to 1.6 million (less than the aggregate figure of 1.93 million because some listeners tune in to more than one station).

But what chance Absolute Radio 50s? Absolutely not, said Dickens. "Real music began in 1963 with the Beatles and the Stones. Prior to that it was great music, but it wasn't Absolute music."

The launch of the new stations comes less than a month after Absolute Radio's owner, the Times of India Group, formally took the broadcaster off the market and gave it its "long-term backing".

Dickens has said the speculation over the group's future had led to a "mini rain cloud" over its Golden Square headquarters and claimed that speculation over a sale was "99% made up".

SOURCE: Absolute Radio 60s and 70s prepare for launch http://bit.ly/omT9Jf

Website: http://www.absoluteradio.co.uk/

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