Global is giving it some Heart with a new 80s station

Global have launched their brand new radio station which is set to give Bauer a run for their money in the nostalgia market.

Heart 80s launched on 14 March 2017 with a live breakfast show with Roberto who left the main Heart station after Christmas, followed by non-stop music for the rest of the day.

Musically there is plenty of crossover with Absolute 80s, the long standing Bauer retro station which launched in 2009 without the more obscure guitar skewed tracks that they play.

The opportunity for Heart 80s came along when Bauer moved Absolute 80s to their co-owned Sound Digital Multiplex which doesn't cover the South West of England and East Anglia along with most of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland outside Belfast.

Global have clearly targeted the playlist at former Absolute 80s listeners who either live outside Sound Digital transmission areas or disgruntled current listeners fed up with comedy skewed breakfast output and sweepers which match the Absolute Radio brand.

Don't write off Heart 80s as a bland Heart clone, they've clearly worked hard at programming this station as something different which will benefit both male skewed Absolute 80s listeners who aren't particularly interested in rock music but just want what it says on the tin.  Feel Good 80s classics without being anal along with current Heart FM listeners.

I wouldn't write off Absolute 80s though, Christian O'Connell's breakfast show is excellent and has an all 80s playlist thanks to Bauer's investment in split playlists during the simulcast show with Absolute Radio, also Matthew Rudd's 'Unforgotten 80s' really does play those underplayed not so radio friendly gems every Sunday evening which has built up a cult following among the nostalgia music fans.

However Bauer will need to monitor Heart 80s to see if they can improve their product and not be complacent. There's only so many loyal listeners who can tolerate long commercial breaks.

If you love 80s music, the choice nationally has improved. 

YouTube and the BBC

For the last three years, I have operated a YouTube channel showcasing journalism which has hardly been shown elsewhere online from the BBC, ITV, Channel 5, Sky News and RT.

These weren't full bulletins, but largely 2-3 minute VT's largely from the London area, I also posted presentation clips for those interested in how television is put together.

Until Tuesday, I had no issues with YouTube, they said I was a good poster, so I continued to post clips.  I also tagged the journalists featured on social media so they know what I was doing and that it was all positive promotion for their work.   I received no funding for the work I did.   Some of the journalists privately thanked me for my activities or retweeted their VT's that I posted online.

However, with increased pressure on the BBC, they have started to pro-actively complain to YouTube about content posted on the platform.   Presentation YT channels have seen content removed and then my channel had over 30 copyright  issues, all from BBC News.

They gave me two strikes.  Fair enough, I'd continue with commercial copy only, yet on Wednesday, with no notification, YouTube deleted all of the over 1,000 VT's added to the platform since 2013, which included content from other channels.

The BBC is now desperate to maintain their copyright hold that they're removing history from YouTube.  I can understand if someone uploads a sitcom or drama onto YouTube, but a short VT or business news bulletin which are hard to access unless you watch live or on live rewind on iPlayer or a clip of continuity on BBC One from 1978 is ridiculous. 

The Corporation should post News Channel and BBC World News business bulletins for everyone to see.   These are brilliantly produced bulletins which don't alienate non-City workers, which clearly explain why a business or the market is doing such a thing. It's real public service broadcasting.  If they were promoted properly using the BBC's existing platforms or posted on YouTube themselves, it'd stop people like me sharing the content.

Ironically YouTube isn't deleting content from YT channels that only show BBC News content for sexual reasons.  I found a video of a BBC Business presenter which was zoomed to only show their breasts over a blouse.  This is a real abuse of content and copyright which neither the BBC or YouTube are pro-active in tackling.

So if you post copy purely for those viewers to perv over, it's perfectly fine, but a 9 minute bulletin of BBC Business or old continuity from the BBC is removed.

I had over 2000 subscribers to my channel, who will no longer see a daily digest of local news reports or business news, because the BBC doesn't have a filter to decide which copyright claims they should go for, while footage which is manipulated continues to be streamed for all to see.

Union Jack Radio

I woke up on Friday morning to discover yet another radio station was about to launch later in the day.   These are largely bland affairs as the launch of Thames Radio in London was earlier in the summer with more generic AC fare.

However, Union Jack from the makers of Absolute Radio and Absolute 80s did make me think this would be yet another anally programmed station about 'real' music.

The station provides a wide mix of British music from the last six decades, there's no Madonna or Justin Bieber here being foreigners.

Like Absolute it's rock skewed, but also plays music from the likes of Shakin' Stevens and Cathy Dennis, not known for their 'real' music credentials which would have seen them not playlisted on Absolute or their spin-off stations.

I dipped in at lunchtime to the surprise there's an actual radio presenter on-air.  This station is a brand spin-off of JACK fm, a local radio station in Oxfordshire which outside breakfast has Paul Darrow from Blakes 7 with sarcastic one liners between songs.  However "Trev" was talking between the records and updating listeners about who should be the next song played.

Union Jack has an app where listeners can vote for songs to be played on the radio station and is truly interactive, I tested it out at 2.30am and changed the next played song which they played out, so it isn't a con in any sense of the word, although I suspect it works better overnight when only a few people are listening than during the day.

Later on Friday "Trev" than became "Rich" who was also enthusiastic about the interactive format, which leads me to think that if you're going to present on Union Jack, you have to be a man with a four letter name, so "Gary" may be the next presenter.

However "Gary" didn't materialise and Paul Darrow's sweepers became the norm along with voiceovers from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to ensure that this station celebrates the UK, rather than be another Londoncentric media outlet.

Overall, it's a decent background listen, despite the random new music showcased which doesn't detract from the fact you're never too far away from a Beatles or Genesis track.

Absolute's branding lead to the creators putting out a product which alienated listeners who didn't like Queen or Snow Patrol every five minutes.  Union Jack on the other hand is a much broader affair which celebrates a broader selection of British music without being up their own backside.

