How can local win in today’s radio landscape?

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.

Why throw away an audience by chasing a dream?

I’m a HUGE supporter of the BBC and public serving broadcasting - quality impartial journalism that’s respected and relied upon worldwide, engaging educational content and distinctive creative output that can afford to take risks.

As the funding model continues to be debated, it’s worth remembering that your licence fee remains excellent value for money - in fact, even more so than ever:

📺📻📱 You may have seen this before, but it's good to be reminded of what you get for the licence fee... pic.twitter.com/XeVouSDIW0

— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) February 6, 2020

Despite constant smears from people on both sides of the political spectrum (often via anonymous social media accounts), a recent survey by Ipsos MORI shows more than half of UK adults who follow the news say they’re most likely to turn to the BBC and it remains the most-trusted news source among Brits.

That’s not to say it is always right - after all, any broadcaster is capable of making mistakes and a public body must be held accountable.

Today, I’m focusing on one issue specifically: diverting too much focus and attention towards a younger audience.

Radio 2, like all radio stations, has evolved over time to continuously bring in new listeners who’ve grown older.

Unlike a more focused commercial radio, its remit is to have broad appeal AKA anyone over 35 (overall, so not trying to target a 35 year-old and a 75 year-old simultaneously - including specialist shows for niche audiences).

R2 has long, rightly, championed new adult contemporary music - melodic, harmonic pop/soft rock/ballads, including from UK artists - and, with fewer commercial stations also doing this today, that continues to be an important part of what makes it distinctive.

At Hampshire Hit Radio, our Currents playlist was carefully crafted with modern tracks that complemented the tried and tested core artists/songs which defined our station sound. In other words, if it didn’t sit nicely alongside the timeless classics our listeners know and love, it didn’t make the cut.

I’d argue, in the last couple of years, R2 has been noticeably less strict with more dance/urban music seeping through - including modern reworkings of iconic songs (e.g. What’s Love Got To Do With It and Dancing In The Moonlight).

Ken Bruce seemed less than impressed with having to play the new remix of Tina Turner’s 1984 hit last week.

Call me cynical but don’t you think his audience would much rather hear the original they grew up with than a "pointless" remake? (That’s a quote - I quite like it personally, but I’m not in the target demo!)

From yesterday - clearly not a fan of the new Tina Turner remix by Kygo either 😂 pic.twitter.com/ixlPODTQ63

— Harrison RB (@HarrisonRBRadio) August 6, 2020

To make matters worse, as the BBC attempt to drive a new younger audience for Radio 2 daytimes - with a clear increase in the number of currents, recurrents and hits from the last 30 years (a typical 44 year-old today was a key influencer of the charts in 1990) - they’re also trying to hang on to the existing one, meaning inconsistency.

Any other station couldn’t cut through today without a clear focus. Whichever demographic it chooses to serve, the station needs more aggressive targeting in daytime.

Looking at RAJAR, the main bulk of Radio 2′s listenership is aged 45-74 - but is it out of genuine loyalty or just routine? The station is helped by its heritage position, talent and inbuilt trust.

With steady decline among 35-44s over the last decade, you can see why R2 is repositioning to narrow the gap between itself and Radio 1 - but it’s risky business.

Perhaps more baffling is BBC Local Radio. The majority of its audience is 55+ and there’s a golden opportunity; these are people who listen to a lot of radio and we have an aging population.

In cutting costs, the BBC could create a solid offering with a mix of quality local content and network shows providing friendly company just for older listeners who are not as well served by commercial radio.

In October last year, Ofcom’s annual report suggested the BBC will need to do “much more” to attract young people to their services - but that doesn’t mean across all outlets nor that it should desert older demographics in doing so.

Chasing the dream of more younger listeners who already have a whole host of media that most are satisfied with, while tinkering with stations built for and successful with older audiences who are among the BBC’s strongest supporters and therefore alienating them, is a puzzling move.

I hope they think again.

Greatest Hits Radio to go on Aire

Bauer has announced plans to replace Radio Aire with Greatest Hits Radio as part of the brand’s national roll-out in seven weeks time.

It first broadcast to Leeds on 94.6 FM and 828 AM (362m) on 1st September 1981 before moving to 96.3 in 1986, and will rebrand on its 39th birthday.

Transdiffusion · Radio Aire launch 1 September 1981

The station split its FM and medium-wave frequencies in 1990 to create Radio Aire FM (later Aire FM) and Magic 828.

Five years later, both stations were acquired by EMAP and Aire joined the Big City Network (later Bauer City 1 and The Hits Radio Network).

