GMG Radio has announced that Andy Carter, who heads up the North West operations of the Guardian's radio company, will also become MD of Smooth Radio UK.

As previously reported, GMG has taken advantage of a relaxation in OfCom radio rules to join up all its Smooth Radio operations, basically making the easy-pop service an national radio station, rather than a network of different local stations using the same name and format. The new one-station Smooth FM will be managed by the company's North West base headed up by Carter.

Says GMG Radio boss Stuart Taylor said: "Andy has a great understanding of both the Smooth brand and of UK commercial radio in general and is the perfect person to lead Smooth Radio as it enters the next, important phase".

Simon Cowell has again dissed the BBC for putting some or all of 'Strictly Come Dancing' up against his show 'X-Factor' over on ITV, arguing that the licence-fee funded Beeb shouldn't be in the business of putting its biggest shows up against its rival's biggest programmes. He also reckons the average 'Strictly' viewer could do with their show being on earlier, because they are all old and could probably do with a nap at tea time.

Cowell told The Sun: "I'd suggest they show 'Strictly' a bit earlier in the afternoon because their audience is older. I'm serious. Then they can have a nap if it finishes at six and watch 'X-Factor' later".

'Strictly' and 'X-Factor' were pitched directly against each other by the BBC and ITV last year, and a similar clash looks likely to happen this autumn.

Graham Norton will replace Jonathan Ross on BBC One as well as Radio 2. Norton's chat show will be moved into the Friday night slot left vacant following Ross's departure from the Beeb. The comedian's BBC chat show currently airs earlier in the week.

Norton's show already includes some music guests, though it's not clear if, following the move to Friday, it will feature the regular show-closing music spot that became much sought after by record label pluggers on Ross's chat show. Very possibly not.

Norton will take over Ross's former Saturday morning slot on BBC Radio 2 next month.

'Later... With Jools Holland' is set to reach it's 250th show when it returns for it 37th series on 14 Sep. It will be preceded by a special compilation show, entitled '249 Not Out - Later... With Jools's Golden Moments', on 11 Sep, which will feature some of the show's best moment selected by artists and fans.

His mind slightly addled from being on the same show for so long, Jools Holland told CMU: "I am tremendously honoured and proud that we can celebrate our show being on air for 250 years! It is my hope that we can continue to serve the public with the same wonderful mixture of artists - young, old, legends and newies, all serving the one great master that is music - for the next 250 years!"

Executive producer Mark Cooper added: "We're hugely excited about the new series, the brilliant artists coming up and the 250th milestone we're passing along the way. What with soundchecks, camera rehearsals, etc, we've probably already spent over a year of our lives in the 'Later' studio - what a great way to live! So many brilliant artists have come through the programme - some have become huge stars since first appearing on the show, some have passed, most are thriving and that's what we're trying to do!"
  
A spin-off from The Late Show, 'Later' began broadcasting in October 1992 and was devised by presenter and associate producer Jools Holland, director Janet Fraser-Crook, sound supervisor Mike Felton and now executive producer Mark Cooper - all of whom continue to work on the show.

The new series will continue to follow the show's more recent format, with a live show broadcast on Tuesday 14 Sep on BBC Two at 10pm and on Fridays with the extended programme on BBC Two at 11.45pm.

The results of a student programme run by the North West division of GMG Radio will air on a community station based in the area, Bolton FM.

Twelve students selected from 200 applications took part in GMG's Futures Factory programme, working with employees from GMG's Smooth, Real and Rock Radio franchises. Those participants will now record a series of "as-live" two hour radio shows which will air on Bolton FM each evening at 6pm on w/c 6 Sep.

GMG Radio's Scott Myers told Radio Today: "This is a really exciting opportunity for students to showcase what they have learnt on a genuine FM radio station. Bolton FM has been kind enough to give us an almost a blank canvas and I'm sure the future presenters, producers and journalists will deliver. Futures Factory is about finding new talent and giving them an opportunity to shine - I think we've achieved that and these guys have an exciting future ahead."

