Today we’ve announced what happens next for Amazing Radio: -
1. We’re continuing on the air, enhancing the output with the addition of presenters at evenings and weekends, and new genre shows.
2. We’ve hired more staff and are moving to new premises, once the home of a local commercial station, so we can continue to expand.
3. We’re talking to sponsors about radio/online packages which will help us sustain and grow Amazing Radio.
3. We’re launching ‘virtual radio stations’ online – High Def streams of genre-specific music, 24 hours a day. Amazing Ambient is already live, others will follow shortly.
4. To celebrate all this, we’re giving away all our potential advertising space free of charge to registered Charities throughout Christmas. We’ll make the ads for them, free, too. To apply, charities should go to this link.
I decided to make the announcement about all of this on the air, and I was quite personal. I thought it was important to do that, and to be honest. Making this happen has not been easy, but the response from listeners and artists since we launched has been the most extraordinary experience of my professional life. It’s made us even more determined to make this grow. I hope you’ll like the new stuff – tell us when we go wrong, please – and that you’ll keep supporting amazing. Thank you.
Paul Campbell
amazing founder
Twitter @drumpaul
FANTASTIC
Thanks Simon! Keep listening! Tell your friends! PC
FANTASTIC
Thanks Simon! Keep listening! Tell your friends! PC
Must be quick as I’m supposed to be working but was desperate to hear the fate of Amazing Radio. That’s great news, really good to hear you’re sticking around.
Also very interested in the new developments, eager to see what comes next.
Now, back to work…
I won’t tell you boss! Thanks Owen, keep listening, let us know how it all feels, PC
Must be quick as I’m supposed to be working but was desperate to hear the fate of Amazing Radio. That’s great news, really good to hear you’re sticking around.
Also very interested in the new developments, eager to see what comes next.
Now, back to work…
I won’t tell you boss! Thanks Owen, keep listening, let us know how it all feels, PC
CONGRATULATIONS! I listened to your news at 12pm and was very pleased! There was one thing, though, that sounded a bit scary. Advertising space. Now, while I can imagine that the money to maintain a radio station clearly has to come from somewhere, would it be possible to keep the advertising as unobtrusive as possible? One reason why we like this station so much – aside from all the new music that otherwise we would never get to hear, or buy – is that there is very little talk and no advertising. Leaving us free to enjoy music pure.
Mi Martina – thanks for the comment. Don’t worry, we know how people feel about advertising. We’re offering charity advertising over Christmas, but we’re not expecting to have conventional adverts after that. We’re aiming for sponsorship and clever bi-media campaigns involving online as well in the future. So the station sound should remain the same – especially during daylight hours. Hope this clarifies, PC
CONGRATULATIONS! I listened to your news at 12pm and was very pleased! There was one thing, though, that sounded a bit scary. Advertising space. Now, while I can imagine that the money to maintain a radio station clearly has to come from somewhere, would it be possible to keep the advertising as unobtrusive as possible? One reason why we like this station so much – aside from all the new music that otherwise we would never get to hear, or buy – is that there is very little talk and no advertising. Leaving us free to enjoy music pure.
Mi Martina – thanks for the comment. Don’t worry, we know how people feel about advertising. We’re offering charity advertising over Christmas, but we’re not expecting to have conventional adverts after that. We’re aiming for sponsorship and clever bi-media campaigns involving online as well in the future. So the station sound should remain the same – especially during daylight hours. Hope this clarifies, PC
congratulations! i am so pleased that amazing radio is continuing! you had me worried for a while there!
all the best for the future of amazing music on the air waves!
Sorry we caused some worry. We couldn’t announce everything until the last minute when all the ducks finally came in line. It’s been a bit crazy. Thanks for the comment Aimee – keep listening. Tell your friends!! PC
congratulations! i am so pleased that amazing radio is continuing! you had me worried for a while there!
all the best for the future of amazing music on the air waves!
Sorry we caused some worry. We couldn’t announce everything until the last minute when all the ducks finally came in line. It’s been a bit crazy. Thanks for the comment Aimee – keep listening. Tell your friends!! PC
Paul,
Really good and exciting news, and I like the idea of hi-def online streaming of a wide range of music. When do you plan to have all these changes in place, and are you going to phase them or introduce everything at once?
