JACK Radio Group lures former ARQIVA director into new board role

24 February 2020, Oxford: The JACK Group of radio stations has secured the support of former Arqiva Director Bryan Coombes, who is joining the pioneering Oxfordshire-based brand in a Non-Executive Director role. Coombes, who was Director of Terrestrial Broadcast at Telecoms Company Arqiva, retired from the role in 2019, having spent eight years overseeing the operation of more than 1,450 transmission sites for radio, providing coverage to 90% of the population for terrestrial broadcasting in the UK.

 

It was this role that afforded him the opportunity to meet the team behind the JACK brand, one of the last remaining independent commercial radio groups in the UK and responsible for a portfolio of two national and three regional radio stations. Speaking of his appointment, Coombes said: “I’m delighted to have the opportunity of becoming part of such a passionate and exciting team. The JACK proposition stands out from the crowd in UK broadcasting, and it is a joy to have some part to play in such a unique and refreshing commercial radio business.”

 

With a career that has spanned a variety of senior-level roles within the telecommunications industry in the UK, US and Europe, Coombes brings vast experience of the broadcasting world and will support the team at JACK with the continued development of their brands, and their ambition to continue growing their stations and reaching new audiences with an incomparable range of products.

 

The group’s recent RAJAR* result confirmed that the audience across the portfolio has more than doubled in the last year, now reaching 405,000 weekly listeners. It has also seen its brands shortlisted for multiple awards at the forthcoming Radio Academy ARIAS 2020, including ‘National Station of the Year’ award for Union JACK Radio.

 

JACK CEO Ian Walker said: “Bryan has played a part in the journey of the JACK brand from day one, supporting our vision for the business and helping us to establish it within the UK.  He brings a wealth of experience and shares our ambition to bring something different to the British radio landscape, so we are very fortunate that he has agreed to join us on a more formal basis.”