Andy Kershaw will present a new show on BBC Radio 3. Entitled 'Music Planet', it will see Kershaw and co-presenter Lucy Duran travel to remote destinations around the world to record the music performed by local musicians. The show will visit the same destinations as BBC One's 'Human Planet', a new anthropological series "celebrating man's remarkable ingenuity and success as a species".

As previously reported, Kershaw was jailed for three months in January 2008 for breaching a restraining order barring him from contacting his former partner, Juliette Banner. He served 44 days of his sentence, but was then arrested again three days after his release for another breach, at which point he was given a six month suspended sentence and advised to leave his home on the Isle Of Man.

He returned to Rochdale to live with his mother, but went on the run after a further breach resulted in a warrant for his arrest being issued in September 2008. He was arrested again in December the same year after returning to the Isle Of Man and given a second six month suspended sentence. So it's probably a good idea to have a project which involves travelling a very, very long way away from the Isle of Man.

Kershaw's said of his return to radio: "I am thrilled to be back on Radio 3 working again with a team of bright, imaginative, enthusiastic people who also happen to be dear friends. Nowhere on Earth is safe again from my attentions. So far, we have, literally, hacked through mountain jungles to bring 'Music Planet' listeners extraordinary music from some of the world's most isolated locations. And I cheerily risked incineration at a rocket festival in Thailand to take our Radio 3 audience into the fiery thick of the action".

He continued: "I have been even to Switzerland, the last country in which I expected to find myself. And, if listeners thought that yodelling was valuable only as a device to evict stragglers at the end of a party, or as a sure-fire way to secure an international novelty hit in 1956, the music we recorded in the Alps will - like so much to be heard in 'Music Planet' - shatter such preconceptions and, simultaneously, delight and exhilarate".

The show's producer, James Parkin added: "What makes 'Music Planet' so exciting for me is that one minute you're listening to Cambodian hip hop, and the next Swiss yodelling recorded in the Alps. And this is the music that people are making right now, all over the world, recorded especially for Radio 3".

'Music Planet' and 'Human Planet' are due to air in the autumn.

MOJO has announced that the first 10,000 copies of its next issue, which is due to go on sale on 31 Aug, will come with a free twelve-inch vinyl compilation entitled 'Let It Be Revisited'. The artists featured on the freebie, including Pete Molinari, Phosphorescent, The Jim Jones Revue, Beth Orton, Amorphous Androgynous, Besnard Lakes and Dr Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, have recorded their own versions of tracks from The Beatles' 1970 (and final) album, 'Let It Be'.

MOJO Editor In Chief Phil Alexander said of the special edition: "The MOJO Vinyl Edition is our way of celebrating the rebirth of vinyl which we've seen in recent years. Essentially, we created an incarnation of the magazine that we wanted to buy ourselves so it was something of a labour of love. In terms of the album itself, we hand-picked the acts and they all paid tribute to the enduring power of The Beatles by providing new perspectives on a set of classic tunes".
 
Here's the tracklist for the compilation:
 
John Grant - Two Of Us 
Dennis Locorriere - Dig A Pony
Phosphorescent - Across The Universe
Beth Orton - I Me Mine/Dig It
The Amorphous Androgynous - Let It Be (Part 1)
The Amorphous Androgynous - Let It Be (Part 2) incorporating Across The Universe (Reprised)
CW Stoneking - Maggie Mae
Besnard Lakes - I've Got A Feeling
Wilko Johnson - One After 909
Judy Collins - The Long And Winding Road
Pete Molinari - For You Blue
The Jim Jones Revue - Get Back

After the first edition of the new series of 'X-Factor' on Saturday night, which was watched by a record 11.1 million idiots (who knew Great Britain was blessed with so many?), fans accused the show of applying Auto-tune software to some vocals, making the good sound better and the bad sound worse, something which the show seems to readily admit.

Look, here's the statement they put out: "The judges make their decisions at the auditions stage based on what they hear on the day, live in the arena. The footage and sound is then edited and dubbed into a finished programme, to deliver the most entertaining experience possible for viewers. When it gets to the live shows, it will be all live".