Oxis Media have found the right format for a national station.

The only downside is that the station is on DAB+ on the second national multiplex at 24kbps.   It's not a big deal for me listening on a pocket DAB radio, but listening on a hi-fi may be too distracting.   However they have a 320kbps AAC+ stream online which is excellent for audiophiles.

Outside of radio anoraks, I hope they have many more Trev's, Gary's and Jane's listening to this station.

Listen to Union Jack at www.unionjack.co.uk or on DAB Digital Radio on the SDN multiplex nationally. (DAB+ receiver required)

UK Referendum 2016

So tomorrow, those of us who have bothered to register will vote in the most important referendum this country has held since 1975.

I have not watched one single referendum debate since the campaign started and have only read The i Paper as it's a neutral publication.

However, I think it's safe to say both sides haven't put their side across properly at all. Remember Cameron's World War III quote and the constant xenophobia from messers Farage, Boris, Gove et al.

The murder of Jo Cox last week shows how disgusting this campaign has been when her attacker may have been brainwashed by a far right group, when Ms Cox and others who don't hold Brexit views are seen as traitors.

This doesn't mean that all Brexiteers are bigoted, racist morons, far from it. There is a genuine concern about immigration and jobs, which nobody has a real solution to solve. They're not going to get it from Boris or Nigel Farage, both who are career politicians out to say the 'right' thing to enhance their careers.

So you're left with the perception that Remainers are white, middle class liberals, business people and the establishment, while Leave is full of working class people who don't fully understand the reasons why we should stay in the EU.

It's a bloody mess and that was before Jo Cox's murder.

However, I know it's going to be a close run thing tomorrow with undeciders who hold the key to our future.

If you haven't decided which way to vote, consider that the EU benefits us a lot more than we realise. Beaches are cleaner thanks to EU regulations, we have paid holiday for 28 days, soon mobile phone calls will no longer have roaming charges in EU countries and parts of this country receive EU subsidies, such as dairy farmers, keeping our British milk sustainable, when greedy supermarkets pay them peanuts.

Vote leave and it opens up a Pandora's Box of issues, not just for us in the UK, but for Europe as a whole. The union was set up to sustain peace after World War II and have come a long way since then. Don't throw it away for a nostalgic view of the past that really wasn't there.

Vote Remain.

Virgin on the cheap

Credit: Virgin/Wireless Group PLC

Virgin Radio is back!   After relaunching as Absolute Radio in 2008, new owners Wireless Group have relaunched the iconic brand.

However the connection with the old Virgin Radio ends there, this is a completely new radio station which while keeping the playlist guitar skewed, this is targeted at a younger male than the old station.

Justin Timberlake, Blackstreet, Dr. Dre and Notorious B.I.G. feature alongside the AOR fare of Travis and new bands, making it a hybrid of Radio X with a dash of Absolute.

The presenter line-up appears to be a mix of youth and experience.  Edith Bowman made the jump from the Beeb to present breakfast while Jamie East, the former editor of gossip site HolyMoly presents mid-mornings, Kate Lawler is on afternoons, formerly of rock station Kerrang, comedian Matt Richardson is on drive, while former Xfm Manchester breakfast presenter Tim Cocker is on evenings.

The first show was on a Virgin Radio branded train from Manchester to London.  As you'd expect, there were cut outs during links, but they did get the bands on live as they booked time to stop at railway stations for them to perform in the carriage.

Like sister station talkRADIO which launched last week, Virgin has suffered from technical problems with the DAB transmission, such as poor audio and problems with the studio equipment.    It appears that these two stations had very quick studio builds which has led to the equipment not being fully tested.

The first use of the so called 'Red Room' at Virgin's new HQ in Hatfields, London also had technical issues with the performance from rock band 'Reef' which didn't help when presenter Matt Richardson's mic kept distorting and cutting out.

On the positive side, the advertisers and branding consultants like the return of the brand and the launch today, which gives Wireless Group some breathing space, but a normal day on Virgin will be the key to this station's future success.  Can they build a new station on new younger listeners while older listeners to the brand in the past stick with the hybrid urban/AOR mix or return to the sanctuary of rival Bauer's Absolute Radio's brands of which the original Virgin is based on?

BBC Radio London to return, is it worth it?

The various brands of BBC local radio in London.

Radio Today is reporting that BBC London 94.9 is rebranding back to BBC Radio London, the brand used by the BBC for it's local radio station for the capital between 1970 and 1988 on October 6th 2015.

Ever since Radio London launched, it has struggled against BBC nationals and commercial radio, this despite being London's only local radio station for three years until LBC launched in 1973.   

There were also reception issues for FM listeners as the transmitter used was in Wrotham in Kent.  This gave excellent reception for most in the capital, except South London.   FM moved to Crystal Palace and then stereo in 1981.

Radio London attemped a revamp in the mid 80s with the soul format, where Tony Blackburn had a successful tenure until yet again, the station lost listeners.

It could be argued that the best era for the station was when Matthew Bannister and Trevor Dann relaunched Radio London as GLR - Greater London Radio with a rock/male skewed format which replaced Radio London in 1988.   It was critically aclaimed and the format lives on as BBC Radio 6 Music.  It also ensured that BBC local radio for the capital survived and didn't become a relay of a national radio station broadcasting in AM.

The trouble really started for the station in the late 90s when it was proposed to close GLR and rebrand as a tri-media service, BBC London Live which proposed a more mainstream service, dropping specialist shows and increasing the speech quota with recognised presenters.

Later in the decade, the station rebranded as BBC LDN and then BBC London 94.9.

So is BBC Radio London, the latest attempt by the BBC to make the station relevant?  Managing Editor David Robey claims it's because the station is on so many platforms, that the station branding is no longer accurate.