Best of luck!
Hi Phil – thanks very much for the comment. Ambient’s there now, others to follow asap (we should have the second HD stream online this week). The radio changes will launch progressively, with the first changes happening next week. That’s more practical, especially as we won’t move into the new building for some time. ATB, PC
Paul,
Really good and exciting news, and I like the idea of hi-def online streaming of a wide range of music. When do you plan to have all these changes in place, and are you going to phase them or introduce everything at once?
Best of luck!
Hi Phil – thanks very much for the comment. Ambient’s there now, others to follow asap (we should have the second HD stream online this week). The radio changes will launch progressively, with the first changes happening next week. That’s more practical, especially as we won’t move into the new building for some time. ATB, PC
A new discovery. Amazing Ambient is quite impressive! Just a quick note to say – as I didn’t see it mentioned on your website anywhere – that for Apple Mac users (such as myself) it launches itself pretty much automatically in iTunes. First time I tried out Ambient, I was totally unaware that iTunes was operating (as it was minimised in my dock) and I kept trying to turn it off online when the telephone rang and no matter what I did – even quitting Safari – didn’t do the trick; the music kept on playing. After some head-scratching I finally discovered what’s what. It’s cool – I really like the idea that I can quit my browser and the tunes keep going!
Hey Martina – thanks for the comment, glad you like Amazing Ambient. I use a Mac too – all the best people do
– and I love the way it just kinda happens for you, too. In a bit, when we get all the wires in the right place, we’ll also have an option to keep it playing within a browser just as amazingtunes.com does. Keep listening – tell all your friends!! PC
A new discovery. Amazing Ambient is quite impressive! Just a quick note to say – as I didn’t see it mentioned on your website anywhere – that for Apple Mac users (such as myself) it launches itself pretty much automatically in iTunes. First time I tried out Ambient, I was totally unaware that iTunes was operating (as it was minimised in my dock) and I kept trying to turn it off online when the telephone rang and no matter what I did – even quitting Safari – didn’t do the trick; the music kept on playing. After some head-scratching I finally discovered what’s what. It’s cool – I really like the idea that I can quit my browser and the tunes keep going!
Hey Martina – thanks for the comment, glad you like Amazing Ambient. I use a Mac too – all the best people do
– and I love the way it just kinda happens for you, too. In a bit, when we get all the wires in the right place, we’ll also have an option to keep it playing within a browser just as amazingtunes.com does. Keep listening – tell all your friends!! PC
So, PC is using a Mac. Love it!
I have done for almost 20 years. I’m not clever enough to use a PC…. PC
So, PC is using a Mac. Love it!
I have done for almost 20 years. I’m not clever enough to use a PC…. PC
Oops! Haven’t been here since October… I stopped visiting after the lack of blog posts. Glad you’re continuing the station, but I do sometimes get confused since ‘Absolute’ is right next to ‘Amazing’ on my radio. Must programme it into favourites!
Hey Philip, Thanks for stopping by again. The difference is that we are Absolutely Amazing. PC
Oops! Haven’t been here since October… I stopped visiting after the lack of blog posts. Glad you’re continuing the station, but I do sometimes get confused since ‘Absolute’ is right next to ‘Amazing’ on my radio. Must programme it into favourites!
Hey Philip, Thanks for stopping by again. The difference is that we are Absolutely Amazing. PC
PC – MAC? which is best?
Oh! I haven’t got to create another gif for you have I Paul?
I must confess to accidentally scrolling down the main amazing radio portal today
and saw the Ambient link (and others) by mistake as they were too low on my screen!
Any road up – Great that “Monday Monday” was all I hoped it would be Paul!
There’s no best. It’s just that Macs make you morally superior. Thanks for Monday Monday – and do let me know what you think about Amazing Ambient. More fun to come soon… PC
PC – MAC? which is best?
Oh! I haven’t got to create another gif for you have I Paul?
I must confess to accidentally scrolling down the main amazing radio portal today
and saw the Ambient link (and others) by mistake as they were too low on my screen!
