Boom Radio, a new station for the baby boomer generation, secured its apt name thanks to trade mark attorneys at Forresters.
Boom Radio was launched last month by radio veterans Phil Riley and David Lloyd after they spotted a gap in the market. Phil said that once they’d come up with the idea for the radio station, the first company they contacted was Forresters.
“Forresters were the very first people we went to before we spoke to anyone else about Boom Radio,” said Phil. “We had to get the name right, and Boom Radio was just perfect, as it’s aimed at the baby boomers who have been neglected by other radio stations. First thing we needed to do was to check we could use the name and then register it as a trade mark.
“Forresters’ attorney Anne Long was brilliant and filled out the forms to apply to register the name and kept us updated throughout the application process. Our applications passed the opposition deadline three days before the station launched. This meant we could relax knowing that no one had come out of the woodwork claiming we’d registered their name.”
Boom Radio is already attracting tens of thousands of listeners through its digital-only transmission, with DAB multiplexes in London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Bristol and Portsmouth. Phil Riley said that baby boomers have been loyal radio listeners and yet feel increasingly ignored by the current stations and programming. It was this gap in the market that led them to start Boom Radio.
“Commercial radio used to be for the baby boomers, but now it targets anyone over the age of 25 because that’s the audience the advertisers want,” he said. “The generation that still enjoys listening to music from the 60s and 70s has been abandoned – even Radio 2 is playing music for a younger generation.
“We’ve created a station that better meets their needs and delivers a great mix of content – and it looks like we’ve got it right as the response we’ve had from people has been unbelievable. We can see that tens of thousands are tuning in to Boom Radio. Also, they’re not just listening for a few minutes – they have the station on for hours at a time.”
Both Phil and David have had long careers in radio spanning the last four decades and have worked with some of the country’s biggest commercial stations. However, Phil said that Boom Radio is different to anything they have done before.
“Both David and I are baby boomers and we’ve had successful careers in radio, however we felt it was time to do something totally different,” he said. “We both love radio and we love launching stations, and we thought this is our last chance to have a go at doing it again.
“One of the biggest differences is that this time it is all being done from home, and in lockdown. Our presenters are all people that we’ve known for years and they’re all working from home to create this fantastic service. Boom Radio is a proper commercial venture and we are doing it for the love of it. People have found a radio station they like and so the news of Boom Radio will spread quickly.”
Anne Long, trade mark attorney at Forresters, said it was exciting to work with Phil and David on the launch of their new radio station. “Boom Radio is a great name for this service and after a careful clearance search we were able to conclude that it does not conflict with any registered trade mark rights in the UK,” she said. “It is essential for businesses to conduct the relevant searches before they begin using a trade mark, and to then register their company, trading names and logos as trade marks to obtain legal protection for their brand. By securing the name Boom Radio we were able to give Phil and David the confidence to launch their station, and it’s great to see that it is already a huge success.”
