Alternatives to Planet Rock in the West Midlands

Classic rock station Planet Rock replaced Kerrang! Radio on 105.2 FM across the West Midlands this afternoon bringing the third classic rock FM format to the UK.

While this is sad news for those modern rock listeners with analogue radios, such as in cars, there are many rock alternatives available to West Midlands listeners on DAB or Freeview.

Kerrang! Radio hasn't closed down and continues on DAB, Freeview & online across the UK and has announced a new line-up which starts on Monday with all the presenters on weekdays being from the old FM station which gives some continuity. However the station will be refocused to be closer to the brand ethics of the sister magazine publication.

TeamRock Radio is the new all rock station which has been test transmitting on DAB across England, Scotland and Wales since May.  They finally launch at 11.58pm on Sunday with an eclectic playlist of modern and classic rock and for the first time on daytime commercial radio, the sub genre of metal will be playlisted.

For those who liked Kerrang! Radio playlisting mainstream artists such as Beady Eye and Muse, London's alternative station Xfm can be heard on DAB across the FM area that Kerrang was on as well as Sky.

At a push, the analogue radio alternative is adult orientated rock station Absolute Radio on 1215 AM and various options digitally.

More cuts at Bauer Radio

After recent decisions at Bauer to close their Birmingham station Kerrang! Radio on June 14th replaced by a relay of Planet Rock on DAB and the earlier decision to close TFM Radio and merge output with Newcastle's Metro Radio along with the regionalisation of local breakfast shows on Magic AM, Scotland now takes the turn for cuts with the decision to network the Breakfast show on all but one AM station in the group.

Clyde 2, Forth 2, Tay AM, West Sound and Northsound 2 will all share a new breakfast show presented by  Robin Galloway, a presenter well known for his wind-ups on Real Radio a few years ago. To give Bauer credit, the presenter should be able to convert those who'll miss local breakfast shows.

According to the Bauer presser, those presenters who lose their breakfast gigs will be offered a new show on the networked station schedule elsewhere and will feature a new topical phone-in regarding Scottish independence.

Considering Bauer sell their local stations under the 'Place' banner, based on their locality, networking is creeping in via the back door, yet rivals such as Global's Gold have networked everything on AM from London since the rules changed with the exception of Wales which continues to have a four hour 'national' show from Cardiff from noon-4pm weekdays on it's licences based in Cardiff and Wrexham.

UTV Radio continue to provide local programming on their AM stations during daytime hours, although Signal 2 and Swansea Sound take networked programming from their FM stations during evenings, while Pulse 2 is largely automated off-peak.

Can we see Bauer merging more station output in the future?  Wave 105 appears to be the exception to the rule of standalone stations being revenue earning successful stations being the market leader in the Solent market, yet the company could save money by relaying Magic 105.4 from London.   Yorkshire's Radio Aire and Hallam FM could also become one station.  Aire in particular has suffered from poor Rajar in-part due to poor reception issues in Leeds.  At one point, the sister station Magic 828 had more listeners than Aire despite being an AM oldies station.

Bauer should also consider bringing in a unified brand name for their AM stations in Scotland.  The nation's radio output is of course different to England due to the lack of BBC Local radio, yet it'll be an easier sell to advertisers, rather than than the mix of local brand names the networked greatest hits output currently has.

Saturated Rock

Rock formats appear to be the 'in' trend on UK radio at the moment.   Despite the closure of Kerrang! Radio on FM in the West Midlands on June 14th, we see two new rock stations competing for a mainly male audience joining Absolute (and it's Classic Rock digital spin-off), Real Radio XS, XFM and recent Bauer acquisition Planet Rock.

TeamRock Radio launches sometime in June and is already test transmitting on DAB nationally.  The team mainly consists of former GMG Radio people including John Myers, Billy Anderson and on-air presenters such as Moose, Dewsbury and Rachel Houghton who worked on GMG's Real XS.  They also have former Planet Rock presenter Nicky Horne, Metal Hammer Editor-in-Chief Alexander Milas and erm...former Bid TV assistant Sophie K.

Going by their test transmissions, TeamRock will playlist a broad range of new and classic rock genres and will playlist Metal for the first time on daytime commercial radio.   Unlike other commercial stations, TeamRock won't air spot advertising, instead going for sponsored slots.   Heat Radio when operated by Emap did this which led to mid-mornings being sponsored by Ford and afternoons by Diet Coke, yet reverted to spot advertising under Bauer ownership.

A surprising entry into the already saturated rock market is a new outfit which promises to combine sports talk and rock.  Eklipse Sports Radio, based in Glasgow will broadcast on DAB Digital Radio in Scotland's central belt with a "tightly formatted rock station interspersed with sports news and interviews" from mid-June.

It'll be interesting to see how this outfit will be able to compete with the might of Clyde 1's sports phone-in and Saturday football output and with Real Radio XS, which in itself may be sold although the recent Competition Commission review into Global Radio's merger with GMG Radio doesn't include Real Radio XS's FM frequency in Paisley as a station they have to sell.  

Incidentally Kerrang! Radio will also relaunch on June 14th as a digital only station which Bauer claim will be closer to the editorial of the magazine targeting younger listeners with new music.  This will put it in direct competition with TeamRock, while classic rock station Planet Rock will be broadcasting on FM for the first time in the West Midlands, replacing Kerrang! at 1pm on June 14th.

I can't see all of these Rock stations surviving, so will be interesting to see which stations can survive.  TeamRock may acquire the Real XS FM licences in Manchester and Paisley, considering Eklipse Sports Radio have decided not to acquire a FM outlet from the Global/GMG divestment and Bauer who have been rumoured to have been negotiating purchasing Absolute Radio from it's Indian owners TIML Radio, which would give Planet Rock additional FM coverage in London and national coverage on AM in addition to it's current national DAB slot and digital satellite coverage.

Considering Planet Rock was until earlier this year an independent station losing money which it's previous owner had subsidised with their own money, the potential for this station under Bauer with FM coverage in the West Midlands alone is staggering. The older male with disposable income surely led to Bauer's decision to  dump the Brummie Metal kid for his father.