Take a closer look at Monocle

The media brand’s radio station aims to engage listeners with its global content

Canadian-born Tyler Brûlé trained as a journalist in London with the BBC. In quick succession he founded then sold the lifestyle magazine Wallpaper*, then in 2002 he began his advertising agency, and in 2007 another lifestyle magazine, Monocle. They continue along with a website selling exclusive men’s clothing and accessories, and Monocle shops and cafés in major cities internationally.

Monocle Radio arrived in 2011. Its HQ is now in Zürich but the station still maintains its original London base. Monocle broadcasts 24 hours a day. Every weekday there are three live news programmes and at weekends two “agenda-setting” shows, one presented by Brûlé. These are dropped into an archive of bite-sized episodes on many topics. The Global Countdown I heard told me about the top five songs in Mauritius. The Menu covers food stories from Malaysia to Margate. Monocle claims over a million listeners each month.

Are they all jet-setting fashionistas? “I wouldn’t say so,” Head of Radio Tom Edwards replies. “Many of them are running businesses. We’re serving a curious, globally-minded and engaged consumer. We like to feel that we match up with the tone, the authority, the coverage of a public broadcaster.” In the past Brûlé has cited the BBC World Service as a model. “Yes,” Edwards agrees, “but juiced-up a bit.”

Edwards describes himself as “a newspaper man first and foremost”. Previously he was a production editor at The Independent. He was aware at the time of Monocle. “It struck me as interesting,” he says, “that a premium media brand arrived and was immediately confronted in 2008 with this unprecedented financial meltdown. Not only did it weather those complexities and challenges, it emerged with a total clarity of voice and tone.”

Monocle Radio appears to have come into its own during the pandemic. People were not only stuck at home, Edwards suggests, but depressed by the defeatist tone of other media. “What Monocle offers is an antidote. It’s about being positive,” he says. “We take our listeners down avenues of opportunity even when times are hard.”

The station doesn’t do phone-ins. “But we love to hear from our listeners,” Edwards assures me. “The email of every editor is on the masthead. Drop us a line. We do lots of outside broadcasts and we invite subscribers to events, talks and conferences. If the weather here in London permits it, we do a summer market, and we always do a Christmas market with Santa flown in from Finland and reindeer.” DAVID MCGILLIVRAY

Listen at monocle.com/radio