Pop your cherry! (Virgin Radio)

Name: alirigby

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Product:	Virgin Radio
Date:	17/05/02 (489 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: variety

Disadvantages: ads

I work from home and enjoy listening to the radio during the day; I listen to Virgin Radio, there are several reasons why this is my station of choice.

What type of radio station is it?
Virgin Radio is a national, commercial, music station so there are those annoying ad breaks with those annoying ads. One good thing about being commercial is that it also runs lots of promotions and competitions if you can be bothered to enter them!
I can only really comment on the station during the day as I tend to listen from 11am – 4pm and not in the evenings.
They have a ‘no repeat’ workday where they promise not to play the same song twice while you’re at work (9-5); you can win £1000 if you spot them not keeping to this promise!

What type of music is played?
A wide variety of music is broadcast; chart, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s as well as some alternative music. During the day a mixture of pretty mainstream tunes are played – the sort you can sing along to! I like the variety (the mixture of classics and new music) and the fact that they don’t repeat songs like many other commercial stations.
They have part of their play list on their website which you can browse (and listen to snippets of songs) and then ring in to request your track.
I think that it’s a radio station that would appeal to listeners from different generations; it’s the sort of station both parents and kids will probably appreciate as it caters for both!
There are news bulletins broadcast every hour.

Accessibility
I listen to radio over the Internet and at first I wanted to listed to BBC radio, however to do this you need to download and install Real Player (which I’ve had numerous problems with), Virgin Radio is also available for Windows Media Player which suits me and my system. The sound quality over the Internet is not as good as CD, but it’s not noticeably bad or annoying ei
ther. I have always found the service to be very reliable as well, I do access from an ADSL connection so it may not be as good with a standard modem. Apparently Virgin Radio was the first commercial radio station in Europe to broadcast on the Internet and they seem to have got it right along the way.
The frequency is 105.8FM for London and the South East, 1215AM/MW for the rest of the UK (not great for sound quality). It’s also available on Channel 857 on SkyDigital and Digital radio.


The DJs:
Captain America aka Nick Stewart: Late night Sunday
Daryl Denham: Virgin Radio Breakfast & Saturday morning
Leona Graham: Virgin Radio PARTY!
Nick Jackson: Weekday afternoons
Dominic Johnson: Virgin Radio Breakfast
Geoff Lloyd: Virgin Radio Sessions
Harriet Scott: Weekend Breakfast
Neil Francis: Overnights
Robin Burke: Overnights at weekend.
Murray J: Early Breakfast
Ben Jones: Album Chart
Russ Williams: Weekdays mid mornings.

Extra Features:
To interact more with the station you can visit the website www.virginradio.co.uk and browse the play list, email the show, find out more about the DJs and buy merchandise & tickets etc… The website is easy to use, although some of the pages (particularly the homepage) are a bit busy and cluttered.

Conclusion:
Apart from the irritating ad breaks, when I turn the sound off, I like most things about Virgin Radio; if you like a mixture of old and new, it’s a good alternative to your local commercial stations.

Summary: