What song do you play to launch a new radio station? At 8am on Tuesday morning STV Radio, the country’s first national commercial radio, began with a shout of “Hello Scotland from presenters Ewen Cameron and Cat Harvey, a promise of the best songs from the 1980s, 1990s and noughties and an acoustic version of Promised You a Miracle by Simple Minds accompanied by KT Tunstall.
It was a quirky choice. “It’s a little bit different,” Harvey admitted. “Which is what we are,” Cameron added, an argument slightly undermined by the duo then playing Bryan bloody Adams.
The other choices for an opening tune, Cameron and Harvey told us, were Dougie MacLean’s Caledonia, or maybe a tune from the Proclaimers, Amy Macdonald or even - if Harvey had her way - Jimmy Shand. But perhaps the fact that they had KT Tunstall on the line from Santa Fe in New Mexico may have had something to do with the decision.
Tunstall seemed genuinely thrilled to be part of the show.
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“Live radio is incredible. It’s an amazing connector. It’s never going anywhere,” she suggested.
The Proclaimers clearly didn’t take the hump at being overlooked. The Reid brothers were among the first to text in to wish good luck to the new show and new station. “We’re delighted that you’re back on a new radio show. We’ve missed you on the radio.”
Harvey did wonder if they had already been drinking.
Cameron and Harvey, who have been presenting together for the last quarter of a century on Real Radio, Clyde 2 and Greatest Hits Radio, proved, unsurprisingly, safe and assured presenters to steer this new ship out of harbour. And the whole venture seems to have arrived with a real brio and self-confidence, albeit now and then maybe a little full of itself. Or maybe that was just nervous energy.
There was a sense of history about the whole thing. The first advertiser on the station was Tunnocks who had also been the first advertiser on STV itself when it launched back in 1957.
STV obviously thinks there is room for a new national commercial radio station. Speaking on the BBC’s Scotcast last month STV’s CEO Rufus Radcliffe suggested that start-up costs were relatively modest and that there was room for a new Scottish radio show as other stations have diluted their Scottish identity.
A Tuesday start hadn’t been the original plan though. The launch was pulled forward a day. The fact that STV journalists had announced a strike on Wednesday to protest against job cuts and the decision to merge news services in the central belt and the north of Scotland, may or may not have been coincidental.
This is a tough time for the media in Scotland and STV has a history of being ruthless with platforms that don’t perform, as anyone who remembers STV2 will know.
This new radio station feels pretty sturdy already, though.
Any downsides? Well, yes, the music choices, quite frankly. The promise from STV Radio is that you will never hear the same song all day long. “Our playlist has commitment issues,” it suggested rather drolly.
That’s something. But the first day did see a pretty predictable choice of Scottish pop and big hits. Del Amitri, Deacon Blue, Hipsway, Texas and Coldplay all got an outing on the breakfast show, alongside good luck messages from Marti Pellow and Ricky Ross.
Broadcasting from a snowy Aberdeen, in the mid-morning slot, Greigsy - who doesn’t bother with a surname for his radio show - played Toploader’s Dancing in the Moonlight which is such a hardy perennial of commercial radio that it could do with being weeded. By the time he was spinning Whitesnake and Aerosmith to be honest I was getting a little bored (then again, I’ve always had low tolerance for poodle rock).
And less than 20 minutes into Webster’s show in the afternoon slot, we were treated to Queen’s I Want to Break Free, followed by Cher’s Love and Understanding. It did make me wonder if we were in 2026 or 1996.
In short, despite suggestions to the contrary, there was nothing played that you haven’t heard many, many, many times before.
Which is presumably the point. The new station’s aim is to tap into the booming commercial radio market. Surprising audiences is not what’s required. Familiarity is.
As a result, it’s unlikely to find a new audience (my twentysomething daughter certainly wasn’t impressed on the drive to work), but Heart, Clyde and Forth may all be looking on with some concern.
Is it good radio? On the evidence of the first day it’s confident and clear in its purpose. But it’s also very safe and predictable. But in the end whether it’s good or not is not the question STV will be worrying about. No, the key will be, is this successful radio? That is what will ultimately determine its future and whether it’s got one.
On early evidence I suspect it does.
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