Phil Riley is CEO and co-founder of Boom Radio, the independent national station for baby boomers that he and fellow radio veteran David Lloyd put on air on 14 February 2021, with every programme made in presenters’ own homes.
RAJAR figures published today show Boom Radio reaching 650,000 listeners a week in the period to 20 September 2026, up 2.4 per cent on the quarter though below its level a year earlier, with listeners tuning in for an average of 14.3 hours a week, while sister station Boom Light grew its weekly reach by 66.7 per cent year on year to 95,000.
Registered in Leamington Spa and funded by 32 private shareholders, the company remains independent of the big radio groups.
He tells Business Matters why the station is built around its listeners, and why nobody should leave it until their 60s to strike out on their own.
What do you currently do at Boom Radio?
I am the CEO, which in a tiny business like ours means I do nearly all of the finance and admin tasks, check what we are spending our marketing money on, count the ads going out each day, host a show each week and generally work with my small team of fellow directors to keep the show on the road.
I do not pick the music, though, or write the ads. We have specialists for those jobs. I also handle most of our press relations, and PR is a big part of our success in spreading the word about the station.
One other thing I do is throw a party. We only employ a small number of staff and we all work remotely from our homes, so getting together occasionally is important to us. Once a year we organise a big party in London for staff, our presenters and the many other people who have helped make Boom Radio the massive success it has become.
What was the inspiration behind your business?
My business partner David Lloyd and I had worked together for nearly 25 years, and had been in the industry for over 40 years, when lockdown happened. David thought there was an opportunity to set up a station just for boomers and asked me if I thought we could make a business out of it.
My spreadsheet said yes, and here we are, six years on. We raised all of our funds from friends and former colleagues within the industry. We felt we needed shareholders who knew what the radio business was about, and who would ride the ups and downs with us rather than panicking if something went wrong.
Who do you admire?
I admire my partner David. He is the creative force behind Boom, and his work rate and commitment are second to none.
I also admire our team of presenters, led by stalwart David Hamilton, who is 87 years old. Many of them thought they had already had their finest moment when we came calling, but I think now they would all say Boom has given them a great final hurrah.
Across the radio industry there are loads of fantastic professionals, many working for not much money, doing long hours and difficult shifts. I tip my hat to them all.
Looking back, is there anything you would have done differently?
Across my career, lots. At Boom, not much. Collectively we have a lifetime’s worth of experience that we are putting into our station, so hopefully we are long on wisdom and short on mistakes.
Knowing how hard it is to find new listeners, in hindsight we might have tried to raise a bit more money a bit sooner to kickstart our marketing. In the end, though, with these start-ups you can only move so fast.
What defines your way of doing business?
Helping Baby Boomers Live Their Best Lives is our internal mantra, and we try to make all of our decisions with that in mind.
We talk to our listeners all the time. We regularly survey them, we read everything they say to us by email or on Facebook, and we always try to respond.
Being close to your customers is the best way of running a business in my view, and looking after the people who work for you is the best way to build a winning team.
What advice would you give to someone starting out?
The opportunities for people wanting to get into radio, or the broadcast media more generally, have never been better, with podcasting, YouTube and the rest opening up all sorts of routes in. So go and make yourself known and you will find your niche.
I would also say do not wait until you are in your 60s before striking out for yourself. Running your own show is thrilling and nerve-wracking, but ultimately it is the most fun you can have in a career, so do not leave it too late.
