Radio 2 Beatles can't be streamed online?

Radio 2 Beatles is a pop-up brand extension to celebrate 50 years since the release of Abbey Road.

The curveball is you can only listen live on DAB with fans being encouraged to listen on-demand via BBC Sounds. I can't think of any other station, in 2019, that is only accessible via a physical radio "set".

I totally understand the concept of driving Sounds traffic - and this is a solid way to do that - but why wouldn't you also make the linear stream available on there?

It's not necessarily a criticism, I'm just genuinely intrigued by this puzzling decision and would love an explanation from the BBC as to its motivation here.

You can't be impartial on racism and bigotry

I'm often quick to defend the BBC against unjustified accusations of bias from both sides of the political spectrum.

It may not get everything right and licence fee payers have a right to hold it to account but, overall, it is a proud British institution.

One thing the BBC often hasn't got right is its rulings on what it believes to be matters of impartiality that are, in fact, not.

The corporation's Executive Complaints Unit ruled that Naga Munchetty breached guidelines by criticising Trump's "go back" to the "places from which they came" tweet by sharing her own experience of racism.

You cannot be impartial on a crime. You cannot be impartial on something that is disgusting and universally condemned. You cannot be impartial on racism.

I'm reminded of the brilliant Iain Lee's sacking from BBC Three Counties Radio four years ago after he stood up for the LGBT community against a homophobic Christian fundamentalist.

I fully support the need for BBC journalists to maintain political impartiality - for the sake of the BBC's credibility and so as not to frustrate licence fee payers - but that does not mean BBC presenters should be perceived to have hearts of stone and banned from using their platform to make a positive impact.

Partnerships enable community radio to thrive

BBC Somerset and the nine community radio stations in its area are coming together for a new content-sharing and training arrangement.

With the commercial sector changing direction resulting in fewer local independent stations, coupled with a general decline in hyperlocal press, the opportunity for community radio has been significantly enlarged - but many don't have the resources or skill to carry the torch by themselves, especially volunteer projects.

Partnering with the BBC and other organisations, be it media or businesses in any relevant field, to deliver engaging local content and train community radio teams should result in a better offering.

Audio deepfakes - be afraid, be very afraid

The audio and video production platform Descript has launched a private beta test of Overdub, a new feature that uses samples of a person's voice to generate new words and phrases.

On the face of it, this is a clever technological advancement - but the opportunities opened up are only as great, if not less great, than the cause for concern.

When we get to a stage where speech generated by AI is indistinguishable from actual spoken words, all kinds of people (including radio and podcast presenters/guests) will start being accused of saying things they never said and the courts will be overrun with defamation cases that may be difficult to conclude.

Full service in a crowded market - how we did it

On Friday, Hampshire Hit Radio colleagues - past and present - gathered in Southampton to bid an emotional farewell to our little radio brand after eleven remarkable years.

I had the honour of presenting the station's final show before new beginnings and I wish the team in Segensworth all the best with the big launch on Monday.

Some history...

Initially Hampshire Sound with the legendary Mike on breakfast, a very young and not yet matured Harrison RB would take the reigns as Programme Director (later Content Director) in January 2012 and was tasked with rebranding the radio station.

Despite the constraints of "full service" and a ridiculously crowded market, reach and share were holding steady. While the relaunch stimulated nerves, I was adamant we could use it as an opportunity to grow.

We looked at the market in great detail:

• Hampshire Sound: AC inc local talent, full service, 35-54 demo

• Wave 105.2: AC, regional, 30+ demo - 397k reach & 10.8% share - primary competitor

• Heart South Coast: Hot AC, local breakfast & drive, 25-44 demo - 311k reach & 5.5% share - primary competitor

• BBC Radio Solent: speech-heavy, regional, 50+ demo - 277k reach & 8.1% share - fair competitor (no sales)

• Capital South Coast: CHR, local breakfast & drive, 15-24 demo - 202k reach & 3.9% share - serving a different audience

• JACK fm: classic rock, regional, 35-59 demo - 103k reach & 2.1% share - serving a different audience

• The Breeze: Soft AC, local breakfast & drive, 40+ demo - 43k reach & 1.2% share - fair competitor

• Skyline Gold: oldies, community, 50+ demo - not in RAJAR - potential competitor

• Forest FM: AC inc local talent, community, 40+ demo - not in RAJAR - slight overlap

• 103.9 Voice FM: CHR inc local talent, community, students - not in RAJAR - serving a different audience

• Unity 101: multi-ethnic and multi-linguistic, local Asian community - not in RAJAR - serving a different audience

How did we settle on the name "Hampshire Hit Radio"? Well, we live in Hampshire, we play hits and we're primarily a radio station - so that helped!

One thing that was flagged is how it could be confused for CHR and Capital positioning as "the South Coast's/UK's No.1 Hit Music Station" but our research found the average target listener wouldn't necessarily associate the term "hit" in itself with the current top 40 as young people or radio folk might.

As the old cliché goes, all that changed was the name... and the breakfast show... and the mid-morning show... and the... you get the idea!

In addition to my management, musical, technical and training responsibilities, I continued to present Harrison RB at Hometime 4pm-7pm every weekday which I had taken up just before Christmas 2011.

While no presenter was bigger than the station, my vision was for individual personalities to stand out within the consistent framework. We wanted to push the boundaries like it was 1992 on a radio station built for the 21st century. We were rewarded with a loyal audience.

Was it the easiest to monetise? Not by any stretch of the imagination - even excluding FRS and the preference of national ad agencies for simple network campaigns, local advertisers are equally enticed by the scale of a brand like Smooth.

However, we did well considering and it's the risks we took that I will always be proud of.

One of our proudest achievements was our local news operation which demonstrated how the best way forward for naturally under-resourced community radio is partnerships and contra deals.