Video may have killed the radio star, but builders are bringing it back. Fix Radio CEO Louis Timpany tells Anna Moloney how he built the UK’s fastest growing national broadcaster
If you were asked to guess what last year’s most zeitgeisty radio station was, you probably wouldn’t have put your money on Fix Radio, a station dedicated entirely to tradespeople, where leading segments include the likes of The Heating and Plumbing Show. But, as it happens, Fix Radio was last year’s fastest growing national radio station. With over 460,000 weekly listeners, the station grew an astonishing 480 per cent last year after acquiring its national licence in May 2022.
Of course, it only takes a little bit of thought to work out why: what profession do you think listens to the radio the most? Louis Timpany, a former construction worker himself, knew where to place his bet.
After graduating from Leeds University at age 22, Timpany was working on building sites while applying for jobs in finance when he realised how central the radio was to life in trade. “It’s a massive part of their life, and a constant source of arguments. I thought I’d put an end to those arguments,” he told me. Thus, Fix Radio, a station tailor-made for tradespeople, was born. But, what exactly does that mean?
Nailing a niche
For one thing, it means you can get away with pitching things like The Heating and Plumbing Show, but there are a number of other factors which make Fix Radio especially appealing for tradespeople. Most important of all, Timpany tells me: no song repeats. Indeed, Fix Radio boasts the largest music catalogue of any station, meaning it also has the lowest repetition rate – crucial for builders and plumbers who may have the radio on all day. Likewise, the music is all intentionally upbeat; Timpany
tells me it’s important for builders to be able to sing along on site – and Gala’s Freed From Desire goes down better than a Celine Dion ballad. We Built This City, naturally, was the first song the station ever aired. Additionally, the station claims to offer the most detailed weather forecasts, specifically aimed at tradespeople working outdoors.
There’s glamour too though, with the station capitalising on industry celebs for a little bit of razzle dazzle. Chris Frediani from DIY SOS – “the country’s most famous plasterer,” according to the station – presents The Plastering Show, while the Bald Builders, who host Fix Radio’s flagship breakfast programme, have their own social media following of 1.5m.
The advertiser’s dream
But builders whistling along to upbeat dance music isn’t enough to pay the bills, which is where Fix’s key ingredient for success comes in: advertising. Indeed, Timpany tells me, when talking to listeners about why they listen to Fix, it’s the adverts that often come up – “mighty surprising,” even he admits. “Tools, fans, insurers – it’s all products and services directly serving their needs. And they find that very useful, as opposed to products and services that aren’t relatable” – it may be Avril Lavigne for the builders, but it’s this that’s music to the ears of advertisers, who know they have a captive and receptive audience to pitch to.
“It’s a dream for commercial partners. They can hit their target market nationwide with zero wastage,” Timpany says. Clearly it’s working, with monthly billings for Fix Radio now at £500,000 a month thanks to big name advertisers like B&Q and Wickes, and the station on track to turn over an impressive £6m this year. And Timpany’s got big ambitions. A music festival for tradespeople is the company’s next big project, while he also aspires to hit 1m weekly listeners for the station – a target which would mean one in three trades people tuning in.
The radio revival
At its core, Timpany’s formula is simple: targeted marketing. It’s perhaps the same reason the influencer economy has exploded, where special interest communities can be neatly contained. The success of Fix has also been helped by a perhaps surprising radio renaissance, amid an otherwise struggling media landscape, with many radio networks celebrating record listener numbers this year. Timpany puts this down to the pandemic, which he believes gave radio a boost due to its key offering: community and company. This is something which is especially important for tradespeople, for whom mental health and loneliness are a particular issue – a problem Timpany is keen to address. The station has recently run programmes related to matters like toxic masculinity and also has a foundation which offers counselling for tradespeople struggling with their mental health.
Radiocentre CEO Matt Payton added that developments in tech and the growth of DAB in recent years have given commercial radio a boost, with stations empowered to “offer even more choice – building audiences around the interests, genres and passions of listeners”. And indeed, there have been many other success stories for more targeted offerings: Boom Radio (for baby boomers), Lyca Radio (for British Asians) and a whole array of nostalgia-driven decade stations (Absolute 80s, Capital Dance, KISSstory etc).
Of course, though, building a radio station from the ground up isn’t as easy as identifying a niche and it’s clear from speaking to Timpany that he has his business head screwed on. After starting in London, the station’s first expansion was to Manchester – a natural hub for construction workers as the country’s crane capital – but Timpany says the main obstacle was just to change people’s habits. Luckily, he quickly identified the answer: a bacon butty – which the station distributed 30,000 of for free in its first six weeks in order to encourage such habit-swapping. Put simply, it pays to know one’s audience.