Since 2017, daytime programming has been networked from Hits Radio (formerly Key 103) in Manchester (including drivetime as of last autumn) with weekday breakfast being the only local show.

Come September, the station will broadcast the network breakfast show from Liverpool but retain a regional weekday drivetime programme, the presenter of which is yet to be announced.

It also means 96.3 FM, 828 AM (assuming it doesn’t close beforehand) and 106.8 FM in Wakefield (currently Ridings FM) will all share the same programming.

There’s a slight overlap with both 1278 AM for Bradford and 1530 AM for Huddersfield (currently Pulse 2) - but, again, it probably won’t be long before these MW transmitters are switched off.

I would’ve suggested the smaller Wakefield license becomes Hits Radio - but the transition to GHR is already underway, making that unthinkable. It’s better to have more coverage than less after all - and local content/ads can be split.

It comes just after the station hit a record low in RAJAR (Q1 2020) having lost half its audience in six years, down from a weekly reach of 114,000 to just 57,000. Share has fallen by 55% since 2014.

It’s clearly the right time for a change - CHR isn’t working (even with heritage local branding), so it performs a US-style format flip from playing The Biggest Hits, The Biggest Throwbacks to The Greatest Hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Looking at Bauer’s local/regional strategy overall, prioritising the older brand and appealing to an underserved demographic, who are generally loyal consumers of traditional radio services, in a younger-dominant marketplace makes sense.

While Hits Radio has some strong personalities across the network, particularly at breakfast, could these heritage FM stations be set for an older future?

What’s happening to my local radio station?

There came a time when it was necessary for the good old-fashioned British High Street to look beyond the butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker - and what’s happening in commercial radio, to some extent, mirrors the trajectory of other consumer-focused industries.

As retail chains offering lower prices began to grow and people became enticed by the slick styling of larger organisations, it became harder for independent outlets to compete - just as both broadcast radio (via DAB/online) and new digital media are offering more choice nationally than ever before, putting pressure on local stations.

In recent years, certainly in the last few months due to COVID, online shopping has been on the rise. High Street chains are feeling the impact and consequently cut costs by closing stores and making employees redundant - in the same way content delivery in commercial radio is moving further away from the listener’s location to ensure it survives in a digital world.

Of course, many people still value local and want to support the local economy - but there are now more ways to reach potential customers than just the traditional shop.

Petersfield Community Radio has been producing a daily podcast throughout lockdown delivering important information together with the voices and stories of our community to keep residents in-touch with local life.

It’s been hugely popular - and no antenna required, which wouldn’t have been possible 30 years ago.

It proves that locally-focused audio content is still highly valued by many - and a transmitter is no longer necessary to deliver it. It’s far more cost-effective without.

Hyperlocal is the best way to proceed. I say this not only due to success in Petersfield (or Shaftesbury), but because the strongest and best-performing local radio stations in all sectors cover small patches. The content is more likely to be relevant to me and less likely to be available elsewhere.

That’s not to say a linear community station on FM/DAB/online can’t be successful. If you’re providing a relevant service and don’t exist purely as an anorak trainset and/or to recreate a bygone era of radio. A service with what I like to call the three C’s:

• Consistency: you cannot appeal to "everyone" - know your target listener, understand their lifestyle and ensure your music policy, speech content and overall offering is tailored to their needs at all times.

• Community: embrace your point of difference with interesting, engaging content relevant to a hyperlocal audience - and involve them.

• Companionship: friendly voices (presenters and/or guests) who know the patch and can make someone smile and laugh or stop and think.

In my view, legal/compliance training should be compulsory for anyone broadcasting on an Ofcom-licensed station (and a priority for online-only organisations). In Petersfield, all volunteers are required to partake in an annual session led by radio consultant and media law expert Paul Chantler.

Your station doesn’t have to be live. It doesn’t even need premises (as COVID-19 has shown). Ensuring the output is interesting and/or entertaining is the single most important thing.

You can create an enjoyable experience for the listener while saving a fortune in running costs. As James Cridland says, real and relevant is far more important than live and local.

I’m a firm believer that interactive live broadcasting, where the fact it’s happening right now makes the programme what it is, is unique and irreplaceable - a phone-in, quiz, special event etc or a social media live stream won’t be going out of fashion anytime soon, but, at times, liveness doesn’t actually add anything.

Another point - should you pursue the traditional ad-funded model? It’s not easy to make a success of. Could you partner with local organisations to maximise resources? If you can prove you’re serving a genuine need, why not apply for grants and/or crowdfund?

Podcasts and other digital media are new competition for commercial radio, making it increasingly more challenging for a standalone local station to be economically viable.

What’s more, we’ve never had so many national DAB/online choices and consumer habits are generally more varied and less loyal to a single outlet than ever before.

