As an artist, you’ll no doubt be familiar with the UK’s favourite upbeat radio station, Magic Radio!
Magic Radio is the ultimate feel-good, adult contemporary independent local radio and national radio station based in London. Listened to by 25-54-year olds and playing songs that listeners know and love.
Discover all you need to know about Magic Radio from where it all began to the impact it has on music listeners today!
What Is Magic Radio?
Magic Radio is the one to listen to when you are looking for upbeat/optimistic music. The station prides itself on playing more of the songs you love. It is the 12th most popular radio station in the UK with an average of 3,279,000 (aged 15+) listeners per week. It is listened to mainly by women, millennials and Generation X who each listen for about 5.4 hours per week.
The station is all about keeping the UK in a good mood and plays the best songs from the likes of Elton John, Take That, Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Ed Sheeran.
Shows & Presenters
You can tune in to the Breakfast show with Ronan Keating and Harriet Scott. Each day listeners can wake up and get ready for their day ahead with a mixture of laughs, magic radio competitions as well as A-lister interviews with the likes of Kylie, Jennifer Lawrence and Justin Timberlake.
Keating and Scott also take to the road for some magic radio live events and recently followed the farewell Boyzone Tour with a broadcast truck, hosted from Hyde Park for British Summertime. They even took the show to Universal Orlando!
Nick Snaith and Emma B can be listened to throughout the day. For your long drive home, it’s Richard Allinson. Finally, you can finish off the evening with some calming sounds from Lynn Parsons.
At the weekend, Magic also has a great lineup with top presenters including comedian Tom Price and Paul Hayes. Keep moving with Dan Morrissey every Saturday and get requests in for Lynn Parsons on a Sunday.
Magic Radio station is certain to put you in a great mood and uplift your spirits whether at home or on the road!
What Frequency Is Magic On?
Magic Radio is an Independent Local Radio and national radio station located in London. You can listen to this radio station on 105.4 FM and DAB, as well as on DAB across the UK and in any part of the world.
Listen to Magic Radio DAB Digital Radio, Magic.co.uk, Sky, Freeview, Virgin Media, and Magic Radio App.
Magic’s Website
Check out the website to find out about what is happening on Magic Radio. You can also listen to magic radio online live here. Tune into all your favourite shows such as Magic Radio Breakfast or Tom Price’s Weekend Breakfast Show. You’ll also find out how you can enter Magic competitions or view their photo galleries. Last but not least, you can also catch up on interviews with popular celebrities from music and movies.
Magic Radio App
Magic Radio also has its very own radio app with expertly crafted music mix, presenter line-up, competitions and giveaways. Available on Blackberry App World, Android and Apple App Store.
Wherever or whenever you tune in, this station is guaranteed to get you in a good mood!
Who Owns Magic?
Magic Radio is owned by the UK-based radio division of Bauer Media Group. Bauer Radio is a network with two main categories: the Hits Radio Network and Bauer National portfolios.
Hits Radio consists of local stations mainly broadcast on FM and local digital platforms. National consists of national and quasi-national music genres delivered primarily through digital platforms. Only some services are offered on FM/AM.
History Of Magic
In 1998 Melody FM was bought by media group Emap for a reported £25 million. This station was then rebranded to Magic. In 2008, Emap sold its radio stations, including Magic, to Bauer Media Group.
Along with urban-music station Kiss, Magic and a number of other radio stations are broadcast from Bauer Radio’s headquarters in Golden Square having previously been broadcast from studios on Winsley Street (Mappin House) until September 2014.
The station introduced automation for the first time with weekday afternoons split by a ‘non-stop’ music hour. In order to cut costs, the station began to automate overnight output with eight other Magic stations across the North in 2002. It was this that seemed to start a decline in listeners. Probably due to a lack of local content.
In 2003, networking ended despite the eight ‘northern’ Magic stations continuing to share a mid-morning show, hosted by Mark Thorburn, until the reposition of the northern Magic group in mid-2006 with these stations being rebranded into the Bauer City network in 2015. Magic adopted a ‘more music, less talk’ ethos as a networking programming shift.
Back Uphill
Former Capital FM head and radio consultant, Richard Park came in. He expanded the station’s audience, and by September 2003, Magic saw a major revamp. Live programming began again replacing the automated evening output.
In order to entice listeners in recent years, Magic has seen the support of weekend celebrity-hosted content as well as large cash prize competitions. In January 2006 Magic ran a competition called Magic Mystery Voices with a cash prize of £110,600, the greatest cash giveaway on UK radio since 1999. Unfortunately, rival station Smooth FM beat that sum in April 2006. However, Magic later regained honour on 30 March 2007 with listener Maria Crosskey winning £168,600 in a six-month-long Mystery Voices contest, although she was later disqualified.
Sister Stations
In 2016 Magic launched two digital stations as part of the Sound Digital multiplex owned jointly by Bauer. Mellow Magic, it’s a service of relaxing and timeless classics, based on Magic night-time programming strand of the same name, and Magic Chilled Radio, a station in the DAB+ format, playing laid-back hits. On Mellow Magic, the only live programme currently is Fran Godfrey’s breakfast show.
In the same year, a short-term pop-up ‘Magic ABBA’ ran as a commercial partnership with Mamma Mia! The Musical. Magic ABBA was later replaced by soul music service, ‘Magic Soul Summer’; also intended as a short-term pop-up, the soul station ultimately remained active, and became Magic Soul in the autumn of 2016. It still remains on-air as the fourth station of the Magic network, with presenters including Lemar, Eloise Carr, Louise Molony and Miri Green.
Magic Radio’s Live Events
The radio station has many notable events:
Live Events
Magic presents events from small intimate gigs to multi-artist events which are closeup and personal. See some of the best-selling artists at selected UK venues. In the past, artists such as Kylie at Omeara, Annie Lennox at the 20th Century Theatre, Take That at Number One Marylebone, Michael Bublé at The Savoy and Sam Smith at Air Studios have all created some amazing performances.
The Magic Of Christmas
Magic radio has definitely put the magic into the Christmas season. Last year Bauer announced its main station would flip to 100% Christmas music from Monday 25th November.
Listeners are also invited to attend a star-studded performance of ‘Magic of Christmas’ at The London Palladium. In 2019, Harriet Scott and Martin Kemp hosted the event. Performances included Robbie Williams, Simply Red, Will Young, Beverley Knight and Jack Savoretti.
Magic At The Musicals
Bauer is launching another new radio station from Golden Square, this time playing music from musicals. They coincide with station performances also take place with a show
‘Magic at the Musicals’ is a celebration of the best of the West End and beyond due to return at the Royal Albert Hall on 30 May 2021.
Magic Radio – Final Thoughts
There you have it, you’ll know by now that Magic Radio is an established station with a strong demographic of listeners from 25-54 years old. As an artist, getting a radio promotion is definitely not easy, and getting your song played on the radio can be very competitive. However, there are some steps you can take. As an artist, you need to be familiar with the importance of getting your music on the radio to reach your chosen demographic.
The more you get your music played on the radio, the better it will be for your career. Understand that promotion is necessary and the greatest way to get your song on the radio is to contact the radio stations that are appropriate for whichever stage your career is in. If you’re just starting to break into radio, focus on non-commercial radio as they are the most likely to play up-and-coming independent artists. Community radio stations are often friendly and a good starting point.
Create a realistic, clearly managed radio campaign and listen as your success climbs on the airwaves.
