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#512175
Manchester's Key 103 is going national and rebranding as Hits Radio. The breakfast show is going to be presented by Gethin Jones, Gemma Atkinson and - yes - Dave Vitty!

So that's Dave going up against Chris on national DAB radio.

More here: http://radiotoday.co.uk/2018/04/key-103 ... -national/
Last edited by VMPhil on Thu May 30, 2019 11:24 am, edited 1 time in total.
#512178
Hits Radio will have a breakfast show hosted by Gethin Jones, Gemma Atkinson and Dave Vitty (yes, Comedy Dave!)Hits Radio mid-mornings will be hosted by Mike Toolan – networked to other FM stationsHits Radio afternoons will be hosted by Debbie Mac – networked to other FM stationsHits Radio Drive will be hosted by Wes ButtersHits Radio Evenings will be hosted by Sarah-Jane Crawford – networked to other FM stations


Main points I can take from this.
Breakfast is only on fm in manchester. As in the key 103 area. So comedy Dave's reach is minor compared too Chris's slightly better reach on fm. But I would guess they will be going for number 1 in Manchester.
I wouldn't call the breakfast line-up stellar as well. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's tv personalities right???
There is stiff competition in the Manchester region alone. Never mind national and dab radio.
Joel off of jk and Joel presents heart breakfast with Lorna I believe her name is. And that's just for starters.
Mike toolan has been mentioned before by Chris. I think chris has spoken highly of him. Are they friends. I can't remember.
Anyway. Mike has been there as the artical says for years. So is it a promotion or a demotion for him. (Id say a promotion as he is going to be going national)
Debbie Mac seems too have been at key 103 for years as well. So probably a promotion for her going national.
Wes butters. How long did he last on the radio 1 chart show? about 18 months was it before jk and Joel came to radio 1. Didn't chris drop the feature with wes recapping the chart with him on the breakfast show after like 3 or 4 weeks.
Sarah Jane Crawford. Ex radio 1 in a specialist role. So i never really heard her show.
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By fish heads
#512181
My main takeaway is that it's a total mish-mash of ideas that initially doesn't sit quite right. It's a halfway house before de-regulation and a toe in the water as Bauer decide as to go the whole hog and rebrand their entire total network like Global have with Capital and Heart. Superb blog on the whole thing here - http://www.mattdeegan.com/2018/04/18/hi ... y-network/ In particular moving away from being the Mum's station of choice is interesting.

The upshot is that Key 103 has struggled in the past few years to keep up with the times - there is no way this is a promotion for Toolan, it screams a tactical move until his contract is up and is probably on too much money to shift to overnights, but the canny move of keeping some of the team on in Gemma Atkinson. I don't think Bauer are looking to take on the likes of the national breakfast shows by going on DAB, - almost by default it'll start out-rating the existing breakfast show on DAB only "The Hits" which it will be replacing nationally. Number one in Manchester will be their aim, as Capital overtook them long ago and I think Radio X has made a big dent in their figures with Moyles arriving.

As for Dave, well it could be a good signing. The comedy mind of his regular features and writing is probably the single major miss for Moyles on Radio X. I suspect the leash will be a little tighter in Manchester in terms of freedom compared to Global and Moyles, but it could work. Then again, it's the sort of lineup that launches a station and you think "I'll be astonished if all of those people are still on Breakfast in 18 months".

Who would have thought that a Key 103 rebrand would provoke more discussion on here than Radio 1 going with a four day week! How old we are!
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By G-Sizzle
#512182
I suspect this will get zero mentions on X by Moyles or anyone else.

The company line on why Dave couldn’t join Chris on the new show was “Dave is busy doing other things”. But now those things included a national radio breakfast show.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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By fish heads
#512183
G-Sizzle wrote:I suspect this will get zero mentions on X by Moyles or anyone else.

The company line on why Dave couldn’t join Chris on the new show was “Dave is busy doing other things”. But now those things included a national radio breakfast show.


Moyles did briefly mention the Key rebrand today actually. Obviously not referring to the lineup of presenters though
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By Nicola_Red
#512184
wireman2004 wrote:I wouldn't call the breakfast line-up stellar as well. Correct me if I'm wrong. It's tv personalities right???
There is stiff competition in the Manchester region alone. Never mind national and dab radio.


