IRF Advisory Board.
The International Radio Festival is honoured to count the following radio and music industry luminaries to its Advisory Board.
Dominique Leguern
The IRF's first Advisory Board President, Dominique Leguern, is a respected music industry global figure, having headed up the largest international music industry market MIDEM for over 12 years.
She co-founded Virgin records France, a subsidiary Richard Branson’s Virgin Group where during 11 years she worked with international artists such as Peter Gabriel, Lenny Kravitz, Pink Floyd, and Stevie Wonder, and mixing up music with fashion whilst collaborating with Jean Pierre Jeunet, Philippe Gautier, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, and Stephen Frears.
Dominique was awarded twice with the French cultural award “Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters” given for outstanding achievements in the arts by the Minister of Culture.
JP Bommel
JP Bommel, former MD/COO of NATPE, is as an entertainment industry connector at the intersection of content and technology. His career in music and tech industry spans over 30 years with executive roles at BMG, EMI, Sony, Qwest and Reed MIDEM. During his music industry career, JP developed global marketing plans for iconic talent such as Tina Turner, the late Etta James, as well as emerging talent.
Later on, in a visionary role, he directed Qwest Communications to leverage the power of the rising internet and launched Qwest “anywhere anytime”. A trusted advisor to the media and entertainment industry, JP presided over the Media and Entertainment think-tank (MENG) and produced executive briefings summits for a selected group of media executives. and is an associate member of NARAS (Grammys.)
“Radio remains one of the world’s most consumed mediums with a level of impact other media could only wish for, and it’s a pleasure and honour to be part of the International Radio Festival team.” says JP.
Mark Ramsey
Mark Ramsey has consulted with and delivered projects for numerous media, publishing, and digital brands over his career, including Apple, iHeartMedia (Clear Channel), Pandora, CBS, Bonneville, Sirius XM, U-T San Diego, EA Sports, and more.
Ramsey has authored two radio industry bestsellers, Making Waves: Radio on the Verge and Fresh Air: Marketing Gurus on Radio. His blog at Mark Ramsey Media is among the most popular in audio entertainment and information industry, and he is a popular speaker at radio and related industry events.
Ramsey is a Research Fellow with Coburn Ventures, change consultants to some of the world’s largest companies.
He also serves on the board of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the producers of the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards and Critics’ Choice Television Awards, both broadcast live on A&E.
Over the years Ramsey has interviewed a who’s-who of marketing and branding, including Seth Godin, Guy Kawasaki, Larry Kramer, Tom Asacker, Peter Guber, Alan Webber, Bob Garfield, Gary Vaynerchuk, Adam Carolla, Kevin Smith, and Ricky Gervais.
In 2013, Ramsey created the first-ever audio future festival, hivio, which debuted with more video impressions and social media engagement than all other audio industry events of the year combined, and 2014 saw Ramey launch the audio podcast Media Unplugged with branding authority and celebrated author Tom Asacker. Each episode dissects what’s happening in the media and breaks it down so we can understand what’s really happening beneath all the hype and fury. Ramsey has appeared on MSNBC, VH1, and E!
Cliff Fluet
Cliff Fluet joined Lewis Silkin LLP as a Partner in April 2006 after a decade as in-house counsel in the music and broadcast industry and founded its market-leading Digital Media & Brand Entertainment group.
He was Head of Business Affairs at Warner Music and General Counsel and Company Secretary for Capital Radio plc. He acts for some of the world’s largest names in mobile, brands, talent, recorded music, mobile, live music, radio, audio-visual production and online.
Cliff is also the founder and Managing Director of Eleven, a business advisory and corporate finance firm working with disruptive business models in the world of Digital Media, Film and Sport where he advises large corporations, brands and investors on digital innovation and works with start-ups at the cutting edge of music and technology, especially in the realm of the Sharing Economy, Social Video, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain.
Nikil Shah
Nikhil Shah is the co-founder of mixcloud.com, the worldwide successful online radio streaming platform. He helped lead the growth of the company from a couple of guys in a warehouse in Wembley to the world’s biggest community of DJs and radio talent, reaching over 10 million people a month.
He is also a DJ and runs electronic music record label ManMakeMusic. Nik is board advisor and angel investor to a range of startups, with a focus on consumer internet, creative industries, wellbeing and consumer/D2C brands. Including Qube (members studios for creators), Spoke (mindfulness reimagined), Wax Poetics (deep music editorial), Fiit (fitness app), Bulb (clean energy provider), Heights (braincare), Gwella (functional mushrooms) and FairHQ (D&I platform) amongst others.
Says Nikhil “We have been partnering with the IRF since its first year in 2010, and I am delighted to be able to join the IRF’s illustrious board. The IRF represents an essential hub bringing together some of the best on-air radio content from all four corners of the world”.
