Planet Rock (radio station)

Infobox Radio station


name= Planet Rock
area= United Kingdom
airdate= 15 November 1999
share = 0.4%
share as of = March 2008
share source = [http://www.rajar.co.uk/listening/quarterly_listening.php]
format= Classic Rock
frequency = DAB
Channel 0110 (Sky)
Channel 924 (Virgin Media)
owner= Rock Show consortium led by Malcolm Bluemel
website= [http://www.planetrock.com www.planetrock.com]

Planet Rock is a Sony Award winning digital radio station in the United Kingdom. The station broadcasts classic rock music. it is available nationally via the Digital One DAB network, and on Virgin Media cable television and Sky Digital, as well as via the website.

hows and presenters

Planet Rock has had many rock stars such as Ian Anderson, Tony Iommi, Fish, Gary Moore, and Phil Manzanera presenting their own weekly radio shows. Since July 2006, Planet Rock has also been broadcasting the syndicated Alice Cooper breakfast show "Breakfast with Alice" from 6am until 9am. Session bassist Guy Pratt does the Sunday 7-9pm show. Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman presents "Rick's Place" on Saturdays from 10am to 1pm.

Nicky Horne, also a presenter on Capital Gold and previously on Jazz FM (now called Smooth FM) and Capital Radio, presents the 7pm-11pm show, and Nick Abbot, controversial phone-in presenter, presents the 2-6pm show on Saturday and Sunday. Rob Birnie follows Cooper with his weekday show until 1pm, and "Listomania" is hosted by Bernard Doherty on Mondays and Thursdays from 6pm. Weekends between 7am and 10am the mantle is taken up by Murray J, and Mark Jeeves starts presenting at 2pm (weekdays) after the "Rockblock", finishing at 6pm, having given the day's "Trilogy at 3" and "Quadrophenia".

Awards and achievements

In 2006, the station received the Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Digital Terrestrial Radio Station of the Year,cite web|url=http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?category=Digital_Terrestrial_Station_Of_The_Year_&year=2006|title=Digital Terrestrial Station Of The Year|accessdate=2008-02-17|publisher=Sony Radio Academy] and in 2007, the Gold Award for Station Imaging.cite web|url=http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?category=The_Station_Imaging_Award&year=2007|title=Station Imaging Award |accessdate=2008-02-17|publisher=Sony Radio Academy]

In January 2008, Planet Rock reached a new height of 563,000 weekly listeners putting it further ahead of BBC 6 Music. In addition to Planet Rock's success, the PlanetRock forum also reached 4,000 members.cite web|url=http://www.planetrock.co.uk/Article.asp?id=565330|title=Planet Rock Rocks Louder Than Ever|accessdate=2008-02-11|date=2008-01-31|publisher=Planet Rock]

On 12 May 2008, Planet Rock won three Sony awards, Bronze in the Multi-Platform radio category, Silver for Fish's "Fish on Friday" show, and (for the second time) the Gold Award for Digital Terrestrial Radio Station of the Year.cite web|url=http://www.radioawards.org/winners/?category=Digital_Station_of_the_Year&year=2008|title=Digital Terrestrial Station Of The Year|accessdate=2008-05-13|publisher=Sony Radio Academy]

ale

On 11 February 2008, previous owner GCap Media (now Global Radio), announced that the station would be closing by 31st March 2008, along with sister station theJazz, unless a buyer was found. According to a statement by former presenter Fish, this was not due to the profitability of Planet Rock itself, which had been reported to be good, but rather to GCap's overall financial state. The station's relative popularity on digital radio brought controversy to the closure threat.cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7238444.stm|title=Two GCap digital stations closed|accessdate=2008-02-11|date=2008-02-11|publisher=BBC News Online]

Although theJazz ceased broadcasting on schedule, a campaign by listeners meant that a number of buyers expressed interest in Planet Rock, including a consortium publicly headed by Queen guitarist Brian May. [cite web|url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/broadcasting/a95482/brian-may-on-mission-to-save-planet-rock.html|title=Brian May on mission to save Planet Rock|date=2008-05-08|accessdate=2008-05-08|work=Digital Spy] The station therefore remained on air while sale negotiations continued.

On 4 June 2008, Planet Rock announced that it had been sold to a consortium led by Malcolm Bluemel and supported by Tony Iommi, Ian Anderson, Gary Moore, and Fish. There was no break in transmission and the programming will remain unchanged. [cite web|url=http://www.planetrock.co.uk/article.asp?id=731764|title=PLANET ROCK SOLD|date=2008-05-08|accessdate=2008-06-04|work=Planet Rock Online]

References

External links

* [http://www.planetrock.com/ Planet Rock Website]
* [http://www.myspace.com/officialplanetrock Planet Rock on MySpace]