Robin Valk Track Record | biography | Career
Robin Valk is one of the most experienced music scheduling experts in Europe, primarily but not exclusively with RCS Selector, where he has unmatched experience in multiple formats.
He has worked in Radio for over 42 years, and has successfully programmed and consulted stations, mainly but not exclusively in Selector, for over 20 years, across a huge range of formats.
Robin started at University Radio York, the first UK college station, in 1968. After graduation, he was offered a job by WPHD-FM, in Buffalo, NY (WPHD is no more, but there’s a useful historical Wikipedia link here, and a nostalgic link here). WPHD felt they could use an English accent on their Progressive Rock FM format. There were very few English broadcasters in the US then, and English rock was much more important to a US youth audience in the 70s than 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 startup BRMB Radio in Birmingham as their first dj hire, again playing Rock. Robin’s stint coincided with a host of music developments: the end of ‘traditional rock’, the arrival and departure of punk rock, the Two-Tone movement centered in Birmingham and Coventry, disco, dance and crossover rap, and the growth of corporate rock and international megastars in the 80s and 90s. He did shows for BRMB in specialist and mainstream formats, and interviewed just about everybody there was to interview. Under his direction, BRMB embarked on a series of recording sessions of local bands, and this kick-started the careers of artists like UB40 and Ruby Turner.
“Thanks for the big break, Robin...still remember UB40’s first radio interview /session as if it was yesterday - even though, this March, it will be 30 years ago. Birmingham’s musical map just wouldn’t be the same without you.”
Brian Travers, UB40
There was also close involvement with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, who were then being energised by a young Simon Rattle, as Robin was by now presenting Classical shows. At the end of his time at BRMB, Robin was Group Head of Research for the Midland Radio Group, an acknowledged Selector expert programming two stations as Head of Music, and training staff at the other stations in the group.
After Capital Radio bought the Midlands Radio Group in 1993, Robin formed Radio To Go (now Radio To Ltd), and started consulting. This took him to Bulgaria (FM-plus, Sofia), Scotland (Scot FM, where he built the database and implemented one of the first five Master Control installs in the UK), Sweden (Selector training for P4 radio) and back to the Pebble Mill Centre in Birmingham for BBC Radio 2. This then led to a five year stint as a producer for Radio 2 Overnights from Birmingham (25% of output) where he quadrupled the Overnight listening figures.
When the Radio 2 shows returned to London, Robin took on training and database development for RTÉ lyric fm, where he trained staff at the Limerick-based national classical music and arts station. This overlapped with more consulting work for Swedish Radio, several european stations, program directorship at Riviera Radio in Monte Carlo, and the start of a very long stint with RCS in New York, the makers of Selector. Robin authored online help and produced training videos for some of RCS’s leading products for a decade from 2000, working mainly from the UK, and also at RCS headquarters in New York. Robin retrained the entire programming staff of the UTV network of stations in 2007/8.
The newest radio clients on the Radio To Go roster are Coast 106 in Southampton, whose all-time record listening figures precisely coincided with the consultancy period, and Amazing Radio in Newcastle.
“Creating a coherent radio station from a wide variety of musical genres uploaded by bands and artists from all over the world was never going to be easy. But Robin’s patient and methodical approach has been vital in achieving the successful sound of Amazing Radio. He’s thorough, painstaking and more efficient than the computers he works. What’s more he loves music and that enthusiasm shines through everything he does.”
Trevor Dann, Amazing Radio/Radio Academy, August 2010
In October 2010, ‘Handsworth Evolution’, a documentary on the music of Handsworth, Birmingham, commissioned by Birmingham Music Heritage, was published online to considerable acclaim. It can be heard via Soundcloud, on this Radio To Go Blog page.
In March 2010, Radio To Go started work on a pilot programme for the British Library, documenting independent online music. The results can be heard on the Pilot Project website, which was launched in November 2010.
Also in November 2010, Radio to Go recorded its latest European client. Magyar Radio services MR3 and MR7, in Hungary. These services cover Classical and Folk from Magyar Radio’s headquarters in Budapest.
New 2011 clients include Bauer Media stations Forth 1, Clyde 1 and West Sound.