I’d like to wish everyone affected by the latest changes in commercial radio the best of luck for the future.
Some had been broadcasting in their respective areas for decades and remained stupendous, as ever, right to the last link.
Building strong national brands to compete most effectively for audience and revenues, with more stations as well as today's vast digital media landscape, is vital for radio's continued relevance.
Furthermore, agencies in London demand simple national ad campaigns so they can buy networks that will deliver the greatest number of impacts (based on the cost-per-thousand people that hear a spot).
It is due to an historic local and regional structure of FM licencing that consolidation has had to happen at the expense of local stations and their hardworking staff.
Global, one of the two main players in UK commercial radio, has enjoyed tremendous success in building Heart and Capital in this way.
As per the regulations, dedicated local journalists will continue to provide a high quality service on Greatest Hits Radio with hourly 2-minute peak-time bulletins (an extension for some), half-hourly headlines at breakfast and "drive" (which we need a new name for!) and online articles - not to mention travel, free airtime for local charities, jobspot and what’s on info.
With journalists who can effectively cover each TSA, they’re reasonably equipped to deal with a major local incident if necessary (assuming contingencies are in-place allowing a single TX to opt-out efficiently for more than just hourly bulletins).
Responding to these events in the right way swiftly shows strength and commands the trust and respect of listeners. Being there for your audience when the unexpected, serious and/or tragic occurs never goes unnoticed.
Of course, there was more to many of these local stations (and others) than just trusted information - outside broadcasts, much-loved entertaining presenters who know their patch referencing local places and sharing stories, local guests, locally-focused competitions etc. This relevant content will be missed.
There’s the potential for this gap to be filled by community radio - but only well-run stations that have a clear target demographic/a consistent sound, unique local content and engaging output (presenters, shows and/or features), which has the interests of the listener at heart.
Simply saying "we’re local" and "play the best music variety" won’t cut it.
There’s more choice now than ever before and radio listening habits, generally, aren’t so loyal to a single outlet these days - but you still choose a station because of how it makes you feel. Because it speaks to you.
Your decision to listen is probably based on a range of factors: music, content, information etc - but it always comes down to relevance.
I want to listen to a presenter who’s serving their audience, not just serving their own will to be on the radio. Someone who knows what I’d like to hear, not what they’d like me to hear.
Would I rather allow Greg James, Liza Tarbuck, Pat Sharp or Andy Crane to put a smile on my face - or listen to DJ Anorak hitting (or maybe even crashing) every vocal in his record collection and playing crowd SFX for personal satisfaction?
Last month, I helped launch Shine Radio in the Hampshire market town of Petersfield which has a relatively small population and a well-connected, proud community.
Petersfield has long been underserved - 101.8 has long been networked without opt-outs meaning very little local information, Radio Sussex & Surrey and other commercial stations don’t cover here and Radio Solent are too big to show much of an interest.
There’d never been a long-term local radio station exclusively for the town and surrounding villages, so we seized the opportunity provided by lockdown and responded to demand for one more quickly than expected.
Initially, we'd planned to wait for small-scale DAB (which is still the endgame). Online-only will, of course, be a bigger challenge but the last few months have shown we can rise to it.
Our USP is that we’re all about Petersfield and a hub of the community with local voices, local stories and a trusted source of local information including daily local news & travel bulletins.
The volunteers live and work here. They couldn’t have a better understanding of the patch, and their reason for being involved is a commitment to public service rather than merely a love of radio.
Who else would run a 5-minute interview with Petersfield Lions about charity fundraising? Cover a wedding at the community hospital? Put listener questions to the owner of the town’s leisure centre? Regularly engage with local schools and parish councils?
This content, and more, makes us different from every other station - and gives folk a good reason to listen.
Running costs are minimal because we don’t have premises. Our PCs are based at a serviced office in town (which advertises with us in return) and host a remote VT server for presenters to record their shows from home with a quality mic and good acoustics.
While no presenter is ever physically live, we're just as reactive and have at least one person on standby to react in a timely manner were major local news to break.
Volunteers spent lockdown doing everything from home (shoutout to In:Quality’s ipDTL for making it so efficient), but since restrictions were eased we’ve been back out and about recording with guests on-location.
Fast-forward a month and Shine Radio is heard in homes and workplaces across “the Petersphere”.
We’re also providing companionship and entertainment for residents as linear radio has traditionally done better than any other medium.
Our daily round-up of news/information, which began at the start of the COVID-19 lockdown in March, continues - this and all our best speech content (shows/interviews) are also available as podcasts given the popularity of on-demand listening.
Personally, backed up by my involvement in the Petersfield project, I firmly believe that hyperlocal has to be the way forward for what has become known as local radio.
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