Many of you know that I left GCap in March this year to go ‘freelance’. At the time it seemed a very scary thing to do, but a week into my new life and I couldn’t have been happier. Over the last six months I’ve had more than enough work to do and it’s been fun working with a much more diverse range of companies than I expected.

At the same time my old colleague Gregory Watson was setting up his own firm with a focus on creating a digital radio multiplex business – MuxCo. Whilst working with him on a project he asked me whether I would consider joining as a partner to help expand his operations into some different new media areas and provide some support to the company’s digital development.

It seemed a great opportunity to consolidate the work I’d been doing and make it part of something bigger, that I had a shareholding in. I’m very pleased to therefore become the Creative Director of Folder Media. Media Week wrote about it here.

When I’ve met people and told them about the change, I’ve always had to explain the structure as it’s a bit confusing. Lots of people know what MuxCo is, if you’re not one of them, well – it’s a company that’s applying for new digital radio licences across the country. In each area that’s advertised by Ofcom, MuxCo generally works with local radio stations to create a consortium that bids for the licence. If MuxCo wins the licence, it means the smaller operators get back some of the money they’re investing in making their services digital by getting a dividend back from the operation of a multiplex. It’s not a particularly new idea – the big radio groups have been doing that since DAB started! We’ve had some good luck already and have won licences in Wrexham and Chester and Hereford and Worcester with hopefully some more to come. MuxCo is, in turn, majority owned by Folder Media.

Folder Media is the company that me and Gregory own alongside a few other investors. Its purpose is to help develop new platforms (like these DAB multiplexes) and to build new services on top of them. It also acts as a consultant and service provider to a range of different companies.

Already we’ve worked with big radio groups, like UTV who we’re helping run their multiplexes down to new companies who are interested in putting a radio station on Sky. We’ve also been giving some social media advice and helping build new technology like Facebook applications. Obviously, if you need a hand with anything, you know where I am…

But it’s great to hear that I’m not the only one who’s got a new job. Congratulations to Mike and Emma Newman who are joining XFM South Wales as PC and Head of Music, respectively. And also congratulations to Helen Grimes who’s become the new PC at Fox FM in Oxford too. Good luck to you all!

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