BBC London 94.9's Rajar share is lower than LBC London News, a part-time rolling news station staffed by Global Radio journalists, while other speech radio listeners tune into BBC Radio 4's Today programme, the defacto 'local' breakfast show or LBC, the tabloid topical phone-in station or 5 Live.

This has led BBC London 94.9 to go uber niche, with contributors to their phone-in shows being regulars and other shows being a diluted version of programmes available elsewhere.

I wish BBC Radio London all the best with their relaunch, yet I doubt it'll make a dent on Radio 4 or LBC's Rajar unless David Robey changes elements of the format.   An identical version of BBC Radio London from the 70s and early 80s won't work.  It didn't then either.

Radio seXist?

"If you've read about Radio X being a radio station being for men only, that is rubbish," he said. "Nobody agrees with this except for the one person who put it in the press release."  proclaimed Chris Moyles, the former 'Saviour of Radio 1' as he launched Global's new brand, Radio X.

Radio X before it launched caused controversy after press releases were sent out announcing the radio station was a radio station for men.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I felt that Global shouldn't have put that quote out to the media as this is clearly a marketing exercise for advertisers and sponsors, which include O2 for Chris Moyles and other shows by Gillette ProGlide men's razors.

So onto today's output.   I didn't listen to Chris Moyles, except for a 30 minute extract on AircheckDownloads.com where Moyles made his quote and talked a lot.   He has freedom to produce his own show (as Global believe he'll bring in plenty of disgruntled Radio 1 listeners under Brand Moyles) that after what seemed an eternity of waffling, he then played Girls Aloud.   

Mid-morning had Vernon Kay who quite frankly was awful, too much waffling, an inane phone-in comp and a pointless two way with the afternoon presenter where he mentioned that his first gig was on Xfm where he was let go after a week.   How he got back into radio beggars belief, but messers Park and Tabor from Global know better as they've successfully relaunched Capital, LBC and Smooth Radio.

Dan O'Connell then took over and basically took the old Xfm format using the art of solid jockery for three hours with new and classic near mainstream guitar music.

Then 'Middle Aged Bloke FM' returned with Johnny Vaughan at drive.  A person who may have been relevant to a younger audience in the noughties when he opened BBC Three, yet in 2015, the topics for Radio X's Camdenista's were "Who should be on a bank note?" and "who is your favourite weightlifter?"   Topics which would be perfectly fine for his previous show on talkSPORT, but not on a radio station where for the last 18 years where music has been prominent.

Phil Clifton then took over at 7pm where he welcomed us "to a brand new radio station"    No it's not Phil, it's the carcus of the old Xfm, with where Global really want to take the direction of the station in, a hybrid of talkSPORT and Absolute.

So did Radio X and Global stop the fears of female listeners who feel the station isn't for them?   No, after this little ditty was played during breakfast 
"We love women, with your make-up & high heels, you're so cute"

Stereotyping and Everyday Sexism still exists in the British broadcasting industry.

Farewell Xfm

After 18 years as a full time station, Global are closing indie station Xfm.

For those of us who have listened to the station over the years, it comes as no surprise as one of the management of Global Radio is Director of Broadcasting Richard Park.

Back in 1998, less than a year after launch as a full time station, Xfm had been sold to the Capital Radio Group and Mr Park was put in charge of relaunching the station.    The format changed from the original aims of Sammy Jacob and Chris Parry (who managed The Cure) to a Virgin Radio style Adult Orientated Rock format overnight with a playlist of Alanis Morrisette, The Beautiful South, Dave Matthews Band and other mainstream rock offerings alongside a tokenistic freeform show with Sir Bob Geldof.

The Radio Authority fined Xfm's new owner £4,000 for not adhering to their alternative format alongside the lack of a gig guide and Capital were forced to introduce more alternative programming, such as the re-introduction of John Kennedy's late night 'Peelesque' show which was rebranded Xposure, The Rock Show with Ian Camfield and Steve Taylor's A to X of Alternative Music.

Park was replaced by Andrew Phillips who introduced slightly more near-mainstream rock music and celebrity presenters with a laddish skew, he introduced Tom Binns, Robin Banks, Tim Lovejoy, Zoe Ball, Dermot O'Leary and the returning Vernon Kay.

After that period, Xfm started to take the format a bit more seriously.  Muso presenters such as Shaun Keavney, Lauren Laverne (both now at BBC 6 Music) and Iain Baker were introduced with more near-mainstream alternative music.  Other presenters included Natasha Desborough and later Marsha Shandur.

Xfm's downfall in my opinion was when Capital stretched themselves by launching spin-offs in Manchester, Scotland and Wales.

GCap Media replaced Capital and along with it, Xfm South Wales was sold months after launching while Manchester was under threat of being sold along with Scotland.   They also introduced an automated format called XU between 10am-4pm while Manchester started sharing programming with London outside breakfast and drive.   Xfm felt unloved once again.  This was when I as a listener turned it off.

This continued under Global, Xfm Scotland became Galaxy and now Capital FM, while Manchester and London limped on with a bland mix of indie pop until September 21st....

Once again Xfm has turned back the clock to a hybrid of Park's 1998 station and Phillips celebrity skewed format with the new name Radio X.

Chris Moyles, an undisputed radio presenter with a clear background of award winning radio over the years has returned to present breakfast after a three year absence after leaving Radio 1.   However he is a polarising personality, you either love his work or think he's a misogynistic pig.   He'll certainly bring in a lot of ex thirty something Radio 1 listeners, but may lose a ton of indie/alt and female listeners.

Global have really executed the pre-launch poorly by saying the radio station is 'male skewed', while it's true and suits advertisers, it does nothing to reassure female listeners that this station is gender-netural and for all.   Sadly broadcasting is still a largely sexist industry which makes it harder for radio people to understand that both sexes expect equality from entertainment formats.  However advertisers are first behind listeners which is a sad part of commercial radio.

