Boom from the spare room
THE OVER-60S IS BROADCAST FROM
BRITAIN’S latest national radio station has been launched from a studio in Nottingham city centre.
Boom Radio was the idea of former Radio Trent presenter David Lloyd.
The station has big-name national broadcasters and big-money backers. But it’s run from a renovated spare room in Mr Lloyd’s home.
Boom was launched on Valentine’s Day and is Britain’s first national radio station aimed at over60s – the baby-boomers born between 1946 and 1964.
“Listener reaction has been amazing,” said Mr Lloyd. “Every expectation of our business plan was blown out of the water within two weeks.
“We also had more than 3,000 emails from people asking why they couldn’t hear us on DAB where they were living. That’s why we’ve gone national so quickly.”
Originally Boom was broadcasting online and via DAB in London, Manchester and Glasgow. But station shareholders were so impressed by the first audience figures they paid for licences to take Boom national last Friday on DAB.
Mr Lloyd, who is also chairman of Notts TV and had the idea for Boom during lockdown last summer, said: “There is such a big gap in the market. If you’re 65 years old there just isn’t a radio station playing the music you grew up with in your formative years.”
Boom – which has around ten investors, including multi-millionaire businessman Phil Riley – concentrates on sounds from the 1960s and ’70s but mixes them with songs from the ’50s and ’80s, plus new music. It is targeting BBC Radio Two’s 14 million listeners and believes it will have its own half-amillion-strong audience within three years.
Boom’s high-profile presenters – who all broadcast from their own homes – include former Radio One DJS David Hamilton, David Kid Jensen and Nicky Horne. They also have Esther Rantzen, former Classic FM presenter Jane Markham and actress Jenny Hanley. Four more, including Mr Lloyd, are veterans of Nottingham’s first commercial radio station Radio Trent.
John Peters, the first voice on Radio Trent back in 1975, presents the Sunday chart show on Boom. Former Radio Trent DJS Andy Marriott and Bill Bingham also have slots.
Mr Lloyd – who started at Radio Trent in 1980 as a 19-year-old – celebrated his 60th birthday this month. He believes Boom is in the right place at the right time. “As a West Bridgford lad, being back on air – on national radio – in my home city means a lot to me,” he said. “Baby-boomers were the first pop music generation. Now we have more money than we’ve ever had before – and we’re better at our jobs than we’ve ever been before. This is a radio station for people like us. We’re not old. We’re still busy living!”
HIT NATIONAL RADIO SHOW AIMED AT
STAR PRESENTERS’ OWN HOMES
Baby-boomers were the first pop music generation ... This is a radio station for people like us David Lloyd