Pure Insider

A couple of weeks ago Chloe and Sarah got together a group of sporting geniuses in the form of Ed Chester (bit-tech.net), Rik Henderson (Pocket Lint), Jeff Parsons (T3) and David Gilbert (International Business Times) to take part in the talkSPORT quiz at RadioWorks in London.

Former Portsmouth and Newcastle player Micky Quinn was quizmaster and there was also appearances from talkSPORT presenters Jason Cundy, Andy Goldstein, Andy Jacobs and Paul Hawksbee.

Rik and Micky Quinn

Chloe and Micky

The teams were competing for great prizes including talkSPORT goodies, sweet hampers, a trip for two to Celtic Manor in Newport, bottles of Champagne and of course a Pure One Mini Union Jack. Questions included a picture round of football stadiums, a music round of songs that teams come out to and other general sporting knowledge questions. We battled through the questions but we were expecting a low result and a distinct lack of prizes but amazingly we came third winning some great talkSPORT goodies and a tour of the talkSPORT studios, which we are all really excited about!

The ‘Pure Genius’ team with their talkSPORT goodies

RadioWorks is the UK’s premier radio advertising specialist and we would like to thank them for a great night and look forward to the next quiz!

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This week I felt like I was heading back to IFA as I flew to Berlin for Radiodays 2013 at the Berlin Congress Centre.

Radiodays Europe is the meeting point for the the international radio industry, bringing together broadcasters, manufacturers and organisations such as World DMB to discuss what is going on in the radio industry, including the status of digital radio. The 2012 conference in Barcelona, Spain had 800 participants from 45 countries and this year saw numbers rise to over 1000. Radiodays Europe is the largest and most important radio conference in Europe, with top expert speakers and sessions with a wide range of topics including mulitplatform radio, the digital future, working with music services and strategies for smartphones.

Tony Wadsworth – Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry presents the music industry keynote

World DMB showcase our products at Radiodays 2013

There was a positive message about digital radio at this year’s conference with Jan-Willem Brueggenwirth, CEO of Dutch radio station Radio 358, telling delegates that DAB+ is the next big thing for radio in The Netherlands, where full DAB+ nationwide coverage will be achieved by September 2013.  Marius Lille, Head of Radio at NRK (Norway) also reported that success between government, public and private braodcasters mean their planned 2017 FM switch-off is well underway. The situation in Germany remains positive with Michael Reichert from ARD (consortium of public broadasters) reporting that 240 different digital radio models are now available in Germany, where it is anticipated that more than 1 million receivers will be sold by the end of 2013. Ford Ennals from DRUK (Digital Radio UK) also supported this message by announcing that new Audi models in the UK will have digital radio fitted as standard from April 2013.

As well as attending the conference I also had some time to visit Saturn, one of our retail partners in Germany, to see our products in action!

I stayed at the Park Inn at Alexanderplatz, which we stay in when we’re at IFA, but this year I got great view of the TV tower which looked great by night and slightly white by the time I woke up in the morning thanks to all the snow!

The next Radiodays Europe will take place March 23-24, 2014, in Dublin, Ireland. For more information visit the Radiodays website.

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We were proud sponsors of the digital radio personality award at yesterday’s TRIC Awards 2013, which was won by BBC Radio 2 breakfast host Chris Evans.

The event, which was held at Grosvenor House, Park Lane, was attended by delegates from the radio and television industry along with some famous faces.

Winners on the night included Peter Andre, Carol Kirkwood, Clare Balding, Shane Richie, Ant and Dec, Countryfile, Celebrity Juice, Silent Witness, Mrs Brown’s Boys, I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, This Morning, Eamon Holmes, Lisa Snowdon and Dave Berry (Capital Breakfast) and Sian Williams.

The legend that is John Craven collects the award for Countryfile

Claudia Winkleman and the Strictly team collect their award

We took some journalists to the event as well as our friends from Digital Radio UK, music and broadcasting industry and retailers. We all enjoyed a great meal and some celebrity spotting – the highlight for me being my photo with the cast from Call the Midwife who won HD Drama Programme of the Year.

Rich Melville, Andrew Williams and Jenny

Hannah Bouckley and Tom Newton

Chloe with the cast of Call the Midwife

Jane Ostler (DRUK) poses with Louis Smith (Strictly)

Here are a few more photos from the evening.

Jenny with Declan Donnelly

Chloe with Keith Lemon

No Pure Insider Blog is complete without a photo with Sean Hannam who was at the event!