Heart, Xfm's sister station which is largely female skewed doesn't say it's a women's only station, nor does UTV's talkSPORT which is uber blokey and white van man.

Other celeb presenters include Family Fortunes host Vernon Kay who had a stint on Xfm in 2000 and wasn't well received then and former Capital FM DJ Johnny Vaughan who presents drivetime.

So later this month, Xfm goes into radio history and a white middle aged executive's format from 1998 finally replaces a creative vision that alternative music people had vision to create in the 1990s.

Radio X will do well, but once again alternative music radio in the UK goes niche. 

Share Radio - An under served speech format

Digital radio start ups are usually either brand extensions of current radio stations or so niche that they don't cater to my mainstream ears.

However on November 4th, Share Radio launched on the London 3 DAB multiplex.  I was expecting to hear a Bloomberg style rolling business news format throughout the day, yet this radio station has found it's niche between providing hard business news and providing output for those who haven't got a clue about finance like yours truly who got an F in GCSE Maths, yet isn't dumbed down broadcasting.

Features such as explaining the jargon in business bring the world of finance closer to average people who don't have a clue about business, while business news is explained in a way which makes the information relevant.

Morning Money, the breakfast show presented by unknown Danish presenter Sandra Kilhof is as you expect a solid programme of business news, yet as mentioned above doesn't exclude those who don't work in the City or Canary Wharf.

It then gets a bit lighter from 9am when Consuming Issues with BBC London 94.9 sports reporter Georgie Frost takes over.  Along with her producer Annie Weston, they take a look at issues which affect the average person while keeping up to date with breaking business news.  They even have a Youth business slot on Friday mornings with blogger Iona Blair which looks at the issues affecting young people and students with their finances.   Interactivity is key with this programme when they ask the listener to pose questions, set the news agenda or my favourite part, the light questions such as what have you lost while travelling.

Business broadcasting legend Ed Mitchell (EBN/CNBC/ITN) takes over at 1pm with Investment Perspectives.  This is Ed's first gig since his much publicised issues that affected him a few years back.  

One of his features looks at ethical business which will help people like me understand that not all investors are in it for the greed, but ensure that a company works in an ethical manner.

The evening show (5-9) with Simon Rose is similar to Morning Money, but is not as straight laced with lighter discussion regarding the business stories of the day.

For a station that didn't even have a studio four months ago, the quality of the programming is on a par with 5 Live and LBC, although of course there are some small issues which I'm sure they'll sort out in due course.

News bulletin copy is excellent, but the delivery could be improved, that could be down to lack of piloting or inexperience.   Weekend shows are hard to find.  I found a 'Desert Island Discs' type programme on Saturday afternoon.  There's apparently other weekend shows, but bar the music show, the weekends I found to be repeats of programming from the week.  

Share Radio is also bidding for the 963/972 AM licence for the London area and plan to go national on DAB at some point in the future.

I wish these guys the best for the future as this is one station which is finally providing a much needed under served viable format which may just break even. 

Internet Radio may be the future...kind of

To be honest, I always obtain technology when it becomes outdated.  As a kid, AM radio was still the main way to listen to radio for me, until the big ILR split of local radio stations in the late 80s when the chart music moved to FM and AM became the home of golden oldies.

So it may come to no surprise that I only had landline ADSL2 broadband installed yesterday.   It's on TalkTalk's dirt cheap 'Simply Broadband' deal where for £1.75 plus line rental, I can now discover the wonders of various radio stations thanks to the unlimited broadband they provide.

In the noughties, I'd visit easyeverything, a internet cafe in London where they had banks of computers which had headphone jacks so you could listen to music.   Back then, it wasn't very good.  32k Windows Media Streams or the inferior Real Player ones were the norm with some sounding sub AM quality.  Considering we just got out of dial-up, this wasn't surprising.

Now the possibilities are endless. Hi-fi quality streams providing better than FM with higher bitrates, although 128k mp3 or 48k AAC+ appear to be the norm for your average listener.   You can listen on your smartphone etc either on wifi or on mobile broadband, so you're not tied to your PC.

One of the best things about internet radio is that anyone can set up a niche format station.  I'm a big fan of the 1990s rave scene and numerous stations playing the music from my era of the scene from 1991-1996 have popped up, such as Break Pirates Radio and Rave Tape Radio just to name two and simulcasts of London pirate radio stations.    While the pirates are on FM, the coverage on FM isn't as great as in the 90s, so listening on wifi around the house takes away the issue of interference.  

Having that amount of choice, reminds me of the days of London Pirate radio of that era when I could tune into any number of stations from across the capital playing underground dance.

I did try mobile broadband to listen to online radio.  It does work, but I did it when my phone provider Virgin Media offered unlimited data for £10 on PAYG.  It's now only 1GB, so limits you to low bitrate AAC streams for short periods, so the phone is now used for looking at social media while the trusted old PURE PocketDAB 1500 is used to listen to radio stations.

Bauer's Absolute stations are offered to registered listeners in high quality stereo with less ads and extra music.  This means I now listen to their 80s and 90s decade stations online instead of 64kbps MP2 mono on DAB at home at least.

Wifi has clearly opened up internet radio to the masses who don't need to buy an internet radio by simply using their smartphones using either the TuneIn or UK Radioplayer apps, yet mobile listening using the 3G/4G networks are still not ready for it.  Data limits and coverage are still an issue, so I wouldn't give up on FM or DAB just yet.   But when it does become popular, commercial radio will have to up it's game again.   There's only so much you can do with tightly formatted radio, however good Heart or Smooth is programmed.

The beginning of the end of the oldies format in the UK?

The Greatest Hits of all Time...for not much longer.

