Celebrating success at Boom Radio
We’ve all had bright ideas, but it takes real determination to bring them to reality.
In the dark days of Covid, a group of semi-retired old friends hatched a plan to create a new radio station for people our age. They were well-positioned, given they’d spent their whole lives in broadcasting – and felt they had the energy for one last big project.
It was an audacious plan to take on the might of the established radio stations, not least because Boom Radio planned no huge premises – all the presenters would broadcast from their own homes!
The music to be played on Boom was obvious: a rich mix of great ‘60s and ‘70s oldies, spiced with a little from the ‘50s – the sort of brilliant music which seemed to be ignored by so many radio stations these days. The station also pledged to play a huge variety of thousands of tracks to represent all our changing tastes across the decades, rather than just the same old songs on a loop.
Founders Phil Riley and David Lloyd plundered their savings and pensions and persuaded others to do the same to pay the significant bills of getting the station on-air.
Roger Day
They put in calls to familiar radio presenters they knew of old to persuade them to come on board. They included the great David Hamilton, well-known for his Radio 1 and 2 days, Roger Day from the old ‘60s pirates – and Nicky Horne and Graham Dene from the early days of Capital Radio. They were soon joined by Judi Spiers, Simon Bates and the old Radio Luxembourg voice, Rob Jones.
Boom Radio is now celebrating its fourth birthday – and it’s proved a runaway success, becoming one of the most successful radio station launches in recent years, with latest official audience figures indicating almost three-quarters of a million listeners. Not bad for a group of friends, with an average age of over 70, having fun from their back bedrooms, lofts and garages!
You can find Boom Radio on DAB+ or ask ‘Alexa – play Boom Radio’. The station has also launched two complementary stations – Boom Rock, playing a world of rock music, and Boom Light, which plays more ‘50s music and easy listening.
Click here for how to listen to Boom Radio.
