The "New Touch FM/Oak FM"

The NEW TOUCH FM/OAK FM!

On Friday 21st March 2014 just after 5:09pm 96.2 Touch FM (Coventry) was playing Sam Smith Money On My Mind meanwhile on Oak FM in Nuneaton and Loughborough they were playing La La La by Sam Smith. Everything was normal and listeners/audiences were looking forward to weekend floorfillers but something else was being planned for these radio stations by Quidem (people who run Touch FM/Rugby FM/Oak FM network). A few minutes later on Oak FM it got interrupted with a buzzing noise and a sound of radio re-tuning followed by "This station has seized tune in at 10am" and then Queen Bohemian Rhapsody started to play (what a great song to choose) meanwhile the same happened on 96.2 Touch FM Coventry.

Quidem then changed there social media sites on facebook and twitter saying they are "seized" and people and regular listeners were wondering what is going to happen next to the radio station. Was it going to change names? Have they been sold off to another radio company? The only people that knew were people who work for Quidem.





I started to get loads of messages from friends/family and fellow radio presenters from either Coventry Hospital Radio and just people to general wondering why these stations were playing non-stop Queen meanwhile the likes of Rugby FM/102 Touch FM were continuing as normal with there output towards there audiences. So if they seized as a company wouldn't all there network have the same problem? Suddenly people started to think the station name will be changed to something like Jack FM as they have been rumored to move into the midlands to: http://jackfm.co.uk/stations/Midlands/

However on Saturday morning and include Sunday Morning my alarm clock was keep playing Queen and Seized jingle and yes I do like that song but I was missing the Ollie and Simon Saturday Morning Show to wake me up or Jason Moss on a Sunday Morning and I was debating what to have on for Monday morning when I wake up to get ready for college as I wanted to hear the news/weather/sport/travel. After a whole weekend of Queen and nothing else being played on Touch FM and Oak FM I decided to have Paul Marriott/Shane O'Connor on for Monday morning on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire. But I wonder how many people have Queen on in the car while driving to work or did they switch to another local radio station. All we knew by the Monday morning at 8am was a brand new station for Coventry or Nuneaton/Loughbrough (matters were you live) was going to launch at 10am.

                                                                                                                                                                  
So at 10am on Monday 24th March the new station and names were revealed to there audiences after a whole weekend with Queen and  Bohemian Rhapsody. On 96.2 Touch FM Ollie Gallant and Simon Alexander launched the station off once again named as " 96.2 The New Touch FM" and on Oak FM it was Mark and Twiggy from there breakfast show and they renamed the station as "107 The New Oak FM".
I was listening to 96.2 Touch FM so I wasn't quite sure what was said on Oak FM (guessing it is the same as Touch FM) however Ollie Gallant and Simon Alexander confirmed that they will head the new breakfast show on the New Touch FM. They promised they wouldn't play anymore Queen Bohemian Rhapsody on the show but after the second link (talk between songs if your not quite sure and not like a radio geek like myself) they did!! Which was a bit of fun towards the audience. They launched a new competition regarding taking a selfie saying you have tuned into The New Touch FM and you can win some money. Another great story they told the listeners about a person ringing up the police saying staff has been kidnapped and the station is experiencing a takeover which Ollie and Simon had a laugh about on air.



I thought it was a great way to start the New 96.2 Touch FM and it was great to see Quidem keeping it quite from the Coventry public and it will hopefully bring a new audience and face towards the revamped station. I normally flick through between Rugby FM and Touch FM in the morning as I like Jason Moss in the morning too but since these changes I have just stuck with Touch FM. Once again great to see Audience Interaction on social media back! It is a shame Jason Moss isn't doing drivetime on the New Touch FM but we can't have everything these days can we?!



Meanwhile on The New Oak FM it is great to see Mark and Twiggy staying on as the breakfast show hosts as they have done very well on those station with high audience figures (RAJAR).



I personally think it has been a great move from Quidem on doing this change and revamping the station and hopefully it get's great audiences figures in the next RAJAR results and those people who tuned out after getting fed up with a weekend of Queen will re tune there radio's and listen into the new changes.

You can find Touch FM on 96.2 FM in Coventry or www.mytouchfm.co.uk

You can find Oak FM on 107 and 107.9 FM if your in Nuneaton/Loughborough or http://107.oakfm.co.uk/

I would be interested to hear your views on this matter so you can tweet me: @Cov4si or @SiOnTheRadio or comment below!

Re-write off: "Seven Match Ban for Pardew"

Newcastle United were 3-1 up at Hull on the 1st March when manager Alan Pardew stole the emphasis of his teams performance. The Magpies were producing one of their best performances of the season when gaffer' Pardew, clashed with Hull's David Meyler.

As the pair tussled for the ball Pardew reacted angrily and in a moment of madness, motioned his head into Meyler's, sparking both sets off players to get involved with the melee.

The match official Kevin Friend was quick to defuse the situation and promptly sent the Pardew to the stand and booking Meyler.

Newcastle went on to record a 4-1 victory at the KC Stadium.

'It was just a heat of the moment thing. Obviously I massively regret it' said an apologetic Pardew after the game, 'I think im going to have to sit down from now on'. Speculation grew about Pardew's future at the club after the incident.

Newcastle United issued an official statement condemning the incident and issuing a formal warning. The club went on to announce Pardew would receive a club record fine of £100k.

After a misconduct hearing with the Football Association on the 11th March Pardew, who accepted the charge of bringing the game into disrepute and violent conduct - was fined £60k and given a 7 match ban.