Jospeh D'Angelo
Joseph D’Angelo, Senior Vice President, Broadcast, is responsible for the XPERI broadcast radio business and services. Joe joined iBiquity at its inception in early 2000 and has led commercial licensing, product development and technology innovation efforts. With iBiquity’s acquisition by DTS, Joe’s role has expanded to include HD Radio broadcast licensing, operations and quality management; broadcast product development; HD Radio Digital Ad Network; as well as global broadcast radio strategy and business development.
Prior to joining iBiquity, Joe was a Principal at PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Information, Communication and Entertainment consulting practice. During his time at PricewaterhouseCoopers, he worked closely with multiple telecommunications and entertainment companies assisting with strategic planning, corporate restructurings, global expansion, and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining PricewaterhouseCoopers, Joe gained experience in marketing, business development and technology as a manager with Andersen Consulting and as a consultant to A&E Networks.
Joe earned his Bachelor of Arts in History from the College of the Holy Cross and an MBA from Columbia University in Finance and Media Management.
Robert Kraft
Robert Kraft, former VP of Fox Music Kraft supervised all the music for Fox Filmed Entertainment, including 20th Century Fox Films, Fox Searchlight, Fox Animation, and Fox 2000. He supervised the music for more than 300 Fox feature films and many TV shows. Kraft won multiple Grammys, Oscars, and Golden Globes and produced record-breaking scores and soundtracks including: “Avatar”, “Moulin Rouge”, “Walk The Line”, and “Rio”.
“I am thrilled to join my esteemed colleagues on the International Radio Festival Board. Music radio is a fundamental part of the media landscape, with a rich past and a brilliant future,” says Kraft.
Scott Cohen
Scott Cohen‘s music career started in the late 1980s in independent and major label artist management. In 1997, he and Richard Gottehrer (the co-founder of Sire Records) founded The Orchard – the first digital distributor of music – on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1997 which is now fully owned by Sony Music. In 2016 Cohen was one of the founders of Cyborg Nest, a company that aimed to create extra senses to enhance human perception.
In February 2019, Cohen joined the senior management team at Warner Music Group as their Chief Innovation Officer. Scott sat on the British Phonographic Industry Council, and was the chairman of the board of music agency Sound Diplomacy. Cohen was an early mover advocating blockchain technology and the rise in virtual reality and artificial intelligence in music which has led to his newest venture Jukebox in 2023, to transform the music industry by unlocking access to the music business through fractionalized ownership of song royalties.
“Radio is ever evolving. It is more than transmitting music over airwaves and much deeper than online playlists. Radio is at a historic crossroads and The International Radio Festival is the place the discussion begins,” says Cohen.
Gordon Mac
Known as the Godfather of Dance Music Radio, Gordon Mac is a highly innovative and successful entrepreneur with wealth of radio experience and knowledge – most recently having launched his new radio station Mi-Soul.
Having carved out his career as the first person to succeed in taking a pirate radio station to legalisation in the UK, Gordon is the youngest ever Managing Director of a radio station and renowned for creating the infamous Kiss FM brand.
“I am deeply honoured to have been invited to the International Radio Festival last year and asked to join the IRF Advisory Board. It was the most refreshing industry event I’ve attended in many years, as it truly was an international festival.” Commented Gordon. “It was great to see the big corporations rubbing shoulders with the newer, smaller stations to discuss the issues and possibilities available to everyone. The positive collision of brands and ideas really made me feel that the radio industry is set to grow exponentially on the back of new technology and opportunities.” says Gordon Mac.
Tony Prince
Tony Prince is the current IRF Advisory Board President and began his broadcasting career on the 60’s pirate ship Radio Caroline after which he joined Radio Luxembourg Europe’s largest, most successful radio station in 1968 remaining with the station until 1984 (becoming Programme Director in 1976).In 1983 he launched the Disco Mix Club (DMC) the world’s first record label to exploit remixing production as the DJ art of the future.
With the additional inspiration of DMC’s success Tony went one further and founded Mixmag magazine, catapulting club DJ’s around the world towards their destiny as the music producers we know today; as if that weren’t enough, Tony’s latest audio project is the founding of United DJs featuring some of the most powerful names in radio broadcasting since the 60’s.
Tony Prince on his appointment to the Presidency of the IRF Advisory Board:
“There are challenging times ahead for radio, it’s very existence is on the line and the annual International Radio Festival is where we gather, focus and respond to market trends. I am so honoured to be involved with the IRF and the hundreds of DJs and stations involving themselves each year with this incredible event. As we enter a new phase in Marconi’s amazing wireless invention, where because of the internet there is no longer such a thing as local radio, the IRF presents radio as the world hears it!”.