Not to mention that COVID-19 has caused additional problems for advertising revenue across the board with smaller stations/groups being hit hardest - hence Bauer’s plan to integrate their recent purchases into networks being put into practice pretty sharpish.

Consolidation with today’s tech means each licence can retain local content, such as news (compulsory with predominantly networked programming), travel and what’s on info, while ensuring the station is sustainable and able to thrive longer term in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

Hopefully Bauer’s strong commitment to local news will mean journalists are retained in each TSA to provide the highest quality, most efficient hyperlocal coverage - and, again, station premises aren’t required to allow for this.

I think Greatest Hits Radio has real potential against the younger brands available elsewhere on the dial, given that traditional local radio typically attracts predominantly middle-aged/older adults.

That said, it’s always incredibly sad to see some top people leave the industry not by their own choice and every job represents a livelihood.

The good news is talent can use radio as a platform to build a following before going on to achieve bigger and better things with that established audience (e.g. podcasting/digital live streaming).

People always say they love the local radio station but will also claim to support the independent coffee shop in town before delightedly venturing out to Starbucks for a Frappuccino.

In the future, who’s to say local radio won’t see increased demand from consumers - like the local butcher and baker? (Maybe not the candlestick maker...)

End of an era for satellite networking

Probably the last ever network show distribution via satellite for UK commercial radio yesterday, as the Wireless Local stations take Greatest Hits Radio programming outside breakfast from today.

It’s the end of an era having been used since the launch of SMS (Satellite Media Services) in 1989, replacing landlines. The channel carried 3 audio feeds for many years:

• one with both IRN 1 (left) and IRN 2 (right)

• two separate stereo channels used by various networks over the years including TLRC, GMG and, most recently, Wireless Group as well as for syndicated shows such as The Pepsi Chart, Smash Hits, The A List, the one-off UK Radio Aid and the overnight sustaining service The Superstation

Today, IRN 1 and IRN 2 are operated by Sky News with the one remaining stereo channel now no longer required as the Big Top 40 is Global-only and Wireless Local is integrated into Greatest Hits Radio. Both groups use IP.

In the weird and wonderful world of DAB, D1, SDL and BBC NDRA are all fed to TX sites by Arqiva using two satellites.

Don't pre-judge

I’m always puzzled by comments about national radio brands from angry folk who’ve clearly never even heard the station in question. It’s like suggesting a football match is obviously going to be "terrible" or "dull" simply because the ball wasn’t made 10 minutes down the road.

Understandably, some will be genuinely upset (and job losses are grim) but things move on.

A small minority of people - who dismiss a station and conclude that it can’t be any good (without having heard it) because it’s not coming from their town and have no understanding of business/fail to recognise the challenges facing the industry - bashing a keyboard or clicking a petition won’t achieve anything. It’s happened and it’ll keep happening.

Whether or not something is a good listen isn’t determined by where the presenter is sat. Relevant content doesn’t have to be local - often, it isn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great to see their passion and local radio still means a lot to people, but there’ll be many others who are satisfied with the new product (music, features, personalities) and stick with it or even start listening - not to mention that each licence will retain local news/travel bulletins and they’ll still be expected to react on-air to a major event in a timely manner.

Bauer has a strong commitment to local news so hopefully hyperlocal journalists will be kept so they can keep across each area efficiently.

Greatest Hits Radio is more likely to appeal to a typical listener of these local stations than a CHR brand. I think it'll be popular - with the exception of Smooth, it's largely young(er) brands on FM nationally.

Loving the tunes Bauer

Views on networking aside, I’m seeing a largely positive reaction to the Greatest Hits Radio playlist on UKRD stations - who’d have thought older listeners to local radio would rather hear Diana Ross or Stealers Wheel than Jax Jones or Nathan Dawe?!

Of course, the idea this audience doesn’t like anything older than 1999 is complete baloney, but for these stations there has been a noticeable shift away from those core eras towards playing more recent songs overall, which I think was a mistake, as some classics were moved to the decade spin-off stations.

You should never hear two unfamiliar currents back-to-back on an AC format - better to have the clock positions more varied so you keep coming back to those core songs that listeners love and expect, peppered with surprises.

The music has changed but on Mix, Spirit etc it’s like the same songs on a loop - GHR, however good or bad, do play a decent amount of variety but that will change shortly when the stations are more integrated to GHR.

I must admit, I haven’t really listened to any station in transition to Greatest Hits Radio but I know the next phase (imaging and features) is starting soon. Tight rotation of the most popular songs is standard ahead of a rebrand to give listeners the best possible flavour of what’s to come.