UK radio stations get set for much-needed revamp.

The sales of both Virgin Radio and Planet Rock last week shed new hope over the stations' respective futures

Two of commercial radio's most distinctive music stations landed new owners last week, but their respective purchasers could hardly be more contrasting.

In the Times of India Group, Virgin Radio will come under the control of India's biggest media company, the latest edition to a portfolio that includes dozens of market-leading stations back home. Planet Rock, meanwhile, has been snapped up by businessman Malcolm Bluemel, a man totally new to the radio industry and whose biggest qualification for the job - apart from his finances - is arguably him being a massive rock fan.

But what does unite these deals is the fact the two respective stations will now come under ownership that is totally committed to their futures. That was certainly not true latterly for the two stations, most especially Planet Rock which faced the ignominy of being shut down by GCap despite rising listening figures and winning the highly sought- after Digital Radio Station of the Year prize at this year's Sony Radio Awards.

For the Times of London's Golden Square TIML, the newly-formed company faces with Virgin Radio the challenge of turning around what ought to be one of the UK's most successful radio stations, but which has instead lost some 2m listeners in the space of eight years.

Virgin has the unique selling point of being the only commercial rock service broadcasting across the UK on analogue yet, despite possessing some first-rate on-air talent, such as Christian O'Connell, is punching below its weight both in terms of output and audience figures. Sure the fact, for ...