Newcastle United learned after the hearing that Pardew won't be allowed into the stadium for the next 3 games as part of the charge.

Given the nature of the latest charge against the Newcastle manager, it remains to be seen whether his conduct will improve in the future. Newcastle United were 3-1 up at Hull on the 1st March when manager Alan Pardew stole the emphasis of his teams performance. The Magpies were producing one of their best performances of the season when gaffer' Pardew, clashed with Hull's David Meyler.

As the pair tussled for the ball Pardew reacted angrily and in a moment of madness, motioned his head into Meyler's, sparking both sets off players to get involved with the melee.

The match official Kevin Friend was quick to defuse the situation and promptly sent the Pardew to the stand and booking Meyler.

Newcastle went on to record a 4-1 victory at the KC Stadium.

'It was just a heat of the moment thing. Obviously I massively regret it' said an apologetic Pardew after the game, 'I think im going to have to sit down from now on'. Speculation grew about Pardew's future at the club after the incident.

Newcastle United issued an official statement condemning the incident and issuing a formal warning. The club went on to announce Pardew would receive a club record fine of £100k.

After a misconduct hearing with the Football Association on the 11th March Pardew, who accepted the charge of bringing the game into disrepute and violent conduct - was fined £60k and given a 7 match ban.

Newcastle United learned after the hearing that Pardew won't be allowed into the stadium for the next 3 games as part of the charge.

Given the nature of the latest charge against the Newcastle manager, it remains to be seen whether his conduct will improve in the future.


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Seven Match Ban for Alan Pardew

Seven Match Ban for Alan Pardew

 Newcastle United were winning 3-1 away from home against Hull and was arguably there best performance of the season (says Robbie Savage view on BBC Match Of The Day) on the 1^st March but the 71^st minute Alan Pardew did something he may wished he never did. As the ball left the pitch to go out for a Hull City throwing David Meyler was picking up the ball from the Newcastle Utd touchline (pushing Alan Pardew) and Pardew turned around with an alteration of words. Ahmed Elmohamady the Hull City defender/midfielder then came over and pushed Meyler away but Pardew had other ideas he decided to head-butt the former Sunderland player. David Meyler moved his hand back and then the referee at the game Kevin Friend had a choice of either sending off Pardew and Meyler or a different scenario. It ended up with Alan Pardew sent to the stands and Meyler had a yellow card. Newcastle United eventually won the game 4-1 but we all knew what will be in the headlines.

When the full time whistle was blown many football pundits were waiting to see if Pardew was going to turn up at the press conference or his contract at Newcastle United terminated. However he turned up at the post match conference and also was conducting interviews with local and national media and these were his on Sky Sports

"It was just a heat of the moment thing. Obviously I massively regret it.I think I am going to have to sit down from now on because that's about two or three incidents I have been involved in on the line. I didn't mean to do anything aggressive, but I did move my head forward and that's enough.” He then added: “It was just because of the situation, if I was on the other side of the line, that wouldn't have happened, perhaps it will teach me to sit down!”

Meanwhile Steve Bruce also had his say about the incident while talking to Sky Sports: “"Also I have to say, we've seen people play-acting and all the rest of it. I don't think he really smashed (his head) in there but David Meyler, it's a good job it was him because we see people rolling around the floor” The former Manchester United defender added: "David's reacted - OK, he's angry of course - but I think Alan knows he's been stupid on the day and rightly apologised."

The reactions from the football pundits based abroad and here in the UK were shocked and was wondering where the story will go next! Many football pundits were giving a negative reaction to what has happened.

BBC Match of the Day presenter Gary Linker said on twitter “Alan Pardew has just head-butted David Meyler. Yes head-butted. Inexcusable from a manager.”

Robbie Savage also said on BBC Match of the Day that evening: “Couldn't believe my eyes when I saw Pardew throw his head into Meyler, absolutely disgraceful behaviour from a manager.”

Alan Shearer former Newcastle United striker/manager and now BBC pundit but told Sky Sports at an event he was attending said "What on earth can Alan Pardew say to his players when they misbehave?" Shearer said. "I have never seen anything like that before, ever.Frankly I wouldn't be surprised, and I don't think anybody will be surprised at all, if Alan Pardew were to resign over this. Even if he doesn't want to resign, the club might be saying to him, we might be doing you a favour - you resign rather than us sack you, because that will have to be in his thinking also. It will be very difficult for him to keep his job now.”

Another former Newcastle manager, Graeme Souness told Sky Sports, "That is a sackable offence. I've been frustrated and upset by a number of things, but I've never gone down that road."

Later on that evening Newcastle United realised a statement on their website regarding the incident and here are important bits from their statement:

"Newcastle United are disappointed with the actions of its manager Alan Pardew this afternoon. His behaviour was unacceptable and is not the behaviour we expect from the manager of Newcastle United. Alan has accepted a formal warning from the club in relation to his behaviour today and also a club fine of £100,000."

Then Pardew was then charged by the FA with misconduct charge and after that he accepted the charge and was told he would find out his fate on the 11^th March. Pardew then found out he has been handed a 7 game match ban they included: prevented from entering the stadium for Newcastle’s next three games and will not be allowed to stand on the touchline for another four. He was also fined £60,000. This follows on from January when Pardew said “sorry” for verbally abusing Manuel Pellegrini and in 2006 he also apologised to Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger for his celebrations following a winning goal against Arsenal.

 

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