DC THOMSON Media have signed up Scottish radio heavyweights Robin Galloway and Paul Harper to launch a new, personality-led music DAB radio station for the central belt of Scotland.
A breath of fresh air in Scotland’s radio scene, Pure Radio is set to launch before the end of the year and will feature a wide range of home-grown talent – with good banter, upbeat music and a lively, Scottish sense of humour at the core of the station’s offering.
Galloway will host the station’s breakfast show. He joins following a five-year stint presenting the breakfast slot for Heart Scotland and an esteemed career in Scottish radio spanning three decades. He will also hold the title of Group Head of Presentation – or as he calls it, ‘the boss’ – managing the station’s talent. Galloway has become known for the country’s best wind ups – including an iconic prank call to Donald Trump – and will bring a healthy dose of Pure Scottish humour to the central belt in the mornings.
Harper will present afternoons, following a lively career in radio and presenting, including time at Beat 106, Real Radio and latterly, Heart. With highlights including DJing for Robbie Williams, he’ll provide the soundtrack to the working day with good chat and a wide mix of high energy tracks.
Lynne Hoggan will add another established radio personality to the Pure Radio line up, as the voice of the mid-morning show. Hoggan will split her time between Pure Radio and DC Thomson Media’s Wave FM, where she currently hosts the breakfast show for the Perth and Dundee station.
Fostering new Scottish radio talent will be a big focus for the station, launching careers for future voices in radio. Joining Galloway on the breakfast show are radio newbies Alannah Mackenzie, landing a first official radio job following a university degree in Communication and Media Studies, and Rory Barraclough. An actor by trade, Barraclough has appeared in shows for the likes of the BBC, ITV and Outlander, and was talent scouted by Galloway after he heard his voice in a radio advert.
Pure Radio will broadcast from Glasgow’s city centre in the former PSP Media building on High Craighall Road, following DC Thomson Media’s acquisition of the media group in April this year. The building is currently undergoing a full studio kit-out on the top floor, complete with sweeping views across the city.
Pure Radio’s launch follows DC Thomson Media’s acquisition of two of Scotland’s biggest commercial radio stations, Kingdom FM and Original 106, in April 2019 and the purchase of Wave FM in 2017.
Mike Watson, CEO, DC Thomson Media, said: “At a time when other stations are scaling back on Scottish content we’re doing the opposite. There’s a clear appetite for Scottish radio to be made and broadcast in Scotland, and we’re committed to doing it right. Our impressive presenter line-up is a clear indicator of our confidence in Pure Radio.”
Robin Galloway, Breakfast Show host, said: “I love everything about radio, but after almost thirty years on-air, I believed I’d done my last ever radio show. I’d become scunnered by constantly being told what I could and couldn’t say. When I got the opportunity to join Pure Radio as The Boss, or Group Head of Presentation as they’ll make me say, I couldn’t turn it down. And of course, I immediately put myself on the breakfast show!”
“Changes to radio have left central Scotland without a station to call its own. Pure Radio is going to change that, we get Scottish humour and we know what listeners want. It’s purely a bunch of Scottish presenters talking about Scottish stuff and having fun – in Scotland.”
Pure Radio is set to go on air before the end of the year and will be available on DAB, online, via smart speakers and the Pure Radio app.
