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24 MusicWeek 22.06.12 INTERVIEWRICBLAXILL THERADIOGATEKEEPER
As the man who can open doors to 42 radio stations and countless other media platforms, Bauer’s music and content director Ric Blaxill explains how his different philosophies to radio are paying dividends
RADIO PAUL WILLIAMS
A
“I get a lot of feedback from labels about how important regional radio is to breaking records. There is a belief that regional radio is still powerful and can still break music. It doesn’t have to be done via a network” RIC BLAXILL
s the man who back in the Nineties pluggers had to charm to get their acts on Top Of the Pops, Ric Blaxill is a long-established and very familiar face to
the music industry. Alongside his one-time role as executive producer
on the legendary TV show, he has also held key positions at the likes of Radio 1, Capital, 6 Music, CD:UK and indie label Independiente, making him therefore an ideal person to serve as the main link between the industry and what is in Bauer Radio the UK’s second-biggest commercial radio group. Its music and content director since February
2011, he is there to make sense of and act as a simple entry point for labels and others to what at first could be seen as a complex web of operations that takes in 42 radio stations and, when appropriate, can also open doors to Bauer’s countless other media interests, including magazines and TV channels. “My role is there to complement the work that
the local PDs of the stations around the country do,” he explains. “They put on events around the country. They work with the labels, they get artists in to do sessions at those stations and I will help them work with the guys when we are looking at putting on some of the stadium events in terms of what artists we can get available.” Having one executive working across the group’s
portfolio of services, that ranges from networked brands such as Kiss, Magic and Kerrang! to regional operations including Manchester’s Key 103 and Forth One in Edinburgh, has most clearly paid dividends for Bauer when it comes to delivering occasional superstar artist concerts that are broadcast simultaneously by a number of stations. Gigs by acts including Kings Of Leon and
Rihanna have already been aired in this way, while the latest went out last Thursday when 20 Bauer stations broadcast highlights of a recent Coldplay concert at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light ground. “When the role came about [Bauer Radio group
managing director] Dee Ford was keen that if we were talking to the music industry about a big project then there was one place where they could start a conversation and then if we felt the project was right for us and our stations and for our listeners then I would work with the label to pull something together and then feed that out into the