John Simons

Last updated

John Simons
Born4 March 1956 (age 67)
Evenwood, County Durham, [1] England
OccupationRadio executive
EmployerJohn Simons Consulting

John Simons (John Potts) is a British radio executive, former group programming director for GMG Radio now working as an International Radio Consultant, mainly in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. [2]

Contents

Biography

Simons began his career in 1979, [2] before fronting the Breakfast Show on Radio Tees from 1983 to 1986 (where he was also head of music), and moving to BBC Radio Nottingham where he presented the mid-morning show and afternoon drive show from 1987 to 1994. [3]

In 1994 he was invited to be part of the team who launched Century Radio in Gateshead as programme director, assisting the managing director John Myers. [4] The Century brand with a high speech content ratio became successful, with other stations subsequently launched in Nottingham and Salford. [5] At the North East Century he hosted the Afternoon show as well as the Lunch Time Phone-In and the Sunday lunchtime light-entertainment show called The Crazy Gardening Show with gardening experts Adam (Malcolm) Edon and Gary Philipson.

In 1997 he became programme director of national speech station Talk Radio UK, which was then attracting 2.1 million listeners, and saw an increase to 2.8 million listeners under his tenure. [5] He left when Kelvin MacKenzie took over the station after CLT sold to the Mirror Group in November 1998, and was escorted from the building by security officers on the takeover. [6] He then moved onto London's LBC programming an all talk and phone-in format with which he had become so familiar. He then returned to mainly music radio on BBC Radio 2 where he was drafted in to work on music policy by the Controller Jim Moir and his Deputy Lesley Douglas. [5]

In 2000 he was then invited to become the group programme director for GMG Radio, by the then chief executive, his former Century boss and colleague from Radio Tees days John Myers. [5]

GMG first launched, Real Radio in South Wales, the most successful of regional radio station launches and its Scottish equivalent formerly Scot FM bought for around £25 Million became yet again the most listened to radio station in Scotland in just two years. [5] The Group grew quickly launching Real Radio Yorkshire followed by the acquisition of Jazz FM in London and the North West and then Saga Radio in the East & West Midlands, Glasgow and the North East. This made GMG Radio the third biggest commercial radio group in the UK.

In May 2004 Simons was awarded the Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Programmer of the Year. [5] In October 2006, the group acquired the Century brand from GCap Media, and in December 2006 Simons received a Fellowship from The Radio Academy, [7] "an award to recognise individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the industry." [2]

On 25 June 2012 it was announced Global Radio (the owner of stations such as Capital and Heart) had bought GMG Radio, however the former will continue to operate separately until a regulatory review is carried out, Real Radio is thought to integrate into Heart. [8] [9]

John left Real and Smooth Radio at the end of 2013 having left the stations on record Rajar results and re-entered the world of consultancy.

Related Research Articles

BBC Radio Nottingham is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire.

Century Radio was the brand name of a group of Independent Local Radio stations in England. The brand was developed with the launch of 100-102 Century Radio in North East England in 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as programme director. The brand grew when Myers launched 106 Century FM for the East Midlands, and further when 105.4 Century Radio was launched in North West England in 1998. Ocean FM used the Century format, but not the brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart North East</span> Radio station in Newcastle upon Tyne

Heart North East is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart North West</span> Radio station in Manchester

Heart North West is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North West England from studios in the Spinningfields area of Manchester city centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gem (radio station)</span> Radio station in Nottingham

Gem is an Independent Local Radio station based in Nottingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to the East Midlands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">102.2 Jazz FM</span> Radio station

102.2 Jazz FM was an Independent Local Radio for London run by GMG Radio. The station was based in and broadcast from Castlereagh Street in London. The station experimented with its core playlist over its fifteen-year history, incorporating smooth jazz, mainstream jazz, soul, jazz fusion, acid jazz, blues and rhythm and blues. In 1994, the station changed its name to JFM to encourage more listeners who were put off by the 'Jazz' in the station's name. Richard Wheatly was appointed in 1995 to turn the station around when there was only three months' money left to run the station. He made a number of sweeping changes to the playlist, selling a sister station and changing the name back to Jazz FM, as well as starting up a record label and spin-off business deals and opportunities which helped Jazz FM swing into the black and make a profit in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saga 106.6 FM</span> Radio station in Nottingham

Saga 106.6FM was an Independent Local Radio for the East Midlands, broadcasting to Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland. Part of the Saga Radio Group, the regional station was broadcast from the Riverside Business Park in Nottingham, close to the old Central/Carlton Television studios on Lenton Lane.

GMG Radio was a company that owned the Real Radio and Smooth Radio networks. As GMG Radio, the company was the radio division of the Guardian Media Group until it was bought in 2012 by Global Radio, however pending regulatory review of the merger the company was renamed Real and Smooth Limited and operated as a separate entity, until May 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real Radio</span> Radio station

Real Radio was a network of five regional radio stations broadcasting to North East England, North West England, Scotland, Wales and Yorkshire. Each station broadcast a mix of local and networked programming. On Tuesday 6 May 2014, the stations were merged with the Heart network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart South Wales</span> Radio station in Cardiff

Heart South Wales is a regional radio station that broadcasts to South and West Wales from studios in Cardiff Bay. The station is owned and operated by Global Radio and forms part of the expanded Heart radio network of stations.

