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.