Nick Hucker (Pure) with Jane, Ford and Aaron from DRUK

For more information on the TRIC awards visit – http://www.tric.org.uk/main/2013winners.html

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Smooth Radio are asking listeners to take part in their annual charity event, ’Starlight Supper’, that aims to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Listeners are encouraged to host (or attend) a dinner party and listen to Smooth Radio from 8pm on Saturday 9th March for the perfect soundtrack for the UK’s biggest dinner party!

To register simply visit www.smoothradio.co.uk/starlight and Smooth Radio will send you a Starlight Supper pack that includes everything you need for your dinner party – balloons, confetti, place and menu cards, and recipes from some of the UK’s best-loved chefs, including Mary Berry, Brian Turner and The Fabulous Baker Brothers. You can find more details and frequently asked questions on the Startlight Supper web page including dinner party tips, competitions, helpful hints from the celebrity chef of the week and ideas on how to raise more money from your guests!

 On the night Smooth Radio will be playing four hours of non-stop soulful hits from 8pm so you can entertain your guests with great music then once you have finished your food join in for the Smooth Pop Quiz at 10pm. You can also listen to Smooth whilst you’re preparing your feast and send in pictures from your night during the show. We are also donating a Pure Evoke Mio on the night so listen out for that competition for your chance to win!

Smooth Radio has been hosting the Starlight Supper since 2010 and so far the event has raised over 500K for Macmillan. There have been over 7,000 Starlight Supper dinner parties to date – that’s 42,000 people so far and counting. Every penny raised goes towards helping Macmillan provide practical, medical and emotional and financial support to people affected by cancer. You can read more about the work of Macmillan Cancer Support on their website. If you’re unable to host a Starlight Supper, the easiest way to donate is online via Smooth Radio’s JustGiving page.

Don’t forget that you can listen to Smooth Radio on Pure Connect, our online gateway to internet radio stations, listen again content, on-demand programmes as well as millions of tracks from Pure Music, our cloud-based, on-demand music service.

The Jacksons supporting Starlight Supper

Celebrity chef Nadia

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Sean Hannam (ERT), Kate Solomon (TechRadar) and Kat Jackman (Emerging Icons)

Most 16-24 year olds are listening to music on their laptop or mobile phone, which doesn’t deliver an optimum audio experience. Do they know? Do they care? This was just one of the statistics discussed at Universal Music’s sound open day (#soundmatters) last night at the legendary Abbey Road studios.

The atmosphere in studio 2, probably the most famous studio in the world with the likes of Pink Floyd, The Shadows and not forgetting the Beatles recording there, was an apt setting for the discussion about how every artist will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their music sounds exactly as they intended, but for many fans listening to the end result, some of the audio experience is lost in the rush for convenience.

The event was hosted by music journalist Miranda Sawyer and speakers on the panel included Jonathan Allen (engineer/producer, Abbey Road Studios), Ben Hillier (producer, songwriter and studio owner), JJ (evangelist, Dolby) and Mike Smith, president of music, Mercury Records. Our very own Pete Downton (director of cloud services for Imagination Technologies) started off the proceedings by presenting Universal’s research on how fans like to listen to music, which led to discussions around whether sound quality and the listening experience have been sacrificed in the age of the MP3.

Pete Downton presents the research by Universal

Mike Smith presents The Strypes

The Strypes

After discussions about the research the audience had their questions answered by the panel – including Sean Hannam, our guest from ERT, who asked “where are people going to experience high quality audio as part of the retail experience?”

Mike Smith then presented one of the most promising bands around, The Strypes – a four-piece rhythm and blues band who certainly know about sound!

Not only did we get to listen to the delights of The Strypes we then took our guests to see Jake Bugg at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. You can stream Jake Bugg on Pure Connect now and view pictures from the gig below:

Jake Bugg performs

Watching Jake Bugg – Jeff Parsons (T3), Chloe (Pure), Paul Lamkin (MSN), Kate Solomon (Tech Radar), Verity Perry (What HiFi?)

Jake Bugg

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To celebrate the launch of our latest Evoke Mio by Orla Kiely the Pure PR team held a press launch last night and invited journalists from interiors and lifestyle press. The event was a great success and attended by 23 publications!

The launch took place at the Orla Kiely flagship store in Covent Garden, London. Guests who came along were able to check out the new Striped Petal buttercup edition DAB and FM radio, browse the retro styled store and enjoy canapes and drinks.

