Forward Movement

Interview with Dan Formless from Hoxton FM

As we all know a little thing called The Internet has disrupted quite a few things since its arrival. Not least one of the oldest musical broadcasting technologies in the world. The Radio. The last decade has seen radio exploding into digital formats and online platforms, often via independent pioneers, enterprising DJs and audio nerds. One such example of this is HOXTON FM, an online radio station based in London that has been making waves on the digital radio waves for 6 years.Taking the traditional studio radio format into venues and live/visual realms, Hoxton FM is also a fine example of how social media has transformed how we consume radio. We speak to the station’s chief Dan ‘Formless to hear how he has grown the station and why he believes radio now is all about what you can see.

Launched in 2011 by Dan Formless, Rakhee Sudra, Quintin Christian and David ‘The Preshaah’ Hoxton FM started life in the form of recorded audio podcasts. In 2012 the group (who were now three due to David departing to pursue a more traditional radio business model) took the station live. Their vision was of a station that represented the vibrant culture around them and subverted radio formats with a visual component. However video was technologically not yet feasible so they set about approaching venues in the capital where presenters could host their shows in the most live way possible. Cafes, record shops, vintage boutiques, clubs and bars became the live settings for the station’s live broadcasts and provided a visual spectacle. Afterall there’s nothing more live than real life! Dan Formless tells us about how this move simultaneously raised the profile of the station and the technical stakes at the same time.

“I was very set on the idea of live broadcasts from venues in the early days. This heavily relied on venue’s wifi, and five, six years ago that meant quite a lot of worrying whether the signal would cut out. Unthinkable now that wifi 5 years ago wasn’t strong enough even just for audio. Technology has moved so fast.”

“It really grew our presence in Hoxton, Dalston, Old Street etc. we made some long standing partnerships and relationships from that time. I was, and still am, really passionate about how live settings add something pretty special to radio broadcasts.”

The station benefited from plugging into the rich ‘Music, Art, Fashion and Culture’ that surrounded them in east London, while growing a reputation and what followed was a boom time for digital stations in the capital. Hoxton FM was looking ahead for how technology could take them further.

“When we started the station we had no intention of going on the FM dial. Our aspirations had always leant towards video. As this wasn’t possible at the time we decided to call the station Hoxton Forward Movement – abbreviated to FM as a playful wink to radio of the past. The station, for me, is strongly about how technology and innovation can move our station forward in exciting new ways.”

The station has evolved as technology progressed. Six years later the station has grown into 24-hour radio schedule, audio-visual broadcasting and a musical hub with over 85 shows, a quarter of a million listeners (and viewers, we’ll get on to that) per month. That figure has been significantly boosted in recent years thanks to bandwidth growing enough for the station to realise it’s vision radio that you can see. Hoxton FM is now a multi-platform experience thanks to partnerships with Chew TV who stream Hoxton FM shows live on the station’s site and Facebook Live where shows are streamed from presenter’s fan pages as well as the Hoxton FM page. This, Dan feels, helps emerging DJs and presenters to grow their own audience.

“We’re are genuinely trying to help each show to build their own reach. One of our longest running presenters Frazer (Campbell) now broadcasts a live show every Wednesday night from his home studio. The audience really enjoys getting a look at people’s record collections and studios in video I’d be really happy if everyone wanted to do that. The key thing is they feel they’ve got enough the technical skills and they’ve developed their own presenting skills through the station to do that.”

Stay tuned for part 3 of the Dan Formless interview when we’ll discuss the future plans Dan has for Hoxton FM.
You can read part 1 of the interview here.

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Forward Movement

Interview with Dan Formless from Hoxton FM

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