Radio Clyde 261 on American Idol

CLYDEBANK – O.K., so there’s Fox, Coke, Ford, Ritz, Pledge, Simply Orange, Herbal Essence and the Kodak Theater. But what other brand was on the first outing of this season’s American Idol? It is Radio Clyde 261.

Randy Jackson was wearing a Radio Clyde 261 T-shirt through the first Phoenix auditions. Not sure where he got the shirt, but it’s destined to sell at shops, even though the Glasgow, Scotland station is gone. The station is now Radio Clyde 1, but the 261 image lingers in the public mind, both in Scotland and among rock and radio station junkies.

Click here for an old set of jingles.

The lesson for any radio station with a legacy over about 20 years or so? Does your radio station have a long succession of logos? Sift through them, and put them in order. Put them on T-shirts. Put them in advertising. Have retro weekends. Bring back favorite disk jockeys for weekend shows. Claim your heritage, play old airchecks for fun, and give out lots of T-shirts. You never know who will want to wear your logo on American Idol.

A bit of history on the station from Aircheck UK:

An old timer in the commercial radio system, and one of the first, having commenced it’s broadcasts to Glasgow & surrounding areas of West Central Scotland on 95.1FM & 1152AM, 31st December 1973 at 10:30am.  It was founded by Lord Gordon of Strathblane and started with capital of just £150,000 from backers such as Jackie Stewart & Sean Connery.

Author

  • Garland Pollard

    J. Garland Pollard IV is editor/publisher of BrandlandUSA. Since 2006, the website BrandlandUSA.com has chronicled the history and business of America’s great brands.

5 Comments

  1. Hi folks if anyone has listened to the radio clyde 261 jingles on here they came from me putting them on jinglemad.com i have loads more on cassetes to download so if anyone interested email me. cheers from glasgow. 2 sixty one.

  2. Yeah, those Wornfree shirts are cool… very cool. Anyhoo, i thought i’d add my tuppenceworth, which will show my Scottish credentails, by mentioning this shirt was also worn, a couple of times, by the character Brendan/Brando in My Boys in TBS last year. Fits a wee bit better than Randy’s too. If you are into tees, these are cool – http://www.irishtribe.com

  3. I am responding to your post regarding Randy Jackson wearing Radio Clyde 261 last night on American Idol. Radio Clyde is a t-shirt that we produce at Worn Free (www.wornfree.com). We produce vintage rock and roll t-shirts through licensing agreements with many famous musicians including John Lennon, Frank Zappa, Kurt Cobain, and soon Elvis Presley. Thank you for the compliment of indicating that the shirt would sell well in shops. We are currently ramping up our sales model and are looking to capitalize on some positive momentum.

    Anyway, take a look at the website and thanks for allowing me to introduce myself.

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