When I lived in Toronto, I made a habit of downloading the Graham Norton Saturday morning show from BBC Radio 2 and listened while I walked around the city or down to work at the Corus Building down by the lakefront.
Some weeks it was great, other weeks a bit too 'West End' for my liking but I always gave it a try. That and the Danny Baker podcast. I remember when Graham Norton moved to the BBC, he was handed one of those "Here's all the money" contracts and then they had to decide what to do with him. So he popped up on just about every show and in every TV and radio format.
Obviously, his TV chat show has been a huge success...but the radio show always felt like the poor relative. Was it advertised and promoted? If it was, I hadn't noticed.
Since leaving Toronto, I haven't listened to the show... didn't even know if it was still on, to be honest.
So now, here we are in Mid-November and word is that Virgin UK has just signed the man himself for weekend mornings. Wow! That's a big deal. Not because Norton is the world's best radio performer (he's not)...but because he is such a name.
When Chris Evans left Radio 2 to host Virgin mornings, that was a big deal. "Going to a DAB station???" It seemed a bit risky at the time. Now though, Virgin is the most listened to digital station in the UK, so that worked out alright! Getting Evans was big...getting Norton is (in my opinion) just as big. It's a massive statement and a HUGE vote of confidence in both DAB and the Virgin brand (yes, I said 'brand'!)
So, let's see how this plays out in the new year and how (if) other stations retaliate.
Oh and one final thought...you know the way you are constantly being told that there is no money in radio? Let's just say, this would not have been a low-cost solution to filling weekends ;)
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