Fun in the air from digital radio station that’s in tune with kids — and grown-ups

When your colleagues include Dennis the Menace and a cranky robot, it’s not hard to enjoy yourself, and that’s a daily occurrence at children’s radio station Fun Kids.

Inside the Soho Tardis that is its headquarters there’s a studio, a cluster of cheery staff and a plush green room overlooking the Crossrail works in the shadow of the Centre Point tower.

The office is situated above London’s largest saxophone shop, Sax, in Denmark Street and is earmarked for demolition amid Tottenham Court Road’s transformation.

Turning the dials on Fun Kids are programme director Matt Deegan and managing director Gregory Watson.

The duo had worked together in the corporate development team at radio giant GCap, which is now Global, featuring the likes of Capital and Classic FM. It was there they first worked on digital-radio projects and, on departing, became gurus in the medium.

However, it was opportunism which led to the birth of Fun Kids in 2008.

“Fun Radio was an existing station that had been around for a few years,” says Deegan. “It had not had much love and was going to close down. We thought it would be a good opportunity to show some of our skills. Fun Kids has grown into this entity that’s creative and won lots of awards.”

The station, owned by Shoreditch-based Tolder Media, is growing rapidly, it is now listened to by 266,000 children each week, as well as 71,000 adults – a 35% increase on last year. Revenues, drawn from advertising, partnerships and sponsorships, are set to hit £300,000 this year. A further £1.4 million is forecast from revenues at Folder Media, which consults and makes programmes, and from MuxCo, which is the landlord for a host of regional, digital-radio multiplex licences.

A lively mix of programming is complemented by a roster of talented, up-and-coming presenters — alumnus Luke Franks has gone on to present backstage videos for ITV’s X Factor and notch up work at CBBC and CITV.

Flexibility — its content is pre-recorded and can be recorded at 3am if it works for the presenter — has allowed the station to attract talent. Indeed, Bex Lindsay, who presents a show on weekday afternoons, juggles the position with work in the theatre.

Deegan says the station’s formula has been simple: “The radio station is It’s called Fun Kids; everything should be fun.”

Aimed largely at children from seven to 12 years old, the fun is created by everything from established characters from The Beano to an oft-grumpy robot who co-hosts the breakfast show with Sean Thorne. “We get floods of emails to The Robot. They are an odd couple who argue. Kids like tension, silly rows. We can be appropriate without being too soft,” Deegan says.

Last week, the station broadcast from a double-decker bus outside the ExCel Centre at London Lego extravaganza Brick 2014 from a double decker bus.

Alongside speech radio, the station takes full advantage of TV talent shows (appearances by One Direction have proved a big hit) and the occasional slice of “kid-friendly” music by more left-field artists including They Might Be Giants and Saint Etienne.

“We get notes from dads who say ‘that’s amazing that you played Billy Bragg’,” laughs Deegan. But what’s the point in setting the airwaves abuzz with great radio when kids aren’t exactly taping the Top 40 on boom boxes any more?

“It’s really easy to say ‘kids do not listen to the radio’ but actually they do while they’re around a computer or the iPad. They love to sing along to songs,” explains Deegan, adding that most content appears across several platforms with sound stripped from online videos for radio and photo galleries posted of radio interviews.

“TV is like a babysitter so parents can go elsewhere but the radio can be on when they’re painting or drawing. We are not just a babysitter but a family station the parents find enjoyable too,” says Watson.

Fun Kids is even the soundtrack to the whacky world of the Bin Weevils. The fictional furry troop, who have a show on the station, are the stars of an app that plays the station within it.

It’s one of several intriguing projects a million miles from sitting beside the wireless for Fun Kids. An audio to explain how the checking-in and checks process works for kids visiting Birmingham Airport has just been completed. Another saw the business create audio content on pirated music for the Intellectual Property Office, in which Nancy the bulldog and her meerkat backing singers attempt to go on tour but can’t afford it despite the fact everyone has heard their song.

These partnerships offer an extra strand of growth in a rapidly diversifying business.

With increasing numbers of cars fitted with DAB radios, there’s still plenty of life in digital radio while multiplatform listening offers lively prospects.

“There is an opportunity to be a really large online player and it’s whether we can have that focus to achieve what’s in our grasp,” says Deegan.

Whether it’s taking in the Bin Weevils on an iPad or listening to Gnasher’s barks in the car, Fun Kids is tuned into its audience and is sticking firmly to its modus operandi.