Times Radio: a station in the style of The Times, to complement and promote the newspaper
Exclusive interview with Program Director Tim Levell
On June 29, 2020 a new radio station came to be in the United Kingdom. It had a very important, very respected and established brand: The Times. The station is Times Radio and it is owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News UK, just like the 237 years-old The Times newspaper. Its programming, positioning and style, as well as the very fact that such a station exists, is worth a look, so on January 19, 2023 we had the pleasure to discuss it with Tim Levell, program director for the station.
The Interview
(Newslinet) - Let’s begin with two words about you.
(Tim Levell) - Me? Ok: I have a slightly unusual career as a journalist because I've worked in journalism and news for many years, but also, I've worked in children's television. You may know that in Britain Children's Television, particularly on the BBC, has a history, a proud history, and is kind of well-funded There is, there was a children's news program in Britain called Newsround. It used to be on BBC One, our main television channel.
News for the children
(NL) - A news channel for children?
(TL) - Yes. We would cover all stories. Even if there was a bombing attack – say – In Paris we would cover that and try to explain it in a way not to scare children. But then we would also run story of a panda giving birth or a pop star quitting a band, you know? It was not just stories about children.
BBC
I then worked on BBC Breakfast news, on BBC News Website and also at Sky News, the first rolling news channel in UK. Just Before Times Radio I worked at BBC 5 live, a news and sport channel.
The Station
(NL) - What is the concept for the station?
(TL) - Essentially this is the first news radio station setup by a newspaper in this country: a newspaper never owned a radio station before.
And it was The Times to do it! The idea is to stay relevant and reach as many people as possible. Also, to move away from just the printing paper and expanding in other form of media and not only the website, something that everyone is doing. Ok, many have podcasts, but how many are running a 24 hour station? Not many I would say. And we are part of a big organization, News UK owned by Ruper Murdoch, you might know...
(NL) yes! He used to own Sky Television in Italy, for one.
(TL) - So in 2016 News UK bought a radio group called Wireless Group. They run a number of a radio stations such as Talksports and Virgin radio. It is worth saying that the tv station called Channel 4 about 15 years ago wanted to setup its own radio station. They hired people, but then canceled the project as they had no radio experience in house. But due to this acquisition at the Times we had it. And now, I am here sitting on the 11th floor, with the Times Newspapers editors and the radio studios are on the 14th floor. Same building.
The Radio promoting the Newspaper
The business model is to have quality news and programs that encourage listeners to become digital subscribers to The Times. The budget for the radio is paid by The Times and the radio acts as a sort of window in the breath and quality of the times newspaper.
We try to grow the reach and appeal of the print newspaper in a moment that print circulation is decreasing. And also only older people tend to buy newspapers: younger people are in digital, and are taking digital subscriptions.
Cross promotion
So, on Times Radio we have Times writers, columnists as presenters and/or guests, and we always say something like “If you want to find out more, you can read it on The Times or find it on our website: and here is how to take a subscription”.
The Times Ecosystem
I’m sure Marco there is a word you know, the “ecosystem”. I like to think about the times ecosystem: if you like The Times, you can consume it as a newspaper, as a podcast, and now as a radio. The idea is that a news brand with many platforms makes them all more compelling.
The organization
(NL) How large the operation is?
(TL) The Times essentially commission Wireless to make Times Radio for them. I run Times Radio as the program director. I have regular meeting with the editor of The Times and of the Sunday Times. I have around 20 presenters.
A staff of 60 persons
I also have a few freelance producers. In total probably about 50 full times productors. Maybe 60. And we make 24 hours of programs, 7 days/week. How are we structured? Let’s begin with on air. Times Radio is a live news radio station: but we are not a rolling news channel, where news bulletins are continually repeated.
Shock Jocks
And we do not have any of what you might call shock jocks. I’m not sure if you have them in Italy or France...
(NL) - I'm not sure to understand the concept.
(TL) - Shock Jocks, like Shock DJs. The Wikipedia entry explains the concept like this: Shock Jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor and/or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience.
Likable and warm
(NL) Thanks, go ahead
(TL) - So we are not a type of controversial radio. We are not that, not provocative. People do not shout here. Instead, our aim is to have likeable, warm, friendly presenters that know about news and then talk, discuss news topics in a considered and open-minded way. This is not about creating division, like it happened around Brexit. So much of news media was argumentative, fractions.
Constructive and intelligent
But a lot of people did not like that, they wanted to understand the issues in a thoughtful, constructive way, Informal and modern, I can say, it is also important that the presenters are personalities.
One of our presenters is John Pienaar, used to be a leading politics presenter on the BBC. People know who he is, so they go like, let’s turn the radio on and listen to what he as to say. The same for Mariella Frostrup. The idea is to have warm, friendly presents that are intelligent, clever but also witty and that can talk about the news in a likeable way.
Three hours long shows
Most shows are 3 hours long. There is a team that works on every 3 hours segment, usually a team of 4 persons. They search the topics, they find the guests, they write the scripts. But the presenters are very well involved in this: they arrive about 5 hours before the show to discuss the topics and getting involved. So that is how the station is made.
Times Radio presenter 'mash up'
Conversation, not confrontation
One of our slogans is “conversation, not confrontation”. And people very much like this.
Open
(NL) The idea to create the station like this comes from the newspaper side of the business, or rather from the multimedia side of the News organization?
(TL) - You know, the Times is the most famous newspaper in Uk, it is the reference people goes to. And they also have a constructive view of the word: so, we took that from The Times. Then it was also my colleague Stig Abell who helped create the ethos of the station.
The Times likes to have a range of views, we want to hear what intelligent people think about the world. Yes, there are other news stations: some are drier, some are more confrontational, but no other station is quite like ours.
Competition
(NL) - Tell us about your competition.
(TL) - The main one is BBC Radio 4 but they are not just news. They do drama and magazines. Then BBC Radio Live 5 and LBC, I can call them news and phone-ins, and finally Talk which in the same company as ours. So, there are 5 news stations in the UK.
(NL) - And the BBC World Service too!
(TL) - Yes of course. But their listeners are mostly abroad, and ours are mostly in the UK. We are always live, but other station – say BBC Radio 4 – are only live in the morning or in the evening, so they might not be on air covering news as they happen as we can.
Audience
(NL) - How about your audience
(TL) - We have around 600.000 listener/week, it is the official published data. Our biggest month was when the ukraine war started: people came to us to know about what was happening. And we’re still growing.
Smart Speakers
(NL) - Last question. You're just on DAB and online. Is this a competitive disadvantage compared to other news stations, all on FM too?
(TL) - Good question. There are 4 ways you can listen to us: on DAB, on the Times Radio App, on the Website and on Smart Speakers: and this segment, the smart speaker, is growing very fast: about 20% of our listeners are now on smart speakers. It is true that FM would be helpful, but it is now a declining format. More and more stations are moving to digital only, and we are there for the future. (M.H.B. per Newslinet)