From 2010 to 2014, Smooth Radio was an independent, commercial, national radio station in the United Kingdom. Owned by Real and Smooth—a company formerly known as GMG Radio—the station was aimed at the over-40 demographic, and competed for its audience with BBC Radio 2. It was broadcast on the DAB Digital Radio Digital 1 national multiplex, Sky, Freesat, Freeview, Virgin Media, online and on regional FM and DAB frequencies in the North West, London, North East, West Midlands, Scotland and East Midlands. Nationally the station attracted a weekly average audience of 3 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Myers (radio executive)</span> British radio executive, consultant and presenter

John Myers was a British radio executive, consultant and presenter. He was Chairman of the UK Radio Academy Awards, The Commercial Radio Awards and owner of Myers Media. Myers developed the Century Radio brand for Border Radio Holdings in the early 1990s, launching two more stations later in the decade. He presented programmes under the pseudonym "John Morgan". He then became Chief executive of GMG Radio, developing the Real Radio, Smooth Radio and Rock Radio brands and overseeing GMG Radio's acquisition of the Century network from GCap Media. He served as Chief executive of The Radio Academy from April 2011 until June 2012 and the founding Chairman of TeamRock, retiring in May 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jazz FM (UK)</span> Radio station in London

Jazz FM is a radio station broadcasting on digital radio in the United Kingdom and Malta which predominantly plays jazz music, jazz standards as well as blues and soul music. The station, in this incarnation set up by Richard Wheatley, traces its roots back to 102.2 Jazz FM, which first launched in 1990. The current station commenced broadcasting on 6 October 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nation Radio Scotland</span> Radio station in Renfrewshire and Glasgow, Scotland

Nation Radio Scotland is a Scottish Independent Local Radio station for Renfrewshire, Glasgow and West Central Scotland, owned by Nation Broadcasting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colin Lamont</span> Scottish radio broadcaster

Colin Lamont, better known by his shock jock on-air radio persona of Scottie McClue, is a broadcaster and former newscaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real Radio XS</span> Radio station

Real Radio XS was a radio station brand operated by Real and Smooth Ltd based in Salford, Greater Manchester, broadcasting a variety of peak-time news, rock music and talk output. The Manchester-based version of the service was broadcast to Greater Manchester on FM, and to a number of areas on DAB: the closure of the MXR regional multiplexes ended most digital carriage of the service, with the last remaining digital transmission, to Yorkshire, ending in 2014. The other Real Radio XS service, covering Paisley and Renfrewshire on FM and central belt Scotland digitally, became Xfm Scotland in 2014 following Global's purchase of the franchise, before closing entirely in 2015. The Manchester frequency now transmits as XS Manchester under the control of Communicorp UK, whilst the Scottish license was re-advertised by Ofcom and now carries Nation Broadcasting-owned Nation Radio Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XS Manchester</span> Radio station in Manchester

XS Manchester is an Independent Local Radio station serving Greater Manchester, broadcasting a mix of indie and alternative rock music, speech and news output. The station is owned and operated by Communicorp UK and broadcasts from studios at Spinningfields in Manchester. It is Communicorp UK's only station that does not broadcast a programme service supplied by Global.

The presenter history of Smooth Radio includes many well-known British radio personalities who made their names on networks such as Radio 1, Radio 2, and other stations. The Smooth Radio brand began life in 2004 with the Manchester-based 100.4 Smooth FM, and gradually expanded to encompass a number of regional stations; these were subsumed into a UK-wide station in 2010. The regional stations were reintroduced in 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heart Scotland</span> Regional radio station in Scotland

Heart Scotland is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. The station relaunched as Heart on 6 May 2014, serving central and southern Scotland from studios in Glasgow city centre.

A timeline of notable events relating to Smooth Radio, a British radio station that first launched in 2004. Note that this article also includes information about the national version of Smooth Radio that existed between 2010 and 2014.

References

  1. ↑ "RockTalkFM: An Application for the FM Independent Local Radio License for North East England" (PDF). GMG Radio. 8 December 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 "Fellowship for John Simons". Radio Today. 18 December 2006. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  3. ↑ "Presenters". Radio Tees. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
  4. ↑ "Variety FM: An Application for the FM Independent Local Radio License for South Rales" (PDF). GMG Radio. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Sony Programmer of the Year award for GMG Radio". Radio Today. 13 May 2004. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  6. ↑ "TalkSPORT". Media UK. Archived from the original on 10 November 2006. Retrieved 6 January 2007.
  7. ↑ The Radio Academy "Fellows" Archived 24 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ GMG Radio sold to Global for £50m Mark Sweeney, The Guardian, 25 June 2012
  9. ↑ Global Radio seals £50m purchase of GMG Radio Maisie McCabe, Media Week, 25 June 2012
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.