Have you tuned in yet? Encore Radio, the brand new national radio station dedicated exclusively to playing showtunes, has launched this week, with presenters including #StageFave Duncan James. If that's not music to your ears, you surely can't call yourself a true musical theatre fan...
If you love songs from the musicals then you’ll be in Musical Theatre heaven with the launch of ENCORE RADIO, a brand new 24-hour 7-day-a-week radio station playing hits from musicals and films. ENCORE RADIO officially started broadcasting this past Monday 24 October 2016, presenting a mix of West End and Broadway favourites from shows loved by millions of theatregoers across the UK.
But it’s not just wall to wall music, ENCORE RADIO also provides all the showbiz news, weather and other features listeners expect from their favourite radio station, together with a host of well-known presenters, including “Hollyoaks”, Blue and West End star Duncan James, national radio name Jamie Crick, who had a 20-year career as one of Classic FM’s best-known
presenters, and TV and radio personality Liz Wickham.
Among the thousands of tracks on the station play list, which will be changed monthly, will be current West End shows such as the long running hits “Les Miserables” and “The Phantom of the Opera” alongside more recent smash hits “Aladdin”, “Matilda” and “Wicked” and the soon to arrive in the West End “Hamilton”. Plus firm favourites from the past such as “Singing in the Rain” and “West Side Story”.
ENCORE RADIO’s weekly schedule includes several stand alone programmes featuring in-depth interviews with West End stars, broadcasts from opening nights and backstage news and gossip and reviews of the reviews of the shows. If you’re a Musical Theatre fan you can’t afford not to tune in each day. ENCORE RADIO will become the no1 destinatiin for theatre lovers and people who enjoy music from the stage and films. Backed by major radio group UKRD, which owns and operates 14 local commercial radio stations with a further 8 services delivered via DAB, the station will have studios in London and Guildford.
Content Director Jamie Crick says: “Britain has the most successful theatre industry in the world. Now finally there is a radio station catering for the huge number of people who visit the theatre or love the music from shows and films.”
Duncan James said:
“I can’t wait to get to share three hours every Sunday morning on ENCORE RADIO from 10am with other Musical Theatre fans across the country. I love musicals and have been lucky enough to have had leading roles in “Chicago”, “Legally Blonde” and “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” both in the West End and on tour. I’ll be playing my favourite tracks - Miss Saigon has to be my all-time favourite show, it was probably the first musical I saw live - and I’ll have lots of my showbiz friends dropping it to chat. It’s going to be great fun!”
Chairman of the Encore Radio board, Gregory Watson, said that he was delighted with preparations for the launch and that “this station fills a real gap in the marketplace and, for lovers of musical theatre, it doesn’t get any better.” UKRD Group CEO William Rogers added: “We are delighted to be working with some really excellent people on this project and we can’t wait to get this launched and underway so that anyone who likes and enjoys listening to songs from musical theatre can start tuning in.”
Encore Radio is available three ways:
- Through its free app for tablet, iphone and android smartphones
- Online via encoreradio.co.uk
- On DAB digital radio across London and the South East