A tale of two cities which both have classic hits formats.  New York's CBS-FM this week announced the addition of former PLJ and Z100 legendary presenter Scott Shannon as their new breakfast presenter.   Shannon has a pedigree of programming CHR formats which transformed Z100 into one of the world's best pop music station.  He later moved to WPLJ, where he co-presented the 'Scott and Todd' show for 22 years which made PLJ a must listen Hot AC station.   Listeners in London may remember the Heart 106.2 test transmissions for which they simulcast the show along with all PLJ output.

WCBS-FM is currently third in the fiercely competitive New York tri-state market.

Back home in London, the national classic hits network Gold announced that it would no longer broadcast to the majority of the country on it's AM and DAB Digital Radio network except for three areas, which include London, Leicestershire, Notts and Manchester. 

The remaining outlets would be replaced with Global's new 'sexy' brand catering for the over 45's market Smooth Radio.   As I've blogged recently, Smooth recently announced a plethora of celebrity presenters in an effort to increase audiences and the addition of Gold's AM network will increase their reach.

Unlike Gold, Smooth targets women with a relaxing mix of classic hits and the occasional new track, where as Gold is male skewed, plays plenty of rockier music and is more eclectic than it's sexier sister brand.

Gold doesn't have celebrity presenters, instead relying on traditional radio presenters, including Tony Dibbin on Breakfast and Dean Martin who's 'Gold Requests' show borders on public service broadcasting by playing a mix of classic songs which hardly receive any airplay.  I've certainly discovered plenty of music from the 1950s thanks to his 50s request segment.

While these programmes on Gold are certainly worthy, the British market has made it hard to market this type of music where as Smooth's Soft AC format is easier to attract advertisers.     It may have been different if Gold was allocated an FM frequency in the London market.

In 1996, Gold's predecessor Capital Gold applied for the 104.9 FM frequency, the final London wide frequency to Xfm, which is now also part of the Global Radio empire.   This may have ensured the longer term future of the classic hits format.   During the glory days of the 1990s, Capital Gold had over 1m listeners and well respected radio presenters in the UK, such as Kenny Everett, Tony Blackburn and David Hamilton to mention three presenters.

However (Capital) Gold was left on AM, the other main selling point was it's Premier League football commentary which the parent company decided to no longer bid for.  DAB, Sky and online coverage was introduced as a way of receiving Gold in stereo, yet didn't do enough to raise it's share.

So what's left of the oldies format?    There's Bauer's Magic AM network across Northern England and the 'Greatest Hits Network' in Scotland.   However, they also playlist a minimum of new music.   There are specialist shows on Radio 2 (Sounds of the Sixties and Pick of the Pops) and BBC Local Radio, but they don't air 24/7.  Bauer's Absolute Radio offers decades stations from the 1960s to the 2000s, however they have a 'real music' policy which doesn't play certain pop music artists, so no Cliff and the Shadows then!

Gold is the only terrestrial radio station in the UK dedicated to a vast range of classic pop music from the 1950s to the 1980s without new music being in the way and it's slow painful demise is due in part to a lack of FM coverage and the British market not being able to monetise from the format.      Luckily those markets in the United States have found a way of making it work and CBS Radio who manage CBS-FM, K-Hits and others should be congratulated for keeping it going, although they've had to tweak the format to be 70s and 80s skewed.

March 24th is when Smooth Radio replaces Gold.  Make the most of it.

Global's revamped Smooth line-up, an open goal to Magic 105.4

Global Radio have announced their presenter changes to Smooth Radio after a staggered revamp of the music playlist since October.

Former GMTV presenter Andrew Castle who currently presents on LBC will replace Simon Bates at Breakfast in the London area, while his former colleague Kate Garraway replaces Lynn Parsons from next Monday.

Chris Skinner, formerly of Essex FM replaces Carlos on evenings while ex Magic 105.4 presenter Paul Phear replaces Gary King on afternoons.  Recent addition Anthony Davis remains on drive.

While the changes are more than most have expected, having Andrew Castle competing against the might of Neil Fox and Verity Geere on Magic 105.4 in London won't be giving Bauer bosses much cause for concern.   This despite almost throwing in the towel axing Richard Park's old formula for Magic which now includes some personality links and off-target tracks.

Kate Garraway who incidentally has a radio background, starting as a broadcast journalist at BBC Radio Oxford is up against one of the best solid jocks of the soft AC format on Magic.  Gary Vincent has more listeners in London than Heart and Smooth who compete for a similar audience.

Magic is also market leading around 2200 during Mellow Magic, which means Chris Skinner's 'Sanctuary' will have to provide something special to grab listeners from the long established Magic format of love and slow songs.

I'm not against celebrity presenters as Magic uses Kim Wilde and Rick Astley in off-peak slots, however they compliment the brand, where as two ex GMTV presenters of which were a turn-off not helped by the premium rate competition scandal and the Marmite Myleene Klass may be enough for those Smooth listeners who have found Richard Park's old Magic format may retune elsewhere and in-particular back to Magic.

Bauer will be relieved tonight.

A retrospective look at LBC post going national

On the face of it, not much has changed since LBC became a national station after launching on the national Digital One DAB multiplex last Tuesday.   The usual tabloid skewed discussion topics remain, the presenting line-up is exactly the same as it was last week, the same advertisers are there, including the exaggerated production for a property firm and James O'Brien's Mystery Hour continues on a Thursday lunchtime, but under the hood, there have been some subtle changes.

A new jingle package has been commissioned, produced by David Arnold who produced LBC's jingles in the mid 1980s, which gives the station a more authoritative sound, the strapline is now "Leading Britain's Conversation" to reflect the national output.

There are some other changes which may only be recognisable by London listeners.   While topics on the London only station are of a national nature, the tendency to provide more London-centric topics has been lost.    During the storm on Friday night, the presenters turned the discussion into a national topic and even moved onto other topics, so that new listeners elsewhere in the country could still join in the conversation without it turning into a London-centric storm watch.

