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Radio News Hub: From Huddersfield basement to global success in ten years
Changes in Britain’s radio market and a shift away from satellite communications have helped Radio News Hub grow from delivering content to seven radio stations to 400 today in the space of ten years.
With a weekly audience totalling 2.3 million around the world, and revenue having grown 6,000% since the first year, the company delivers ready-made news bulletins to everything from expat radio stations in Europe to community and digital radio stations across the UK.
The bulletins are recorded by a team of eight broadcast journalists every hour, every day of the year, and are used by commercial stations such as Dee, Silk, More and Mi-Soul, and independent outlets like Your Harrogate, run by the former Stray FM team.
The channel is now expanding, producing programming including a podcast and radio show “Legends of News” where Dermot Murnaghan talks with news presenters including Natasha Kaplinski about their biggest stories.
“It’s a great listen if you’re a news junkie, like we are,” says Stephanie Otty who co-founded Radio News Hub with business partner Jamie Fletcher.
The two met when they worked together on a Sky radio project and faced the choice of either relocating to London for another role with Sky or redundancy.
Stephanie said: “Jamie and I decided that neither of us wanted to move down to London. We were Yorkshire people born and bred, so we wanted to stay here.”
The two had previously used Independent Radio News (IRN), a Sky service which delivers satellite bulletins to radio stations.
Otty said: “We just thought, ‘Well, is there, is there a market to have another player in the field?’”
Cheaper than Sky IRN with different delivery system
Radio News Hub initially targeted expat radio stations within Europe, where Sky’s pricing model made it expensive for them to use IRN.
But the two also opted to change the technology used to deliver their bulletins, delivering as an MP3 file that could be distributed by email, Dropbox or File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
Rather than having to use satellite technology, radio stations could simply automate the file into their playout systems.
Otty said: “It was a very sort of streamlined, simple process. That also became a real selling point for us, because for stations that aren’t necessarily manned around the clock, it’s just literally a simple command that can be put into playout systems.”
The contrast with how Sky’s IRN worked was stark: radio stations using IRN had to keep a fader up and work around the live bulletin which arrived on the hour.
Archer said: “Our systems are slightly different. We’re not that traditional hour where we’re working towards a live bulletin at the top of the hour. We’ll get things recorded by about 20 to the hour or a quarter to.”
For the first two years, both Archer and Otty worked full time, having rented “the cheapest office they could find” in Huddersfield, and taking no wages.
Otty said: “It became apparent at the point that we launched that actually there was a position for another service, and I think the point of delivery was one of the key things. So even though our main focus when we first launched was the English-speaking expat market, what we also found is that with the growth of online stations, digital radio stations, community radio stations, who are looking for bulletins.”
The pair said that they started to believe in the idea when radio stations began to get in touch independently to sign up to the service, because it did not require them to have a satellite feed.
Otty said: “I think, at that point, we really started to believe there is definitely a market for us in this field. By then we were confident that we had a fairly strong client base at that point, and we’d also managed to make some headway with commercial partners.”
The radio bulletins are monetised with 30-second adverts which play automatically at the end of the bulletin, as well as a subscription price charged to the station.
The revenue is split between 70% commercial revenue including advert spots and sponsorship and 30% subscription fees.
Otty said: “We try to keep that as competitive as possible,” adding that she believes Radio News Hub is cheaper than Sky, although Sky does not publicise its exact fees.
The company now serves 400 radio stations, and has begun to evolve the products it offers.
Archer said: “It’s an evolution in terms of the services we provide so we’re not just that standard top of the hour news bulletin.
“We do that 24/7, 365 days a year, but we also provide programming as well. So whether it’s news programmes, which we do twice daily, a lunchtime programme and a tea time programme, and that’s something that’s done by our team in Leeds and London.”
Business took off during the pandemic
After several years where Radio News Hub was “very cautious” about hiring, they saw a significant boost during the 2020 pandemic.
In the early days of the pandemic the team lost advertising from companies in markets such as air travel, but they realised there was an opportunity for a daily news show, timed around the Government’s daily news bulletin.
Otty said: “We launched the Covid programme, which was a daily ten-minute roundup where we would include all of the main pieces of information that people needed to know.”
After an article in Radio Today, the company was “inundated by radio stations wanting to take the programme.”
Otty said: “Even after we stopped it, we still maintained those clients, and they joined us as client radio stations, but we grew our client numbers by over 100 during Covid.”
Radio News Hub now offers daily lunchtime and evening news programmes, as well as a weekly Business Matters programme which lasts 20 minutes.
Having started with three people in a basement in Huddersfield, Radio News hub now employs eight broadcast journalists, plus a head of news, head of content, head of podcasts, commercial scheduler and commercial director.
Radio News Hub also provides radio edits of three podcasts: The Dr Hillary Health Show, Homefront and Legends of News with Dermot Murnaghan.
The channel now plans to continue to evolve with new programmes and coverage of events such as the Women’s Euros and live streaming of the Autumn Statement complete with special guests.
Radio News Hub is also exploring new content partnerships, as well as multilingual services.
Otty says: “Radio is changing, but it is far from dead, and we’re focused on evolving alongside the industry.”
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