Any road up – Great that “Monday Monday” was all I hoped it would be Paul!
There’s no best. It’s just that Macs make you morally superior. Thanks for Monday Monday – and do let me know what you think about Amazing Ambient. More fun to come soon… PC
I don’t like advertising either – but what I really hate are djs so I hope you don’t bother with them. I can always read track details if I want them. One thing, please encourage your artists to make their work available for download. There’s several tunes I like that I can’t legitimately get – though of course I have an audio grabber. But really – I want to give them my money – downloading in batches of 8 for £6, that’s a reasonable deal – why don’t some people allow it?
Hey Nick, thanks for this thoughtful comment. (Don’t worry: our daytime output will be the same as now: the evenings will be similar, but with some intelligent new voices). Re downloads – we keep going back to artists whose music is not downloadable asking them to change it so they can make some money. To some extent it’s a case of them not understanding the process yet … and sometimes they’re just a bit, well, how can I put this? – a bit disorganised. I agree with you that it’s a good deal for us and for them. We keep trying. Glad you wouldn’t dream of grabbing it! If nobody buys any music, Amazing Radio will have to make a different kind of announcement in the future! PC
I don’t like advertising either – but what I really hate are djs so I hope you don’t bother with them. I can always read track details if I want them. One thing, please encourage your artists to make their work available for download. There’s several tunes I like that I can’t legitimately get – though of course I have an audio grabber. But really – I want to give them my money – downloading in batches of 8 for £6, that’s a reasonable deal – why don’t some people allow it?
Hey Nick, thanks for this thoughtful comment. (Don’t worry: our daytime output will be the same as now: the evenings will be similar, but with some intelligent new voices). Re downloads – we keep going back to artists whose music is not downloadable asking them to change it so they can make some money. To some extent it’s a case of them not understanding the process yet … and sometimes they’re just a bit, well, how can I put this? – a bit disorganised. I agree with you that it’s a good deal for us and for them. We keep trying. Glad you wouldn’t dream of grabbing it! If nobody buys any music, Amazing Radio will have to make a different kind of announcement in the future! PC
Absolutely and utterly delighted with the good news. I chained myself to the radio after altering my work schedule to hear the news live at twelve. Life has been tough over the last year or so and it was nice to feel a what a huge smile feels like again. Well done and looking forward to the fun and frolics on Amazing Radio for the coming year.
What a totally wonderful post, Phil – thank you very very much.
Paul
Twitter @drumpaul
Absolutely and utterly delighted with the good news. I chained myself to the radio after altering my work schedule to hear the news live at twelve. Life has been tough over the last year or so and it was nice to feel a what a huge smile feels like again. Well done and looking forward to the fun and frolics on Amazing Radio for the coming year.
What a totally wonderful post, Phil – thank you very very much.
Paul
Twitter @drumpaul
Thank you , for ambient channel =]
Hope to have more free time to make the selebration tune =]
Can’t wait to hear it! Thanks Aleksandrs – and for your fantastic music. (Everyone else – Aleksandrs is Gastronom on amazingtunes.com. And brilliantly talented). Paul
Thank you , for ambient channel =]
Hope to have more free time to make the selebration tune =]
Can’t wait to hear it! Thanks Aleksandrs – and for your fantastic music. (Everyone else – Aleksandrs is Gastronom on amazingtunes.com. And brilliantly talented). Paul
Great to hear another North East success story
Thanks Andrew, we appreciate the good wishes – and love living here! All the best, Paul
Twitter @drumpaul
Great to hear another North East success story
Thanks Andrew, we appreciate the good wishes – and love living here! All the best, Paul
Twitter @drumpaul
Great news.
I’ve been to a few pubs and cafes that have had the radio on in the background. I’ve suggested to them that they should tune to Amazing Radio as, I assume, this is the only music radio station they can broadcast without a licence. Is this the case?
I thought I should probably know the facts before people start getting into trouble.
Hi Lee, thanks for the post. You’re right – Amazing Radio is the only radio station you can listen to in business premises without a PRS licence. Ditto Amazing Ambient and amazingtunes.com. All the best, Paul
Twitter @drumpaul
Great news.