On DAB Digital Radio, the local feed of LBC has been switched off, listeners were asked to retune their receivers to the new national feed on Digital One.   The only problem with that is that the station provides a national travel news bulletin on DAB, so doesn't completely cover London.    

The only way to listen to the existing LBC output with London travel information is on 97.3 FM or online.   A retrograde option, however the bulk of listening is still via FM, so Global have balanced the inconvenience of the lack of travel on LBC DAB by having it on FM.   In addition between 0700-1900, LBC News 1152 which is still on London 1 provide travel news every ten minutes since the revamp to the main station as a compromise.  

LBC also no longer provide a detailed weather forecast solely for London, both FM and DAB provide either a London, then the rest of the country forecast.  On the half hourly headlines, there are is no weather forecast for London. 

As I mentioned at the start, LBC still provides an excellent forum for newstalk radio and it's easy to be hooked into the debate, so they're still doing a great job, however I feel the remaining London-centricity has been lost.  Whether Londoners care about that or not will be reflected by the Rajar for LBC in London and any increase in the share of BBC London 94.9.

However, Global and LBC appear to be no longer interested in the minnow BBC London, concentrating on 5 Live who in London at least are slightly higher in share than LBC and going for some of the 5 Live listeners outside London who don't like the sports output or the non phone-in elements of 5 Live.  

Global Radio changes, how will it affect you?

So we finally have it, Global have announced various changes to their brands, including the sale of 8 stations to the Irish media company Communicorp, who own Today FM and Spin in Ireland.

Radio Rental will attempt to explain in layman's terms what will happen to each brand and how you can still listen, although some final details are still to be confirmed.

REAL RADIO:  These stations will all rebrand to Heart with network programming from London.  Real North Wales and Real Yorkshire have been sold to Communicorp.  The current Welsh station will be split between South and Mid and North Wales when it rebrands to Heart.

CAPITAL: No change for the average listener, Capital South Wales and Capital Scotland will be owned by Communicorp, but will continue to take programming from Capital in London.  A new Capital station will launch in North Wales on Heart's existing frequencies.  However Welsh language programming will continue on those stations with those requirements.

HEART: Business as usual for the existing Heart network, with the exception of North Wales where the existing station will move to Real Radio's frequencies and will be owned by Communicorp.  Heart North Wales will no longer have to broadcast Welsh language programming which will move to Capital.

GOLD: Gold will no longer broadcast to the majority of the country on DAB and AM, except in London, Manchester and the East Midlands.  Speculation is rife that Gold will replace Smooth on national DAB with a 70s, 80s and early 90s format. 

SMOOTH RADIO:  The station will be removed from national DAB with all current Smooth regional FM licences providing local programming for seven hours a day on weekdays and four at weekends.  The station will also be available on local DAB and AM in areas currently served by Gold with the exception of London, Manchester and the East Midlands where Smooth is on FM.    In Wales, Smooth will also provide national programming within Wales for four hours a day on weekdays on AM in Cardiff/Newport and Wrexham. 

Communicorp will also own Smooth in the North West, North East and the East Midlands.

REAL RADIO XS: In Glasgow, the station will rebrand as Xfm which outside of local hours will network from London.   It's unconfirmed how Real XS Manchester will continue, but has been purchased by Communicorp.

LBC 97.3 will go national on Digital One DAB from February 11th replacing Birdsong and there is no change to LBC News 1152, Capital Xtra or Xfm in London and Manchester.

The future editorial policy of LBC 97.3 once it goes national

Copyright: Global Radio 2014

With the announcement that LBC 97.3 will become the UK's first national 'news talk' station when it launches on the Digital One DAB multiplex on February 11th, it raises issues about the future editorial policy of the station.

Since 2007, LBC was given the strapline of 'London's Biggest Conversation' with additional investment in re-focusing the station as radio's answer to the Daily Mail with right-wing commentators such as Iain Dale alongside political presenters Ken Livingstone, David Mellor, the current Mayor of London Boris Johnson and Deputy PM Nick Clegg who's Call Clegg chat show is partially responsible for the rise in LBC's share in the London area.

With the re-focus of LBC as 'Leading British Conversation' to compete with BBC Radio 5 Live, this will inevitably dilute the London-centric content the station has been famous for since October 1973.

Despite the current station providing national topics, there are elements of the station which are core London.  News, travel, weather, the Ask Boris feature on Nick Ferrari's breakfast show and other London talking points are still core to LBC's editorial agenda.

Will tube strikes, transport fare rises and local election coverage be reduced or axed as LBC's new found focus on national issues, such as Scottish independence take more importance as part of James Rea's new national station?

There is of course an alternative to LBC in the form of BBC London 94.9, the flagging licence-fee funded station which has a broader remit than LBC providing varied speech and music, yet doesn't have the slick format that LBC has, nor provides local news and travel between 1900-2200 weekdays due to taking the national evening show as part of the BBC's Delivering Quality First cuts.

London also has the new local television channel 'London Live' which launches at the end of March, which is owned by the Evening Standard newspaper which promises up to five and a half hours of current affairs content on weekdays.   However unlike LBC, it's targeting a younger audience and Vikki Cook, London Live's head of news promises a more irrelevant look at local news, which will hardly attract the LBC audience.

If LBC and Global Radio dump the local audience, it could be a massive blow not only in audience share, but the other local speech outlets aren't up to the job yet.  

BBC London 94.9 - The black sheep of the local radio family

BBC London 94.9 has had a turbulent and interesting history, providing some great radio in it's 43 year history, especially as GLR when managed by Matthew Bannister and playlisted by Trevor Dann when they introduced the Adult album alternative format.   However, one thing has always been an issue, few people listen to it.