Interestingly, if you actually listen to the vocals that were edited on last weekend's programme, the vocal tweaks were applied so heavy-handedly (distorting, rather than tuning), and seemingly at random, that you can't help thinking someone involved in the show wanted people to notice. Either that, or they've got someone new in to do their sound editing, and s/he's incredibly rubbish.

Either way, who cares? We should probably stop talking about it nueooosow (that's "now" Auto-tuned by an X-Factor sound engineer, in case you wondered). 

Oh look, 'Glee' creator Ryan Murphy wasn't lying when he said Britney Spears was going to appear in an episode of the new series. The singer tweeted yesterday: "About to do my first shot of the day for Glee tweeties! Here we goooo!" and later "What's up GLEEKS? Having so much fun on set!! Can't wait for you guys to see the episode!"

So that's all sorted then. Good.

Not appearing in 'Glee' are Kings Of Leon, whose bassist Jared Followill told NME this week that they had turned down an offer to appear in the show, saying: "We could have sold out so much more. We turn stuff down constantly".

It seems Aerosmith's Steven Tyler has taken a break from falling off stages for long enough to sign a contract to be a new judge on 'American Idol', joining the show's only remaining original judge, Randy Jackson, after the departure of Simon Cowell, Ellen DeGeneres and Kara DioGuardi.

Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton told New Jersey's Star-Ledger: "Steven is doing 'American Idol'. The ink is dry on that. Steven is someone who absolutely lives to be in front of an audience, and the people closest to him know how witty and entertaining he can be. I don't know if 'American Idol' will be rock n roll enough for him, but it is an opportunity for millions of people to see another side of Steven Tyler".

Stuart Williams, the executive director of Bauer Media, which is responsible for publishing music magazines Q and Kerrang!, has blamed the music industry for the recent dip in circulation of most print music publications.

Williams told Music Week: "It's been a really quiet year for music releases. Apart from Lady Gaga there have been very few bands coming back into the limelight. Readers want to find out about new and exciting bands and if there aren't any out there for us to cover then we can't blame readers for not wanting to spend money on our titles".

Ha ha hahaha ha ha hahahahaha aha ah aha ahahaha haha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa.

Oh dear, not an especially rosy day for the music press yesterday as the latest ABC magazine circulation figures were published.

Despite its recent generally well received revamp, NME is now selling just 33,000 copies a week, a further 17.3% slump after years of decline. It was news that left the PR team at publishers IPC having to get out their calculators and do some big sums to prove that "one in four of all music magazines sold every year on the UK newsstand is a copy of NME", a stat that is possible because, of course, the indie mag is weekly while the majority of its competitors are monthly.

Insiders at IPC probably took most heart at the news that the other biggy in the music press, Q magazine, owned by rivals Bauer, also saw sales drop, by 10.7% year on year, so it is now selling just 89,450 copies per month.

Of course, in both NME and Q's defence, their continued circulation slumps are more a sign of the times than anything else, though NME's closest competitor and Q's sister title, Bauer's Kerrang!, did see readership rise by 1.8%, while distribution of The Fly is also slightly up.

But Metal Hammer, Uncut and Mojo all experienced circulation slides, while Classic Rock - a recent success story in the music press domain - saw circulation stay constant.

Global Radio exec Paul Jackson is, well, no longer a Global Radio exec. He is leaving the radio major, where he headed up Capital FM for three years after joining the London station from a stint running Virgin Radio.

He is leaving not only Global but the country too, heading to Australia to work for DMG Radio, the radio firm half owned by the Daily Mail and half by Lachlan 'son of Rupert' Murdoch.

He will be replaced at Global by James Brownlow, who is currently Senior Programming Director for the Northern half of the Galaxy Radio network.

Given the latest ABCs, I'm not sure there'll be many music journalist jobs left very soon. But at least those that remain can be well trained.

