Looking back on the tectonic changes that have hit the music and media landscape in the past two decades, it seems a minor miracle that Magic, and music radio in general, still manages to pull in millions of listeners each week. ‘More of the songs you love,’ is the station’s promise, and they deliver, from George Michael to Lionel Richie.” “Magic’s music policy doesn’t pretend to be particularly forward-looking. “The powers-that-be at Radio 2 are obsessed with Magic FM and the appeal it has to the middle-aged women,” reported the Radio Times in 2018. That may not be as many as its immediate commercial rival, Smooth (5.75 million listeners and counting, across several regional and national stations), nor the most comparable BBC station, Radio 2 (14.18 million each week), but since Magic moved beyond its London origins, it has proved capable of rattling its bigger rivals. Each week, 4.2 million listeners tune in to one of its stations, according to the latest available figures. We’ll take anybody, but that’s who our material is maybe aimed at.” The target audience, says Scott, is “35-plus to 55 women. In its promotional material, Magic describes itself as an “upbeat, optimistic” station that “provides a welcome oasis in our listener’s busy lives by playing songs that they know and love”.
Keating describes Magic’s music as “easy listening” and “MOR”, meaning middle of the road. Ronan Keating – who sprang to fame with Irish boyband Boyzone in the early 1990s before releasing future Magic classics such as Life Is a Rollercoaster – has, since 2017, formed half of the Magic breakfast show presenter team, alongside Harriet Scott, formerly of Virgin Radio and Heart. In some cases, singers whose hits grace the Magic playlist also end up as presenters. Magic Radio fan Stormzy with his Global Award for best R&B, hip-hop or grime artist. The main station now broadcasts nationwide on digital radio (it is available on 105.4 FM in London), while five digital-only subsidiaries have appeared: Mellow Magic (lower tempo), Magic Soul (focused on soul and Motown), Magic Chilled (“fresh, laid-back hits,” aimed at a slightly younger audience), and the newest additions to the slate, Magic Workout (high-energy songs for the gym) and Magic at the Musicals (show tunes), both of which launched last year. Since 2016, the Magic empire has expanded. “Magic FM is my life,” said James Corden in 2018. In the popular imagination, particularly in London, where it began broadcasting under its current name in 1998, Magic Radio is still often referred to as Magic FM. In the week beginning 20 January, the station played the 1997 Natalie Imbruglia track Torn no less than 10 times. And you will hear them over and over again. You will hear Moving on Up by M People and Don’t You Want Me by the Human League and Hello by Adele. Tune into Magic Radio and you will hear Rio by Duran Duran and Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen and Careless Whisper by George Michael. If your song is just on the Magic playlist, and it sits there for the next 30 years, you have made something special.”
’Cos that’s when you know you have a legacy. “Before my career’s over, I need to have a song that Magic just play. “Magic Radio – are you mad?” responded a visibly amused Stormzy. A year earlier, at the Mercury prize, an interviewer had introduced themselves as a reporter from Magic. “Stormzy shouts out Magic FM … at a rival radio company’s awards night,” ran a headline in Metro.īut Stormzy’s love of Magic is sincere and profound – and sometimes it cannot be contained. In fact, it belongs to one of Global’s competitors, Bauer. The easy listening station Magic Radio is not a Global brand.
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