I’ve been to a few pubs and cafes that have had the radio on in the background. I’ve suggested to them that they should tune to Amazing Radio as, I assume, this is the only music radio station they can broadcast without a licence. Is this the case?
I thought I should probably know the facts before people start getting into trouble.
Hi Lee, thanks for the post. You’re right – Amazing Radio is the only radio station you can listen to in business premises without a PRS licence. Ditto Amazing Ambient and amazingtunes.com. All the best, Paul
Twitter @drumpaul
I am glad that Amazing Radio is continuing, and that there will be some presenters too. I was surprised that there are no birds on Ambient but I discovered an amazing tune on there that I had never heard before.
We’re glad we’re continuing too! The presenters are great, will add a lot … and won’t change the daytime output, which people prefer as it is. We talked about adding birdsong to the Ambient channel. We still might – especially if more people say they want it. Bear in mind that it will have listeners globally, of course, so the original joke about birdsong might be a bit lost.
How can there be an Amazing indie channel? I thought indie music was music by artists signed to independent labels. All the Amazing artists are more independent than indie artists because they aren’t signed at all. When will the new channels be launched? Will there be jingles identifying them?
We mean indie in the generally-used sense of guitar-based indie rock. Indie is next, I think, possibly next week. There’ll be station idents – I wouldn’t call them jingles – on all the online channels.
I think it would be a good idea to repeat the genre-specific shows at different times on the genre-specific channels. For example there could be a rock show on Thursday night on Amazing Radio, which could be repeated on Sunday afternoon on Amazing Rock.
Yes, we’re planning that. In a sense the genre-specific channels are 24×7 versions of genre-specific shows on Amazing radio.
Perhaps some of the channels could have less mainstream stuff on them. How about for example, a heavy metal show on the rock channel, or if you do a dance channel, a heavy HC show? On the urban channel there could be a drum and bass show. These wouldn’t be suitable for the DAB station as they are not mainstream genres.
Great minds.
One more question. What is the difference between a high definition stream and a normal 128 K stream? Is the Amazing Radio online stream high definition like Ambient?
Currently, the Ambient stream is higher quality than the Amazing Radio online stream for boring technical reasons. This will change when we get into our new premises. We’ll then be able to host the streams ourselves (the building has a great Central Technical Area) and wind up the gain on the online streams PC Twitter @drumpaul
I am glad that Amazing Radio is continuing, and that there will be some presenters too. I was surprised that there are no birds on Ambient but I discovered an amazing tune on there that I had never heard before.
We’re glad we’re continuing too! The presenters are great, will add a lot … and won’t change the daytime output, which people prefer as it is. We talked about adding birdsong to the Ambient channel. We still might – especially if more people say they want it. Bear in mind that it will have listeners globally, of course, so the original joke about birdsong might be a bit lost.
How can there be an Amazing indie channel? I thought indie music was music by artists signed to independent labels. All the Amazing artists are more independent than indie artists because they aren’t signed at all. When will the new channels be launched? Will there be jingles identifying them?
We mean indie in the generally-used sense of guitar-based indie rock. Indie is next, I think, possibly next week. There’ll be station idents – I wouldn’t call them jingles – on all the online channels.
I think it would be a good idea to repeat the genre-specific shows at different times on the genre-specific channels. For example there could be a rock show on Thursday night on Amazing Radio, which could be repeated on Sunday afternoon on Amazing Rock.
Yes, we’re planning that. In a sense the genre-specific channels are 24×7 versions of genre-specific shows on Amazing radio.
Perhaps some of the channels could have less mainstream stuff on them. How about for example, a heavy metal show on the rock channel, or if you do a dance channel, a heavy HC show? On the urban channel there could be a drum and bass show. These wouldn’t be suitable for the DAB station as they are not mainstream genres.
Great minds.
One more question. What is the difference between a high definition stream and a normal 128 K stream? Is the Amazing Radio online stream high definition like Ambient?
Currently, the Ambient stream is higher quality than the Amazing Radio online stream for boring technical reasons. This will change when we get into our new premises. We’ll then be able to host the streams ourselves (the building has a great Central Technical Area) and wind up the gain on the online streams PC Twitter @drumpaul