Stuart Taylor appointed Commercial Director of GMG Radio

Stuart Taylor has been appointed to the newly created role of Commercial Director of GMG Radio. He will also be Managing Director of Smooth Radio in London.

Taylor, 44, is currently Commercial Director of Guardian News & Media, GMG Radio’s sister company within Guardian Media Group.

Reporting to GMG Radio Chief Executive John Myers, Taylor will be responsible for commercial strategy across the division. His focus will be on exploiting new opportunities on a range of different platforms – including analogue, digital and online – as well as the substantial future cross-promotional opportunities between GMG brands.

In addition to Commercial Director of GNM, Taylor is General Manager of the Guardian. He joined the Observer in 1988 and has since held a number of senior positions within the company. He has played a central role in GNM’s transition to multimedia publishing and in countless other initiatives, including the successful re-launch of the Guardian and Observer in the ground-breaking Berliner format.

The move comes at a time of rapid expansion at GMG Radio. Following the acquisition of the Century and Saga stations in 2006, GMG Radio is on course to become the UK’s third largest commercial radio group by listening hours by the end of 2007. It now operates 11 radio stations under the Real Radio, Smooth Radio, Century fm and Rock Radio brands, with a further two to be launched within the next six months.

John Myers said: “This is a new senior position within GMG Radio to help us unlock the enormous opportunities we see across a variety of different commercial platforms.

“It needed someone of great experience and stature, and clearly we have found that person in Stuart. The combination of his unique skills across a number of platforms and the strengths of the existing team will mean we are very well placed to drive growth throughout the business.

“Julian Carter, our Director of Sales, will work closely with Stuart to ensure GMG Radio continues to buck the trend in commercial radio.”

Stuart Taylor said: “GMG Radio is an impressive group with ambitious goals and distinctive positioning. It also has a clear strategy for growth and development.

“I’m delighted to be joining the business at such an exciting moment in its history and look forward to working with John and the team.”

Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive of Guardian Media Group, said: “This is a key role that reflects the increasing importance of GMG Radio within our portfolio and in the wider industry.

“Having looked at strong candidates from a wide field, we were very pleased to find the right person for the job within the Group.”

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Further information: Chris Wade 020 7713 4041

Notes for editors

Guardian Media Group plc (‘GMG’) is one of the UK’s leading multimedia companies. Its diverse portfolio includes:

 Guardian News & Media: the Guardian and Observer newspapers and the Guardian Unlimited network of websites.
 GMG Regional Media: the Manchester Evening News, a number of other regional newspapers in the North West and South of England, the Channel M city TV station and the Manchester Online website.
 GMG Radio: one of the UK’s leading commercial radio groups with 13 regional stations by the end of 2007 under the Real Radio, Smooth Radio, Century fm and Rock Radio brands.
 Trader Media Group: one of Europe’s largest specialist print and online media companies, and publisher of the Auto Trader magazine and website. Trader Media Group is jointly owned by GMG and Apax Partners, with GMG as the majority shareholder.
 GMG Property Services Group: Vebra, the UK’s leading provider of software to independent estate agents and thinkproperty.com, the consumer-facing portal.

GMG is wholly owned by the Scott Trust, which was created in 1936 to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity.

Stuart Taylor is currently the Commercial Director of Guardian News & Media and General Manager of the Guardian. He was appointed Commercial Director in 2004 and before that was Advertisement Director. He is Chairman and co-founder of the Newspaper Marketing Agency (NMA), and has been named Sales Director of the Year on three occasions by Campaign magazine.