A new digital radio station dedicated to musical theatre is being launched by Wise Buddha, which supplies content and post production services to the video and audio industry, and artist management company Mothership Management.
Musical theatre is considered to be under-represented on radio and the new online station, Stage Door, will provide show hits, gossip, news and interviews.
Show presenters will be musical theatre performers and amongst those already committed to host a show are Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom of the Opera), Louise Dearman (Wicked), Kerry Ellis (We Will Rock You), Mark Evans (The Book of Mormon), Hadley Fraser (Les Misérables) and Alex Gaumond (We Will Rock You).
The initiative needs £145,000 to fund the service for the first year and these funds are being raised through a crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo, by all accounts putting fans ahead of profit.
Wise Buddah Head of Content Simon Willis said: “Last year 13,992,773 people bought a West End theatre ticket, and millions more bought a soundtrack CD or download.
"We’re creating Stage Door to bridge the gap between listening to a CD and seeing a show, and catering for those fans that want to listen to their favourite songs throughout the year.
"It’ll offer great songs from the best shows and presented by the leading men and women of the West End.”
Further information is available on the Stage Door web site. There is a promotional video on YouTube.