It has 1.0% market share in London and 4% reach because of the large amount of choice provided in the capital.   BBC Local Radio works best in smaller markets where the core information of news, travel and weather are tailored to the area.   LR is also great at giving local organisations airtime, but due to the vast population and area 94.9 covers, a jumble sale in Enfield is not going to be relevant to another listener in Croydon and so on. 

In the capital however, listeners who'd otherwise be tuning into Paul Ross and Penny Smith for their diet of local news and information listen to Nick Ferrari on phone-in station LBC 97.3 which now has 1.2m listeners or the most popular radio station in London, BBC Radio 4, where the Today programme is the unofficial de-facto breakfast show that Londoners wake up to.

So, how do you solve the issue of the BBC local radio station that has a very small share, but keep the core elements of local PSB, such as news, travel and weather?

My suggestion is that BBC London becomes an opt-out of BBC Radio 5 live. 

Why?  As mentioned above, BBC London has always had a very small share, so instead, you replace BBC London with 5 Live which has 1.3m listeners in the capital, which considering it's on AM and DAB impressive, with local output at peak times, so Paul and Penny would continue to be on at breakfast, alongside Eddie Nestor at drive, otherwise 5 live listeners would be able to listen on FM for the first time to national presenters, such as Victoria Derbyshire and Richard Bacon.

During 5 Live Sport, the existing BBC London sports team can opt-out for London commentary of sports events as now when the national Mark Forrest show is networked across the local radio network.   

I'd also suggest that the 5 Live London opt would also provide local information during matters of emergency instead of national programming, such as during severe weather.  This has been one of BBC London's strongest points and one for LR in general.

Sadly for BBC London, the dilemma of trying to provide something for everyone simply isn't working and listeners have voted with their ears to Radio 4, 5 Live or LBC, alongside pirate and community radio provide hyperlocal output for ethnic minority groups.

Capital Radio celebrates 40 years

The legendary Music Power logo.  Credit: This is ILR.

Happy Birthday to the UK's second commercial radio station.  Capital Radio started broadcasting to London as the general entertainment station for the capital on October 16th 1973, opened by Sir Richard Attenborough, who was one of the directors of the station.

The station was quite frankly the only outlet for new pop music in London as Radio 1 was until 1987 stuck on medium wave.

Capital in the early days mixed speech, such as drama with specialist music shows and the latest chart music with now legendary presenters such as Kenny Everett, Dave Cash, Roger Scott, Peter Young, Graham Dene and Michael Aspel.

The station became more music intensive in the 80s with the 'Music Power' branding which gave fresh new presenters an outlet on the premier ILR of the time.   Mick Brown, Pat Sharp, Jon Sachs, Richard Allinson, Neil Fox, David Jensen (formerly of Radio 1 and Luxembourg) provided a tighter formatted chart intensive sound.

Chris Tarrant joined after years of presenting children's tv from Birmingham on ATV and Central. He initially joined in 1984 and moved to breakfast in 1987 joined by Kara Noble as his sidekick, alongside flying eye travel presenter Russ Kane and newsreader Howard Hughes. 

His breakfast show added listeners and was the most listened to commercial radio morning show in the London market.  CT as he was also called on the station left in 2004 for Johnny Vaughan in an attempt to bring younger listeners to the station.

Capital were also visible at events across London, from discos in the 70s, to the big budget roadshows at Alexandra Palace and Crystal Palace in the 80s and early 90s, to the more recent Balls at the O2 in Greenwich.

What made Capital special was the sense of comradeship from the presenting team, the heavy London centricity and the interactivity with the listeners in the pre-social media era.

Capital's charity Help a London Child raised millions of pounds for children's organisations through their Easter weekend radiothons.  This was an opportunity for presenters who'd never work together before to co-present.   The format was simple, listeners would pledge money to hear tracks on the playlist and get a dedication, alongside a premium product auction.  The charity still continues to this day with the auction format on LBC 97.3.

With the increase of radio stations, Capital no longer had a monopoly of music radio and went through various changes including splitting the FM and AM frequencies, the FM service continuing the 'Music Power' tight formatted FM service, while AM relaunched as the classic hits format Capital Gold, which included some heritage presenters from the 1970s era of Capital Radio.

New radio services which targeted Capital's audience were launched in the 1990s such as Heart and Kiss FM which eventually dented Capital's share.  This led to drastic changes to Capital FM's format in the noughties, however it has returned to being a hit music station, although as part of a national network of Capital stations, which has lost some of the station's charm of London centricity.

However Capital, like LBC has survived for the last 40 years and is still playing the hits.

Happy Birthday LBC

The various incarnations of LBC Radio over 40 years.

Waking up this morning felt like being in a timewarp.  Douglas Cameron was once again reading LBC 97.3's news bulletin with his effortless delivery.  It almost made me want to get my satchel on again and head off to primary school with my mother.

LBC is 40 years old today, the first commercial radio station to be launched in the UK (with Capital Radio on October 16th), it's main role to provide speech radio to London.  The business would at the time be viable as they would provide the national news service for commercial radio stations which would be launched gradually throughout the 70s, known as Independent Radio News (IRN).

My early memories of LBC was listening to the late evening phone-ins from the likes of Robbie Vincent and Mike Allen which mixed serious topical discussion with more light hearted discussion, however Clive Bull's show was legendary.  Moving from Through the Night to the late evening slot where callers became as much a listen.  Babs from Bermondsey, Adrian from Tottenham Court Road and others were great radio.

LBC's politics off-air was just as interesting.  Strikes in the 1970s, numerous owners, the business nearly going bust, being sold to a foreign company who moved the station away from the City of London to Hammersmith, being forced to split the FM and AM licences to provide alternative services and then eventually going bust in 1993 when the Radio Authority decided to award the award LBC's two licences for FM and AM to Reuters who then bought the station to maintain the output until the official licence handover in October 1994.

Reuters replaced LBC with two non LBC branded stations, London News (Rolling news) and London News Talk (phone-ins), the latter taking on LBC's heritage in all but name.   However the two formats didn't perform as well as expected and a new consortium which included the Daily Mail and General Trust and upcoming media group GWR relaunched LBC on it's AM frequency and moved output to ITN's then new modern building in Gray's Inn Road, while keeping the rolling news service on FM.

In 2002, LBC was sold by the London News Radio consortium to Chrysalis who owned Heart FM, so once again moved from central London to West London.   The formats were also flipped, rolling news moved to AM while the talk radio format switched back to FM for the first time since 1994.  

The relaunch format was more highbrow, however Chrysalis didn't learn from the mistakes of Crown FM in 1989 which attempted to compete with BBC Radio 4 and then brought in David Lloyd who controversially brought in 'appointment to listen' radio.  This basically meant LBC's heritage format of news talk was axed outside of weekday breakfast and the rest of the output consisted of pub ammo style discussion.  One of the most controversial signings was Iain Lee, who brought with him younger listeners which Chrysalis desired to attract advertisers.  Yet it felt as if the heart of the station had been ripped out in Lloyd's attempt to bring revenue.  However he should be congratulated for the innovative LBC podcast where listeners paid a small fee to listen again to shows listeners missed.

Chrysalis eventually sold their radio business to a new radio group, Global who then acquired GCap Media, so Global moved it to their new broadcast centre in Leicester Square.   Under Global, LBC is at the heart of their newsroom, while a revamped news talk format was introduced which has seen ratings soar to over a million listeners.  Politicians are regulars on the station, with Nick Clegg and Boris Johnson presenting phone-ins and former London Mayor Ken Livingstone with former Tory MP David Mellor on Saturday mornings. 

LBC has finally settled down as an alternative to Radio 4, 5 Live and BBC London, but has returned to it's core values of news and giving Londoners a mouthpiece.

Happy Birthday LBC, it's well deserved.

Goodbye Smooth Radio 70s

In the early hours of Sunday morning, decades station Smooth Radio 70s will be replaced by a test transmission of Global Radio's new spin-off station Capital XTRA aimed at younger audiences.

GMG started experimenting with spin-off brands on DAB with the novelty format Smooth Christmas, which then led to the launch of Smooth 70s on December 27th 2011.  Less than two years later and after acquiring a total audience of 730,000 listeners to add to Smooth Radio's total brand audience, it'll be a part of digital radio history.

Unlike the main station under GMG, this was a focused product which played a broad playlist, those which anoraks and musos love, this despite being broadcast at 80 kbps mono on DAB.

I was at first very critical of the format, as it launched after Absolute Radio launched it's own 70s decade station earlier in 2011, yet like all good things, I doubt the station ever made money, so would be a drain on resources.

If you consider it from Global's point of view, they have two slots on Digital One acquired from the acquisition of Real & Smooth Limited, both serving the over 50s.  Sadly, it's a fact that younger listeners despite using other ways to listen to music are still the most attractive to advertisers.  Capital XTRA gives Global a national platform to attract listeners from Kiss and 1Xtra who playlist similar dance and urban music on the same digital platform.

Once Smooth 70s closes, there's still Absolute Radio 70s on DAB in London and online, however it is more rock focused due to the Absolute brand values.  This station and it's parent Absolute Radio are currently in the middle of being acquired by Bauer Radio who may use the space on DAB for other uses instead. There are other online stations providing 70s music all day long.  Some of which have promoted themselves on Digital Spy and social media outlets.

From day 1 of the opening of Smooth 70s, it was always inventable that it'd close.

Global's insensitive rebranding of Choice FM to Capital XTRA

Copyright: Global Radio Ltd.

The decision by Global Radio to close Choice FM abruptly at noon today ahead of a rebrand to Capital XTRA brought back memories of the sudden decision of Capital Radio PLC to move indie station Xfm from it's base on Charlotte Street to it's Leicester Square base in 1998 with an automated playlist and sacking of specialist presenters with a lack of support from listeners from a management headed by Richard Park who didn't quite understand the audience.  Mr Park is now the executive director of Global Radio.

Unlike the subtle change in output on local radio stations which rebranded to Heart and Capital and even the more recent changes on Smooth Radio on Tuesday, this was sharp, sudden and poorly thought out considering how Choice is ingrained in London's black community starting as Britain's first commercial radio station for black people, based in Brixton in 1990 before being sold to Capital Radio PLC in 2004.

I can see why Global's decision to rebrand Choice as a spin-off of Capital FM considering the demographics are very similar and it'll boost the share of the overall Capital brand which makes it very attractive to advertisers, however the audiences couldn't be more polarised.

Global are using Choice and Smooth as pawns in a game of radio chess with rival Bauer Media.  Their brands Kiss and Magic are market leading in the capital and Global has lost ground to those stations.   As Smooth Radio became part of Global Radio on Tuesday, this has allowed them to tweak Smooth towards a more easy listening format and are using the Digital One National DAB slot currently used by Smooth 70s to launch Capital XTRA in it's place.   Kiss is also on national DAB, so will also be competing for the youth audience with them and the public service urban station BBC Radio 1Xtra.

Returning to the black community in London, the feedback on social media is largely negative, although this may work to the advantage of community, DAB and pirate stations to cater for those audiences.  Colourful Radio is largely similar in format to the original Choice FM and has former presenters from the station, I wouldn't be surprised if Daddy Ernie's Superjam ends up on there, younger listeners in North West London may prefer BANG Radio on 103.6 FM and there's the pirate stations, such as Metro Love Radio, On Top, Genesis and TSOL - The Soul of London which may benefit from Choice's closure.

I wish Capital Xtra all the best for their launch on Monday, however they may have a struggle to keep the existing audience who feel that Capital is a brand focused on One Direction and Lawson rather than urban artists and the community they're supposed to support.