Designer Orla Kiely, known for her iconic prints, has blended colour and pattern with quality and playful design, to create a vibrant lifestyle brand including a successful line of womenswear, fashion accessories and homeware on show in the store. The radios looked great in the setting of the store and as you can see the Striped Petal design, in Buttercup, sits nicely alongside the Stem and Abacus Evoke Mio editions.

Pure Evoke Mio by Orla Kiely - Striped Petal Edition is now available exclusively at John Lewis and from Orla Kiely online and instore.

For hi-res images or samples, please contact sarah.riley@pure.com

Read the full press release on our website.

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Pure announces availability of Avalon 300R Connect, a high-performance, easy-to-use Freeview+ HD digital TV recorder. Avalon comes with a unique, state-of-the-art user interface, market leading features including leading edge versions of BBC iPlayer and YouTube, and full integration with Pure’s leading internet radio and music services.

Avalon 300R Connect is available in both 500GB and 1TB versions at an SRP of £299.99 and £349.99 respectively and is now available to purchase online at John Lewis and Amazon and will be instore at John Lewis and selected independent retailers later this week.

Using Avalon is both enjoyable and intuitive thanks to its high-performance user interface, which offers real depth and perspective, making the menus and channel guides a joy to interact with.

Says Nick Hucker, Pure’s director of marketing: “Entering the TV set top box market is a huge step for Pure, and we are delighted to be able to combine our award-winning audio heritage with parent company, Imagination Technologies’ market-leading PowerVR graphics to deliver the most engaging and attractive subscription-free TV viewing experience available.”

Read the full press release here.

Please contact the Pure PR department for more information and to request press samples.

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I attended the switch-on of the new local DAB digital radio stations for Herts, Beds and Bucks today at the National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park.

The switch-on was conducted by special guests: football broadcaster and ex Luton Town manager David Pleat, and MK Dons Chairman Pete Winkelman. Both Luton Town and MK Dons will be playing their FA Cup 6th round matches on Saturday, and both will be broadcast live on local DAB digital radio. They were also joined by local Milton Keynes MP Iain Stewart.

The switch-on was marked by a Valentine’s Day collaboration between local broadcasters from BBC Three Counties, Heart, Connect FM and MKFM who were all broadcasting live from the event. This switch on is part of a series of new multiplex launches across the UK and will bring digital radio servies to an extra 1.8 million people.

D-Love announced the switch on and encouraged everyone to #spreadthelove!

Vicky.

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Tonight at The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, Children’s Radio Foundation UK will be celebrating World Radio Day by hosting a photographic exhibition of their projects in South Africa along with audio clips from a recent trip to the country by the charity’s Global Ambassador, Colin Greenwood. There will also be a 24 hour ‘pop up’ radio station featuring presenters such as Ed Stourton, Robin Lustig, Hardeep Singh Kohli and Charlie Lee Potter and live performances from the likes of Laura Mvula, Caribou and Fourtet.

Guests will be able to listen to the audio clips on a number of Pure Sensia 200D Connects.

Children’s Radio Foundation (#CRF) is a charity using radio as a tool to empower young people across Africa. The photographs and audio have been recorded especially for the event by Colin Greenwood who has been travelling around South Africa to meet some of the talented people on the projects and make some great radio. You can follow his trip by visiting http://crf.waste.uk.com/. You can also listen to audio clips along with music from Caribou, Fourtet and Laura Mvula who are performing on pop up station, WRD Radio on World Radio Day on Pure Connect.

All proceeds from tonight’s event will go direct to Children’s Radio Foundation UK.

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UNESCO has proclaimed February 13th as World Radio Day to celebrate radio as a medium. To help raise awareness we asked senior management at Pure and our parent company, Imagination Technologies, to tell us what radio means to them:

Paul Smith, general manager for Pure says, “My drive to and from work would not be the same without listening to BBC Radio 5 Live on my in-car digital radio.”

Colin Crawford, who will sadly be leaving Pure in the coming months after 23 years at the company says, “I love radio because, unlike TV, it celebrates the everyday”.

Nick Hucker, Pure’s new director of marketing says, “In the late 19^th century radio was referred to as ‘ the wireless’ in the UK. Back then the invention enabled the sending of short signals – today, radio devices bring communication and joy to people in all walks of life, in every corner of the world.”

Hossein Yassaie, CEO, Imagination Technologies, says “I discovered my love of electronics taking radios apart when I was a child – and of course putting them back together again!”

The aim of UN World Radio Day is to raise awareness for this vital medium which survives bravely in the new digital world and has a lot potential for the future!

Tweet us about what radio means to you @Pure_Insider and we’ll retweet the best ones!

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