Radio Empire of the Sun?
Updated on 20 April 2009
Sun columnist Jon Gaunt, who was sacked last year from TalkSport for calling a Conservative councillor a 'Nazi' and an 'ignorant pig', looks set to become Britain's first American style shock jock.
He's the presenter of SunTalk, The Sun's new online radio service, the first live talk show to be launched by a major newspaper. It's ground breaking because it's an internet only station and as such isn't subject to regulation by Ofcom or duty bound to be impartial.
I'm a real talk radio fan and it was genuinely exciting to be in the Sun's shiny new radio studio this morning.
It's part of a £1m set of TV and radio studios built in the basement of the Sun's Wapping offices in what was the showers and changing rooms for those working on the printing presses.
'Of course the paper is partial, and Sun Talk will be partial too.'Jon Gaunt
In a time when commercial radio is suffering declining advertising revenue and losing listeners due to the fragmentation of media consumption, it was refreshing to see a new entrant to the market.
A station employing more people in radio, as opposed to a station cutting journalists.
That's important given a government commissioned report last week warned that up to 50 local commercial radio stations will close over the next two years.
I think that it has a pretty good chance of success, especially given the growth in smart phones and digital radios capable of receiving internet transmissions.
My radio at home lets me tune into thousands of stations from all across the world and tonight I'll make sure to add SunTalk.
Once we start to see car radios able to tune into internet radio, it will be pretty hard to tell the difference between traditional radio and internet radio.
Once the lines are blurred the challenge to the traditional commercial radio sector will be all the more significant.
Gaunt was pretty honest, telling me that he's glad that Ofcom aren't regulating him.
"Of course the paper is partial, and Sun Talk will be partial too," he said.
But the launch of a service like Sun Talk could prove a bit of a nightmare for the government. When it comes to the next election, will Gaunt be able to recommend his listeners vote Conservative? Yes he will. Will he be subject to the broadcasting code? No he won't.
Lord Carter, the Communications Minister, is currently completing his Digital Britain report and is actively considering the regulation of content delivered by the internet. He told me that the launch of Sun Talk, makes the case for regulatory change all the more important.
"The launch of SunTalk highlights the central challenge of this sector," Lord Carter told Channel4 News at Noon. "The legacy business, operators and rules were born in a different world from the new operators.
"I definitely think that one of the things we need to do is change that balance so we're not over regulating or over controlling one group of players and equally not leaving another group of players existing in a complete free for all.
I asked Nick Ferrari, who is the breakfast presenter on London talk radio station LBC, whether he would prefer less regulation and become less impartial.
"We should be given a bit more leeway," he said. "It would be good if we could be more like the USA. The British public smart enough to make their own minds up, the thing is that if we're out of tune with the British public, listeners will tell us pretty dam quick."
But he added: "I don't think SunTalk will have much impact on a station like LBC yet."
So what of day one?
As the service has no advertisers yet, Gaunt presented the three hour show without at any point coming off the microphone, even for a toilet break.
David Cameron was the first guest and after an hour of taking calls from listeners, he told SunTalk staff that it was his most gruelling interview, without the luxury of a break for news, travel or weather.
Follow Benjamin Cohen on Twitter.
