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On the eve of the first Eurovision semi-final of 2015, Helen Thomas introduces this year's pop-up Eurovision radio offering, Radio 2 Eurovision.

As Editor at Radio 2 and 6 Music, I’m responsible for a tranche of programmes across both radio networks including on Radio 2 - After Midnight, Chris Evans Breakfast Show, Simon Mayo Drive Time, Radio 2 Arts show with Claudia Winkleman and then on 6 Music - Tom Ravenscroft, Nemone and The Joy of 6. I also oversee fun things like Comic Relief and Sport Relief, and the Radio 2 Artist in Residence search. Most recently I headed-up Dermot’s Day of Dance on Radio 2 and the 麻豆约拍 Red Button - a live charity fundraiser featuring Dermot O’Leary dancing for 24 hours on the piazza outside Broadcasting House.

I love radio and I love working on radio at the 麻豆约拍, alongside amazing talent both on air and production staff behind the scenes. I adore big, shiny events too. That’s the kind of radio which really excites me. The Chris Evans Breakfast Show is an amazing example of a programme that runs five days a week, but yet manages to make every show feel like an event. And within that year of shows there are big peaks and spikes too, events like or Children in Need. I'm interested in the kind of radio that builds towards something big, seeing it come to fruition and a climax.

Radio 2 Eurovision is a good example of what I’m referring to here. Our first pop-up service ran for four days last May. It was a real experiment - a toe in the water. Building on the success of 5 Live's Olympics Extra in 2012, this pop-up was the first time a music network had launched a temporary DAB service. We wanted to see what sort of appetite there was for it.

What we discovered confounded our expectations in terms of the number of people who tuned in, but also in terms of the passion of those people. As experiments with music led pop-up DAB services go, Eurovision was a really great model to start with because it is, on the whole, a subject which attracts the passionate.

So, when the mega-Eurovision fans contacted us saying, ‘Oh at last four days of heaven!’ we were really pleased. Even a month after the service had gone off-air, fans were tweeting us and emailing saying, ‘We wish Radio 2 Eurovision was still going,’ because they wanted more than their annual fix. And those Radio 2 listeners who weren’t quite so excited about Eurovision were happy because the reflection of the contest on regular Radio 2 consisted of Graham Norton’s and Ken Bruce’s shows coming from Copenhagen in the run up to the final – and that was it. So whilst the pop-up service was on air, Radio 2 listeners could hear their usual Radio 2 programmes, but had the option of switching over and tuning in to our bespoke Eurovision content should they want to.

This meant that our core Radio 2 listeners still felt catered for, while the real fans knew they had a dedicated station. It would have been crazy to turn Radio 2 into a Eurovision fest, completely with nothing else, for four days. This way we got to offer  listeners real choice.

We learnt two big lessons from Radio 2 Eurovision and from the other pop-up service we ran – – in March. The first is to schedule our presenters on Radio 2 Eurovision this year at a time when their regular shows on Radio 2 finish. For instance, Steve Wright’s Eurovision Love Songs starts at 11am on Sunday morning, so those who want to hear more of Steve or his love song selection can switch over to our pop-up DAB service to catch a Eurovision-related special. We’ve done the same with Scott Mills who’s hosting a show for us called the Sound of Music, apt given Eurovision is in Austria this year. That goes out at 4pm, off the back of his Radio 1 show. We’ve found a way of giving listeners more of the presenters they like to hear from across two radio stations.

The other learning point was that the people who love Eurovision, really, really love Eurovision. The contest is a massively positive, inclusive, and fabulous experience. The listeners to Radio 2 Eurovision are those who genuinely celebrate and cherish the contest. We don’t want to send it up or be ‘ironic’, we want to celebrate it with them too.

This year we’ve injected more live broadcasts into the schedule, particularly on the Sunday, the day after the contest. I really wanted to give listeners a voice so they could talk about the contest from their perspective. So, Maria McErlane will present a wrap-up reaction show the day after the contest. We’ll play a repeat of the contest in full from the Saturday evening and then off the back of that, people will have the chance to phone in and express what their personal highlights were.

Being the first music network to try a temporary pop-up DAB service was something I was proud Radio 2 had a chance to do. In the wake of that, Radio 1 did their Ibiza pop-up service, and then we ran our Country service. If the first Radio 2 Eurovision hadn’t met the mark, we wouldn’t be here again. And for me, there’s something interesting going on here – the idea that some people want to immerse themselves for a short while in a particular music genre. It’s like watching an entire series of Breaking Bad back to back - it’s ‘binge radio’. I wonder whether it’s a sign that radio consumption trends are changing.

Most excitingly, it’s driving digital radio take-up which is hugely important, and we saw sales of digital radios increase significantly around the launch of Radio 2 Eurovision last year, similarly for our Country service.

We’ve got some real in Radio 2 Eurovision this year. There’s the Ultimate Eurovision Quiz - because everyone loves a quiz! There’s Terry Wogan’s Tracks of My Eurovision Years – which combines two Eurovision stalwarts - Terry Wogan and Ken Bruce. Ken of course will be commentating for Radio 2 as he’s done since 1989. And Radio 2 Eurovision for us wouldn’t be complete without Paddy O’Connell, an uber fan and a fantastic broadcaster who combines his passion for the subject material with a journalistic approach. He’s the perfect person for us to have as our anchor-man, doing a show live from Vienna every day and twice on contest day itself. There’s loads more besides – do be sure to .

Radio 2 Eurovision starts on Thursday 21 May at midday. I cannot wait. I do hope you’ll listen and get in contact with us on  or via email.

Helen Thomas is Editor of 麻豆约拍 Radio 2 and 6 Music