The capital’s only classical music station, Abu Dhabi Classics FM, will celebrate its first birthday in June, but station director and on-air personality Phil Mathews is no stranger to the art of radio
“I first came to the UAE many years ago,” says Mathews, who once worked with the English Service of UAE Radio Dubai, the original Dubai 92FM. “I’ve done pretty much every type of music – everything from an Islamic talk station in Swahili to rock, adult contemporary and urban.”
Abu Dhabi Classic FM, the fourteenth radio station he’s launched, is unique and quite different to the many styles of music Mathews has played over the course of his extensive career. One goal of the popular station has been to make classical music more accessible.
“There’s has been a fair degree of elitism associated with classical music over the years, but these days, it’s easier and more affordable to access music than ever. People are far more exposed to music choices and this has helped to make classical music a bit cool. That’s reflected in our listenership. Above all listeners sincerely appreciate the fact that we have extended their choice of radio listening and we deliver a quality service in keeping with the eclectic music mix we offer.”
Though it’s called Abu Dhabi Classic FM, the station plays more than pure classical. “We have varied classical music till 7pm, Dinner Jazz from 7pm to 10pm, then Late Lounge with ambient and chill from 10pm until the next day, and we have dedicated listeners across all those genres.”
In fact, the station is well received by some very passionate listeners. “We have a huge expatriate listenership where English is not the first language and there are a lot of Arabic speaking listeners – those are the ones that are the most vocal. For some it reconnects them with their formative years bringing back memories of their youth, for others it’s a journey of discovery of a new and rich musical genre. We also have the hardcore aficionado’s who have a history in classical music. It goes right across the board from the teenagers to the 70-plus crowd.”
We woke up early to see how Mathews spends a typical day on the radio.
4am: Phil wakes up in time to make it to the studio by 5am for Breakfast Classics which goes on air at 6am. “Between 5am and
6am, I’ll go through the playlist, put competitions together and make sure the log for the programme is running properly. I schedule the music that will be played on the station about a week in advance, so that’s already been planned; however, it is always subject to change according to listener requests and other programming ideas.”
10am: The morning on-air shift finished, it’s time for Phil to face his administrative duties, training, programme development, sales meetings, client meetings and the like. “I spend a lot of time working with the other presenters on their programming because they’re all really new to this unique radio format, but they all have excellent skills that together make the station a great success, it’s a real team effort.”
3pm: As head of the station, it falls to Phil to do a lot more than just present – today he’s off to Dubai for a client meeting. “I keep going until I just can’t do any more, but by 3pm I’m starting to wilt so I’ll go get something to eat then come back. I’m a big fan of Jones the Grocer, and I also love Al Fanr at Manarat Al Saadiyat – fantastic food and nice atmosphere.”
7pm: Back in the studio, Phil is ready to wind things up for the day, but his work is hardly finished. “I spend a lot of time on the weekend getting things done that I couldn’t do during the week. I have an agenda for each day, but I spend a lot of time putting out fires.”
10pm: Home for the evening, Phil doesn’t look for fun things to do – he’s spent his day having fun. “When I get home, I might spend the evening on the computer looking at things that might give me an opportunity to develop a programme idea or thread and that’s actually quite relaxing.”
Final thoughts: Though he’s always working to make the station better both on and off the air, Mathews loves his job. “Of all the stations I’ve launched, this one has been the most challenging and probably the one I’ve enjoyed the most. It’s been a journey of discovery from the very start. It’s about playing popular classics and enjoying it and not being too serious about it.”
Laura Fulton
