Jazz FM hires Folder Media for social marketing duties

by Rich Sutcliffe, Media Week 01-Sep-08, 16:15

LONDON - Jazz FM has appointed radio development outfit Folder Media to handle its online and e-mail marketing activity.

Folder Media, which earlier this year undertook a similar role for the launch of NME Radio, will handle Jazz FM’s activity on social networks such as Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, as well as looking after the station’s CRM newsletter marketing.

The Local Radio Company-owned station is due to relaunch on 6 October on DAB in London, the North West, the West Midlands and Glasgow, as well as parts of eastern Scotland and south Wales, with a potential audience of 24 million.

Matt Deegan, creative director at Folder Media, described Jazz FM as an iconic radio brand and said the company was looking forward to using social media in innovative new ways to drive awareness of the station’s rebirth.

Tim Nice, launch director of Jazz FM, said Folder Media would help Jazz FM become one the world’s leading internet radio stations.

TLRC recently awarded the national airtime sales contract for Jazz FM to First Radio Sales, the sales outfit it owns with UTV.

Jazz FM was set up in 1990 with Richard Wheatly as chief executive and was sold in 2002 to GMG Radio for more than £40m. In 2004, Wheatly set up TLRC.

The station was subsequently turned into Smooth Radio by GMG Radio last year. After the demise of GCap Media’s theJazz, GMG made a licensing agreement with TLRC to manage a new version of Jazz FM, which will air on spare DAB spectrum owned by GMG.