Liam Thompson Appointed Programme Director Ireland's Classic Hits Radio

Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio Appoints Liam Thompson as Programme Director

Ireland’s Multicity Radio Service Appoints Liam Thompson to the role of Programme Director

The former Group Programme Director for Communicorp, Virgin Radio, Magic Radio and RTE 2FM, begins his new role as Programme Director for the multicity radio service on 15th August and brings over 30 years of radio experience from Ireland, the UK and across Europe.
On his new role, Thompson said: “I’m very excited to be joining the team at Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio. It’s a radio station with one of the strongest teams in the business and it has great potential to grow into the future. Dave Kelly and I been working on a consultancy level with Bay Broadcasting since 2021 so It’s a natural step for me to take a more hands-on approach at this point and step Into the Programme Director role. I look forward to getting more involved in the station with this role and implementing exciting new ideas for its future. This station has huge potential to reach an even bigger audience across Ireland who love their 80s and 90s music and we’re going to have great fun everyday playing the biggest hits and connecting with our listeners across the country”.

Thompson’s radio career began at Century Radio In 1990 and continued Since then, he has held key programming roles at 98FM (Programme Director) RTE 2FM (Programme Manager), Spin 1038 (Launch Director / Programme Director) and Group Programme Director for Communicorp, where he had responsibility for Its 42 radio stations in nice different countries. After departing Communicorp in 2014, Thompson took up a role with Bauer UK as Content Director for Magic Radio, with a brief to improve its London numbers and prepare for a national launch onto DAB. After twelve months, the station was No. 1 in London and exceeded targets for its DAB launch. Since 2021, he has worked closely with Bay Broadcasting, owners of Radio Nova and Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio, where the two stations have experienced significant audience growth.

On his new role with the station, Thompson said “I’ve won IMRO Station of the Year in Spin 1038, 98FM and Today FM, so it’s a personal goal to win one for Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio”

Speaking about Thompson’s appointment, Kevin Branigan, CEO, Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio, said: “Liam is an accomplished programmer and I’m delighted to welcome him to the executive role of Programme Director and look forward to continuing to build Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio as one of the largest radio services in the country.”

Thompson takes over the role of Programme Director from Colm Hayes, who has held the position since March 2021. Colm will continue to present ‘Colm & Lucy in the Morning’ with Lucy Kennedy.

Ireland’s Classic Hits Radio is the country’s only multi-city radio station, broadcasting to 2.3M adults in the eight most populated counties in Ireland – Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Clare with an audience of 296,000 adults each week. The station is owned by Bay Broadcasting, which also owns Radio Nova and has a significant interest in Sunshine 106.8.

Category: AppointmentsProgramming

Tags:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *