Q has a slippery definition of the word "exclusive"

Here's some exciting news (if you can pretend to be excited by U2 for a minute) as Q trumpets an exclusive:

Q Radio will exclusively broadcast U2's entire show from Sheffield's Don Valley Stadium on the night of Thursday, 20 August.

Exclusive, huh? That's quite a coup, a small digital network like Q signing up those rights.

But... hang on a moment, what's this announcement from the Big City network?

The Bauer Radio network has secured the live broadcast rights to U2's latest tour, planning to air the band's Sheffield concert across its 20-station Big City network and three of its national digital stations.
[...]
The Big City network programme director, Steve King, said the concert would be the "biggest commercial radio event of 2009".

"U2 are very appropriate for the Big City network - they are straight down the middle of our audience, particularly the more recent material from their last album and the one before that," he said. "There aren't many artists you can do this with – U2, Take That, possibly Robbie Williams."

You would have thought that since Big City and Q are both Bauer stations, the trumpeting of "exclusive" on something that isn't could have been avoided.

To be fair, though, Big City stations won't quite be broadcasting the whole thing:

Longer pieces between songs would be taken out, King said, because they were not so relevant to a radio audience.

Presumably, though, Q will still leave those bits in, exclusively covering the bits that are meaningless on radio.

Q radio signs 'that bloke off Loose Ends'

Tucked away in the corners of the Q radio launch schedule are a couple of interesting items, not least the promise of a regular slot for David Quantick. Even although they manage to make the prospect seem less than inviting by describing it as "a mix of music and the presenter's wry take on life." Which makes him sound like Terry Wogan.

The Q Radio programme director, Rik Blaxill, said the station will be "about delivering some welcome surprises with a broad palette of music, comedy and lifestyle programming and with new names finding a home next to established talent".

Lifestyle programming? Since the new-version Q Radio is meant to be more closely aligned with the magazine, does this mean we can expect recipes and interior design tips alongside the Coldplay interviews in the future?

Q retunes

Q Radio - which has up to now been a fairly successful bunch of records played back-to-back - is about to have an exciting, extensive, expensive relaunch:

Q Radio programme director Ric Blaxill, the former head of programmes at BBC 6Music, said Q Radio would be a "living, breathing version of Q magazine - and some".

"We are working with a variety of established and new artists to provide us with exclusive content which is testimony to the power of the Q brand.

"There will be exclusive live sets which only Q could secure, alongside unique opportunities for the audiences to interact with our presenters and the bands themselves."

Now, it's a launch statement, so we'd expect a certain amount of hyperbole - and we shan't be cruel and ask why Blaxill doesn't believe that Q magazine is a living, breathing version of Q magazine - but "exclusives which only Q could secure"? Come on, Ric, the magazine might be competing with Clash and Uncut, but Q radio is competing with the BBC. Are you really saying there are artists who'd turn down a Radio 1 or Radio 2 slot but would jump at a chance to broadcast on Q?

And unique opportunities to interact with presenters, eh? Given that most stations can't get more than two seconds without a slew of emails and texts, we're presuming Q presenters will deal with incoming telepathy from the audience.

New Q?

Bauer, currently working through the bits of things it bought with EMAP, is touting round a new look for Q Radio, headed up by Ric Blaxill, late of 6Music and Top of the Pops:

Sources close to the situation are suggesting the relaunch could happen as early as May.

A spokesperson for Bauer said that no firm decision has been made as the “teams are still assessing the demand for a bigger Q Radio”.

Since we're not sure there's much of an actual demand - unless we've missed some sort of public debate - we imagine they're hoping to create a demand. It's part of Blaxill's brief:

to look at a range of new male music propositions including a new version of Q Radio with stronger ties to monthly music magazine Q.

So, a station that plays a lot of U2, then.