Bio
Robin Valk is the most experienced Selector programmer in Europe, with a huge range of format and market experience.
He has worked in Radio for over 40 years, and worked with RCS Selector for more than half of that time, including a decade at RCS’s New York headquareters.
While at University he helped launch University Radio York. After graduation, he spent a year trying to break into radio, and eventually got a job offer from WPHD-FM in Buffalo, in upstate New York, who felt they could use an English accent on their Progressive Rock FM format. There were very few English broadcasters in the US at the time, and English music, especially Rock music, was much more important and relevant to a US youth audience in the 70s than it is now. Robin stayed at WPHD for just over a year, during which time the station went to #1 in the Buffalo market.
Returning to the UK, Robin joined the new Independent Radio sector, moving to BRMB Radio in Birmingham for the station launch - he was the first DJ on their books - again working as a Rock dj. Robin’s stint coincided with music developments throughout the 70s, 80s and 90s: the end of ‘traditional’ rock, the arrival and departure of punk rock, the Two-Tone movement centered in Birmingham and Coventry, and the growth of corporate rock and international megastars in the 80s and 90s.
Robin presented shows for BRMB in all specialist and mainstream formats, and interviewed just about everybody there was to interview. Under Robin’s direction, BRMB embarked on a series of recording sessions of local bands, and this kick-started the careers or artists like UB40 and Ruby Turner. There was also close involvement with the CBSO, as Robin was by now presenting Classical shows.
At the end of his time at BRMB, Robin was Head of Music for BRMB-FM and the legendary Gold station XTRA-AM, and Group Head of Research for all stations in the Midland Radio Group, and an noted Selector expert in the UK.
After Capital Radio bought the group in 1993, Robin launched the Radio To Go partnership (now Radio To Go Ltd), and embarked on a consulting career. This took him to Bulgaria (Selector training at FM-plus, Sofia), Scotland (Scot FM, where he built the database and implemented Master Control), Sweden (Selector training at P4 radio) and back home to Birmingham, where he produced shows for Radio 2.
This then led to a five year stint at the BBC, implementing playback software and building a digital library, and producing Overnights for Radio 2 from Birmingham – 25% of the output – where he quadrupled the listening figures.
When the Radio 2 Overnight shows returned to London, Robin took on training and database development for RTE Lyric FM, where he trained staff in programming and scheduling at the Limerick-based national Classical music and Arts station. This overlapped with more consulting work for Swedish Radio, work with a number of European stations, Program Director responsibilities at Riviera Radio in Monte Carlo, and the start of a very long stint with Radio Computing Services in New York, the makers of Selector.
Robin has authored online help and produced training videos for some of RCS’s leading products since 2000. Robin retrained the entire programming staff of the UTV regional network of stations in 2007/8. The newest client on the Radio To Go client roster is Coast 106 in Southampton.
Robin still presents occasionally, and was last seen behind the decks, aged 59, at a very alternative Project X Presents event in Birmingham. PXP are a loose collective of artists, dancers, poets, sculptors, performance artists, lighting engineers, designers and musicians who mount six-monthly events in alternative venues. He is a big supporter of local music talent in his city.
Robin is based in Birmingham, which has proved to be an excellent city from which to build a National and International production and consultancy business. Robin speaks passable German, and is fluent in French.