Gemma Atkinson already does the Key103 breakfast show. I've been subjected to it at work quite a bit recently, it's terrible, but I don't think it's her fault so much as just...breakfast radio is generally awful.
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By thiscrs
#512188
fish heads wrote:
G-Sizzle wrote:I suspect this will get zero mentions on X by Moyles or anyone else.

The company line on why Dave couldn’t join Chris on the new show was “Dave is busy doing other things”. But now those things included a national radio breakfast show.


Moyles did briefly mention the Key rebrand today actually. Obviously not referring to the lineup of presenters though


I didn't hear that, but I did hear something about someone being 'dead' to him and Pippa this morning when it was just him and her before 7am. They said something about it being to do with news from yesterday so I wondered if this was a reference to Dave joining Key 103. I was only half listening though as I was trying to feed an uncooperative child at the time.
#512189
thiscrs wrote:I didn't hear that, but I did hear something about someone being 'dead' to him and Pippa this morning when it was just him and her before 7am. They said something about it being to do with news from yesterday so I wondered if this was a reference to Dave joining Key 103. I was only half listening though as I was trying to feed an uncooperative child at the time.


Yes, I heard that too and wondered the same thing. There was also a point where they were referring to Dale Winton having died and Chris said everyone should call a friend they haven't spoken to in ages, and I was wishing he could call Dave & they could be friends again!
#512190
Have a feeling that the "dead to me" comment might refer to Greg James, who replied to Comedy Dave's tweet yesterday with :

Love you Big D. Great news. Your first words back on air please:

"Good morning and a great big GFY to our rivals.....


Always thought Greg was in Chris' camp but maybe not as much as everyone thought.
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By fish heads
#512191
fatboydave73 wrote:Have a feeling that the "dead to me" comment might refer to Greg James, who replied to Comedy Dave's tweet yesterday with :

Love you Big D. Great news. Your first words back on air please:

"Good morning and a great big GFY to our rivals.....


Always thought Greg was in Chris' camp but maybe not as much as everyone thought.


That might make sense, as Pippa's response was "that was a shame", as I believe she is still friends with Greg as she used to be his producer. Initially I thought she was saying it was a shame as she was getting confused with Dale Winton who Chris hadn't mentioned at that point I think.

I think Greg admires Chris on a professional level and has said so on many occasions, but on a personal level I don't think there are many people left at Radio 1 who could say they loved Chris - Aled aside maybe. I remember a conversation they were having after being on Radio X not that long and basically Chris was having a go at a lot of people at Radio 1 moaning they were all the same and wanted nothing to do with him the second his breakfast show was done. It was mainly aimed at Scott I think, but Pippa piped up with "Greg's alright though" and Chris was having none of it. Felt bit tense at the time, especially as Pippa has been working there a matter of months ago back then. Who knows though?
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By Nicola_Red
#512192
And this is not long after Chris had a go at Greg for playing that Portugal. The Man record because X had been playing it for ages already. Ugh this bitterness and rivalry, it's so awkward to see/hear from all of them.
By jthw5
#512193
Definitely thought the comment about “someone else was added to the ‘dead to us’ list yesterday” was about Greg James.

Shame Greg felt the need to be so publicly immature.
By Trigger
#512200
What a great dollop of gossip you've all given me there!

The vintage hour had some good 'listen between the lines' moments for me, but the biggest of all had to be when he played Dakota - That to me is now Chris's entire thoughts on his R1 days, sums it all up perfectly. Great choice of song when reflecting on 50 years.

'You made me feel like the 1'.

- If it was entirely coincidental then obviously I will feel like a tit, but for me it really fits.
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By thiscrs
#512211
So how long do you think it'll be before someone tries to get a Toby Larone past Dave? I don't think they'll succeed, and even if they did, I don't think Chris would play it, but someone out there is bound to try.
By welshblob
#512300
I hope Dave's show is good but I fear he hasn't got the clout to shape it like Moyles has i.e. no ads until before the news at 7 and less music although the latter was what Moyles morphed into over the years. Used to enjoy Chappers and Dave on at the weekend in the R1 days. I hope he plays to his strengths in the new show with his creating and writing the regular features.

I think it starts at 6am on Monday doesn't it ?
By welshblob
#512316
I guess if you join a radio station called "hits radio" then there will be some music, lots of music. They have Jess Glynn (?) as their first guest and giving away tickets to Taylor swift for every caller which sets the tone. Geth is sounding a bit giddy at the moment which I guess is to be expected. Think the music would put me off listening to this station just like it did when Dom joined capital.

Thank you both!!