Today, we launched BASINGSTOKE NOW - an all-speech local radio station and digital media platform for the North Hampshire town and its surrounding villages.
The service is carried on the local small-scale DAB+ multiplex and shares local information and interesting people, places, and organisations 24/7 - with no music and no cheesy jocks.
Most radio stations aim to drive listening hours, but we don’t expect our audience to be with us all day long.
BASINGSTOKE NOW is essentially your social media timeline but without any nonsense. It’s fast-paced and content-rich, so even if you tune in for ten minutes each time you’re guaranteed to learn something new about where you live.
The station aims to be helpful and make its listeners' lives a bit easier providing information about ways to get involved in the community, what's happening in and around Basingstoke and celebrating the great work of local businesses.
A core element for the station is enabling local charities, community groups, schools, and other organisations to have a new way to share their news and achievements.
BASINGSTOKE NOW is more than just a radio station too, sharing multi-platform digital content to enhance engagement and all features will be available as podcasts.
For local businesses, the radio station and digital media platform will offer cost-effective content creation, sponsorship, and advertising options.
None of our platforms (radio, website, socials etc) is superior, each being one equal slice of the pie.
In radio, the stations closest to our format are the national LBC News and News Radio UK but unlike these we would describe ourselves as a "rolling billboard" as opposed to rolling news.
Our model of community radio was partly inspired by Keri Jones' Alfred project which, in my view, is the best local station in Britain. It produces a fresh hour-long programme each day as well as broadcasting other speech programmes and timeless content from its podcast archive.
BASINGSTOKE NOW is also supported by old friends at Newsquest via the Basingstoke Gazette who deliver a weekly press review. Over at Petersfield's Shine Radio, we partner with the local newspaper and four local schools.
I've always believed partnerships are the way for newly-established community stations to cut through with limited resources. It allows public service broadcasting to flourish and adds credibility.
Petersfield is a far more traditional market, with an older profile than Basingstoke, but even with a music radio station we view everything as an equal platform. Shine Radio's speech content and programming follows the "on-demand first, linear second" mantra.
I love the way we've always "done" radio but we have to be realistic and adapt to changing consumer habits which is what will keep us relevant. People are less loyal to one station given how much choice exists in media today.
