July's Radio Head: Tom Drummond, Head of Radio, Initiative

July’s Radio Head: Tom Drummond, Head of Radio, Initiative

Thursday, July 26th, 2012

In this month’s Radio Head RAB asked Tom Drummond from Initiative a few questions about why he loves his job and some fun facts about his life.

1.What’s the best thing about your job? (Be honest!)

Whenever you read this answer it’s always the people, and I’m afraid I’m not going to be any different – and why would I, when I get to work with great people not only at Initiative but within the whole radio industry?

2. What’s your favourite station and which radio programmes do you listen to?

Absolute Radio, who thoroughly deserved to win station of the year at the Arqiva Awards. I wake up every morning to the hugely talented Christian O’Connell.

3. What radio campaign are you most proud of working on?

There have been so many! Recently I would have to say the Sonos sponsorship of Geoff Lloyd on Absolute – this really demonstrates how you can take advantage of radio programming by integrating your brand into the fabric of the editorial to create a truly unique partnership.

4. Which radio campaigns have caught your ear recently?

I was round at my nephew’s last Friday night and heard Bacardi’s sponsorship on Kiss. That made me feel quite street.

5. What’s the biggest hurdle you have to overcome to get radio on the schedule, and how do you manage this?

Creative is often a hurdle, but I’m hopeful that the work the RAB is doing with the creative agencies will soon make this a thing of the past.

6. What’s your view on what the big trend in media will be this coming year and how do you think it will it affect radio?

How people consume the medium and how stations communicate with listeners is changing and is something we need to be sure we’ve fully adapted to. Radio presenters no longer host their shows and go home – thanks to social media, particularly Twitter, and non-live content such as podcasts, they’re always ‘switched on’ – they are in the public eye all the time and the listener has far more regular contact with them. This has to be a good thing as it ensures a momentum between shows and can give stations the edge over their rivals if their ‘extra-curricular’ activity is strong.

7. What was your local station when you were growing up?

GWR.

8. Which DJ best defines your youth?

Dave Barrett, who hosted an evening phone in on GWR. Thinking about it, this was the first time I realised how much a radio station or presenter can mean to a listener.

9. What was the first album you bought?

This would be a “Now” Album. I reserve the right not to say which one as you’ll be able to work out how old I am!