The University Of Westminster's MusicTank organisation is teaming up for Lulu Le Vay, a former Sleazenation deputy editor, to launch a new eight week music journalism course. Organisers say they are creating the course in response to a perceived slump in standards in the music journalism, in part due to resources being cut at the big music titles and partly because an increasing amount of music editorial coverage comes from bedroom reviewers.

Actually, I think there's always been some terrible music journalism out there (and plenty of terrible journalism in general), though as the amount of grass roots and amateur music commentary has increased online it is probably true the good to bad ratio has tipped towards the bad somewhat.

The new course, called Word Up, will cover all the basics on the music media and wider music industry, and include some guest spots for music and media people. For more details go here: www.musictank.co.uk/events/words-up

It occurs to me that a great way to get widespread coverage for your TV show would be to always mention celebrities you've vaguely spoken to about appearing in it when you yourself are being interviewed. And if you can phrase it so it sounds like they're a dead cert to appear, however vague the actual conversation may have been, then all the better. Hence, once this particular CMU story has been written, unless Ryan Murphy comes up with something really impressive, you're going to have to start looking up your own 'Glee' news.

Last week 'Glee' boss Murphy insinuated that Paul McCartney and Susan Boyle were going to be in future editions of the show. Boyle, it seems, is actually quite likely to appear as a dinner a lady in the Christmas special. What Murphy actually said about McCartney was a bit more vague, it's possible they're just going to use some songs the musician suggested, which may or may not be Beatles songs.

Anyway, and continuing with the name dropping, when appearing on Ryan Seacrest's radio show this week Murphy revealed that one episode of the next series will feature the music of Britney Spears, and that the lady herself may make a cameo. He said: "Britney, I think 100%, is going to be on the episode. She is going to come and do a couple of scenes. It's about her music and not her personal life. We're handling Britney with sort of kid gloves. I really admire what she's done with her life and how she's turned things around".

Other pop stars who may or may not appear in the show include Leo Sayer, Finnish Eurovision winners Lordi, Cliff Richard and Michael Jackson.

Dizzee Rascal has been talking up Sky One's 'Must Be The Music', a new TV talent show on which he is a judge - alongside Jamie Cullum and Sharleen Spiteri - which he says will be better the 'X-Factor' because, well, does he need a reason?

Oh, he does? Okay, well, here's what he said about it to the Radio Times: "['X-Factor' and 'Britain's Got Talent' are] just another massive marketing tool. No discredit to that, but we're giving the artists room to be independent. Being an independent artist, I can appreciate that. It's a really good thing. We don't try to grab on to them and manufacture them".

The finalists of 'Must Be The Music' will win £100,000, a gig at Wembley Arena and, best of all, the show will organise for their songs to appear on iTunes. Yes, that's right, iTunes.

Blues & Soul Magazine will be back as a print title as of this weekend. The four decade old magazine has published exclusively online for three years now, but is coming back in print for a special edition to coincide with the previously reported Vintage at Goodwood festival taking place this weekend. Initially planned as a one-off, the special edition has motivated the relaunch of a more regular B&S mag. 

The special print edition came about after fashion type Wayne Hemingway, who is behind the Vintage event, invited the B&S team to cover the festival. Editor Lee Tyler tells CMU: "We were invited by Wayne because he sees us as being pivotal within the music that we have covered through the years, and in particular soul music. The premise of Vintage is to celebrate British cool, so we thought it would be cool to bring out a printed edition which commemorates those golden years - but also glimpses into music's future by way of our 'one's to watch section'; future vintage if you like".

He continues: "This was how the idea of relaunching the printed version came about. We had no intention of going back to print before this, because we are going from strength to strength online. But given the buzz and pre-orders the special edition has created, we have decided to make a regular printed magazine again. How regular we won't know 'til after Vintage, as we will be monitoring how well it sells at the festival and at newsstands".

The special issue, available at Vintage this weekend and then in newsagents, will include interviews with Stevie Wonder, Martha Reeves, Temptations, The Four Tops, Incognito and Noel McKoy.

As was speculated last month, the makers of 'American Idol' have entered a new partnership with Universal, after a nine year marketing and distribution deal with Sony Music, which meant they got to release records by the telly-talent-show's winners, came to an end. The new deal was seemingly negotiated by the show's founder and Executive Producer Simon Fuller.

