Peter's Career Capsule
Radio programmer/air talent/producer for UK and European radio for last 25 years.
Involved as presenter during the first tier of commercial radio in the UK moving to programme controller including Londons Country 1035, Arrow FM, Trent FM in the UK -  Island Sound Malta and the  legendary Radio Caroline as air talent from the North Sea,  

1. Tell us about Big Love Radio (a little history, etc) ?

The Big Love Radio experiment came about as a result of the obvious void on the local dial of good broad appeal Christian music Radio stations.

2. Describe your programming, uniqueness, etc?

I am aware that In the US, Christian radio is an accepted genre for terrestrial radio,  this is far from the case in the UK and Europe. To bring Jesus to mainstream radio here requires a special approach. Our vision is to provide a Christian focused music station which appeals to a wide audience. We attempt this by predominantly selecting the most tuneful Christian popular music from the US chart and making this ‘alien life form’ appealing to a mainstream local audience by carefully  placing suitable familiar secular songs in the mix. Using American and British air talent we adopt the style of popular US Christian music radio and adapt it to suite our European Audience. It has the unique feel of a US station in a UK market.

We believe our listeners will grow close to this new sound which we affectionately entitle ‘Love Radiations’.  It will be a refreshing alternative for listeners and a new outlet for the Christian music genre in Europe.

3. How do you measure ways Big Love Radio touches listeners?

We like to let our music relay the message but we are also adding short inspirational messages daily and looking for more!!!  These are carefully placed to touch the lives of listeners and help or introduce them to their Faith. The station is in its infancy but as we grow we will encourage feedback from listeners through a website audio link, chatbox and email.

4 Tell us about how Ofcom affects what you do with internet radio stations?

OFCOM are not involved with internet only radio stations although broadcasts streaming from the UK need to meet appropriate PRS and PPL royalty requirements. We aren’t affected by OFCOM here until we seek a UK terrestrial licence.

5. Where do you see the growth for internet radio?

DAB is the big push in the UK at the moment and good old FM will be with us for many years but I see the internet as the only true generic global platform for the future of radio. The internet can be the place where entrepreneurs can help radio re-invent itself.

6. Do you think data metering will hurt internet radio?

We know that it is possible for an internet only station to get too big. The more listeners it gets, the more it costs to run, both in streaming costs and royalties... It’s also a significant fact that Internet radio grew up quickly whilst the licensing bodies had their eye off the ball. We have to be aware that authorities will always be looking for ways to control.

7. Do you see Internet radio taking away market share from over the air/commercial radio?

FM and Digital (DAB in the UK) are still the major players but with increasing numbers of listeners choosing the internet as their preferred platform even for listening to local stations, it will become more common place for them to explore new stations. This will gradually and inevitably eat away at the air/commercial radio cake.

8. What advice do you have for someone wanting to start an internet radio station?

We need to be creative and different.
It’s never been easier to set up a radio station but that fact is not necessarily all good.
It’s left us with a multitude of stations of greatly varying levels of quality.  This is brilliant for the enthusiast listener who wants to spend hours sifting through millions of stations but most of us don’t have the time or inclination for that.  This is why many listeners still stick to the tried and tested regular broadcasters even when listening online.
So, we internet broadcasters have to exercise our own quality control.
 If you want to start your own radio station – do it – but first ask, who is it for? what is its big idea? Give your listener something she can’t get on air/commercial radio…..try something new….it’s your shout…..

9. What (if any) Christian internet radio stations do you consider as innovators today?

That’s a great question to open up for others to answer?? I would love to see the suggestions as I’m always looking out for great Christian stations.  At the moment I’m enjoying Air 1 from the US although I realise they are also terrestrial.

10. Where do you see Big Love Radio in 5 years?

On a terrestrial platform.
I believe USA radio has unparalleled expertise in Christian music broadcasting and terrestrial radio is still the best platform for gathering ‘floating’ listeners here, so  my ambition is that a US Christian broadcaster might become involved in helping BLR in its quest to achieve a terrestrial licence in the UK. We will be exploring such possibilities when we are more established with our present operation.

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