Vibe FM will launch as a regional dance music station covering East
Anglia on Saturday 22 November, three months ahead of schedule. The
station will broadcast to 1.8 million people across Norfolk, Suffolk and
Cambridgeshire and its station director is Peter Fletcher, who joins
from Hereward FM.
A survey of 11- to 19-year-olds by the research company, Euroquest MRB,
has revealed that teenagers in the UK watch more TV and play video games
more often than youngsters in other European countries. Teenagers in the
UK watch an average four hours of TV during the week compared with three
hours for French youngsters and 2.5 hours for German youngsters. Around
80 per cent of UK teenagers have video games, compared with 33 per cent
in Italy.
MTV, which launched a dedicated UK service in July, has increased its
ratings by 50 per cent among 16- to 34-year-olds in cable and satellite
homes, according to figures from a new panel monitoring broadband cable
channel audiences.
The Association of Media and Communications Specialists is to launch a
Jobseeker Website. The site is aimed at enabling those seeking a career
in the communications industry to register their CVs online and will be
developed in association with colleges, schools and universities.
The Guardian’s Saturday magazine, the Guide, is to sponsor Bristol’s
first all-night film festival, After Hours, due to take place this
weekend.
The event is being used by the Guide to increase its profile in UK
cities.
The event will be supported by radio advertising created by Leagas
Delaney and bought by New PHD.
Haymarket Publishing is launching a one-off hi-fi magazine, Music Power,
to meet consumer interest in bargain hi-fis in the run up to
Christmas.
With a circulation of 70,000, Music Power will be sold through major
retailers from 12 November for pounds 2.25.
The Times is beefing up its media coverage and moving it to Fridays as
its media editor, Ray Snoddy, seeks to raise the section’s profile. The
columnist, Maggie Brown, and the editor of Campaign, Stefano Hatfield,
will write regular columns for the section.
Emap On Air has officially opened for business this week, helped by an
on-air Spice Girls promotion. Tom Toumazis (pictured), the managing
director of On Air, said the initiative exploits Emap’s network
programming - a month-long drive will culminate in a 60-minute live
syndicated programme presented by the band across Emap’s 19
stations.
Liz Bestic, the deputy editor of BBC Family Life, has left the magazine,
which launched recently, to edit Myatt McFarlane’s family-orientated
title, Fun for Kids. The magazine was bought from DMG at the end of
September and the first issue since the takeover will go on sale on 13
November.
The publishers hope to take the magazine monthly from April 1998.
A lifestyle magazine for men, Bloke, is to be launched on a CD format in
February by the Flying Dutchman company. The 60-minute CD will target at
young single professional men who are typical FHM or GQ readers. It will
be distributed free and is aiming for a circulation of 50,000. There
will be 16 commercial slots on the CD as well as opportunities to
sponsor regular features.
ComTel is the first cable operator to gain a licence renewal for its
Swindon cable franchise. The Independent Television Commission has
renewed ComTel’s licence for 15 years from September 1999. Swindon Cable
was the first broadband cable network in the UK to become operational in
September 1984.