In a statement, Universal incoming CEO Lucian Grainge said: "We like delivering hits and new artists. UMG and 'American Idol' is the right combination at the right time. Pairing the renowned expertise of Simon [Fuller] and [Universal exec] Jimmy [Iovine] in developing and marketing musical talent creates a truly winning combination that will allow [the show's] artists to realise their fullest potential".

Sony Music also issued a statement, saying: "After enjoying a successful relationship, Sony Music Entertainment wishes Simon Fuller and [his company] 19 Entertainment well in this transitional period for the 'American Idol' franchise. We look forward to continuing our relationships with the many artists on the Sony Music roster who have graduated from the 'American Idol' system, including Kelly Clarkson, Daughtry, Carrie Underwood, Fantasia, David Cook, Adam Lambert, Kellie Pickler, Jordin Sparks and David Archuleta among others and we are excited for the upcoming albums later this fall from season nine's winner and runner-up Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox".

The first series under the new deal will begin in January next year.

Paul McCartney may appear in the next series of 'Glee', or at least some of his songs might, while Susan Boyle is set to play a dinner lady in the Christmas special, creator Ryan Murphy has revealed. Macca in particular seems to have been very keen to take a part in the show in some capacity.

Murphy told reporters: "I received some fantastic mixtapes from Paul McCartney a couple of weeks ago. I thought I was being punked! It came out of blue in a package, handwritten, and it had two CDs and it said 'Hi Ryan, I hope you will consider some of these songs for 'Glee''. I had heard that he is a fan of the show. I was gobsmacked... so of course we are going to do something with him".

This year marks Annie Nightingale's 40th year as a Radio 1 presenter, and to celebrate the station has announced an evening of special programmes looking back at her impressive career.

Appointed Radio 1's first female DJ in 1970, Nightingale has an uncanny ability to stay on top of all the latest sounds and genres that have emerged in the UK over the last four decades. Now the station's longest serving presenter, she continues to travel the world as a club DJ, has written two autobiographies, picked up an MBE in 2002, and has seen her show named Best Radio Show at the International Breakspoll Awards for five consecutive years.

The special night of programmes will take place on 9 Sep, kicking off with 'The Story Of Annie Nightingale' at 7pm, a two hour documentary presented by Zane Lowe with contributions from Irvine Welsh, Cassius, Primal Scream, Underworld, Shaun Ryder, Andrew Weatherall and Beth Orton. Following that, there will be a three hour tribute concert from the BBC's Maida Vale Studios, with performances from artists personally selected by Nightingale. Confirmed so far are Fatboy Slim, Tinchy Stryder, Professor Green, Sub Focus, I Blame Coco, Bookashade, DC Breaks, Freestylers and Primal Scream.

From midnight there will be a two hour selection of some of the best music Nightingale has played in the last four decades, followed by two hours of the best guest mixes put together for her shows by a range of artists.

BBC Four is also planning to broadcast an hour-long documentary on the DJ, details of which are to be announced soon.

Nightingale told CMU: "The last four decades have flown by and it's been the best job in the world.  Being able to bring exciting new music to listeners every week is a joy and BBC Radio 1's role in discovering and championing new music continues to be crucial to bringing enjoyment and appreciation to our listeners and in maintaining the UK's reputation of nurturing some of the most innovative exciting and original new music in the world. I'm always looking forward, planning the next show, the next guest mix, the next festival broadcast. So this night will be a chance to celebrate some awesome milestones and the truly amazing musical soundtrack of my life at BBC Radio 1".

Radio 1 controller Andy Parfitt added: "I have been a long-term fan of Annie's since I worked with her as a Radio 4 producer many years ago. She has prodigious energy and enthusiasm for music making that grows stronger over the decades - truly open minded and never puts herself as DJ above the music or the artists - she is an inspiration to many of our DJs and a much loved member of our BBC family".

More information is available at www.bbc.co.uk/radio1