Erstwhile radioman, Paul Brown CBE, departs as chairman of the RadioCentre, commercial radio’s hard-pressed trade organisation. And Camelot’s, chief executive, Diane Thompson arrives.

Thompson’s appointment has been rightly hailed by the Observer newspaper as a ‘coup’. Commercial radio badly needs her marketing nouse if it’s to get its revenue share back and if it’s going to exploit the revenue opportunities that the web throws up.

I believe that the commercial radio’s fight with the BBC for audience share has reached a critical point and that there is now a battle that commercial radio must win if it’s to survive. Thompson proved artful operator in the political and commercial battles that accompanied Camelot’s bids to run the National Lottery. Those political skills, combined with her obvious steadfastness under pressure, will hold her in good stead as commercial radio battles the ‘world domination’ strategy of the BBC!

But Thompson should understand that commercial radio also has itself to blame for the mess it’s in. Commercial radio should stop finger-pointing and take a long, hard look at itself – in private! The RadioCentre and its predecessor, the CRCA, have been doing the bidding of big radio groups for years and have ignored the single most important maxim of any kind of commercial radio: that the audience is king, and that advertisers and shareholders follow. Commercial radio’s audience has dwindled to a 43 per cent share and there’s not much sign of a recovery. Listeners are served up large amounts of automated programming, or ‘local’ programmes that come from miles away. News has all but vanished as have high-profile community projects. DAB hasn’t been the hit that was hoped for. Most station websites are pathetic and there’s very little focus on experimenting with other distribution platforms.

Thompson needs to be an effective articulator of the unfairness of BBC funding, of its cross-promotions tactics, and of its distribution unbiquity. But she’s also got to tell the big commercial radio groups to stop cutting costs, to stop prioritising short-term profits and to start long-term investment in popular, ‘live’ radio programming. That does not necessarily mean more speech and less music but it does mean ‘relevant, need-to-listen radio’. If lip service continues to be paid to the ‘content is king’ strategy, Thompson and her chums at the top of commercial radio will be even deeper in the ‘cack’ than they presently find themselves.

For Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Danni Minogue and Louis Walsh, last night’s X-Factor may have been just another show. But for NBS Presentation grad, Catherine Whale, it was the biggest gig of her short career. Catherine joined the ITV Continuity team last week and was instantly shoved off the deep end to introduce Britain’s biggest show. Never phased by a challenge, it all went beautifully on her big night.
Catherine’s a natural for TV: good brain, a good voice, okay face, and a calm disposition!