It's been one of the most significant years in living memory for UK commercial radio.
Local shows are no more on licences that once broadcast from their area 24/7 with more of the same likely in the coming months.
Last October, Ofcom updated their localness guidelines to allow networked breakfast shows with the minimum amount of locally-produced daytime output reduced from seven hours to three weekdays, on the condition that hourly local news bulletins are provided, and none required at weekends, if hourly peak-time local news bulletins are provided.
Smaller approved areas were merged into 12 regions that mirror those of ITV.
What followed was Global's decision in February to launch national breakfast shows on their three FM networks resulting in over a hundred redundancies, the closure of buildings and the merger of local stations to create a smaller number of drivetime shows for each of the enlarged areas.
Around the same time, four commercial radio groups (Celador, Lincs FM Group, Wireless Local and UKRD) were acquired within the space of a few weeks by Bauer Media. At this stage, they are still being run as separate businesses while the Competition & Markets Authority investigates the takeovers.
All industries must adapt and evolve in accordance with changing consumer habits if they are to survive. Commercial radio regulations stem from an analogue-only world with limited choice.
In many industries, the rise of artificial intelligence will save businesses a fortune and the robots that replace, even the most efficient and reliable, humans will be more efficient and reliable.
Consequently, this will impact workers and capitalism overall.
It's devastating when a talented person loses their job. As X Factor’s Ariel once said:
I’m not a number, I’m a human being.
Every position going represents someone’s livelihood, and my heart goes out to you if you're affected.
And how does this all feel to someone looking for a career in radio? Is there any point in trying to get your foot in the door? Are there any opportunities left?
The answer: yes! Thanks to the growth of DAB/DAB+, there’ve never been more commercial stations - plus new digital roles in social media and podcasting.
For aspiring presenters, while the days of, quite literally, knocking on the local station waving a demo tape are becoming a thing of the past, radio still needs a talent pipeline. A new generation of stars to lead us into the future.
But we’re just one platform in a multi-media world and, today, a successful on-air personality has to be a successful off-air personality - in other words, not just a "jock" but a gifted communicator whose relationship with their audience is enhanced through social media.
They get to know you better and you get to know them.
Mastering this craft is essential, hence influencers with established followings being attractive to youth stations.
A brief history lesson
Let me take you back to 2007. Ashley Tabor-King, a man who was very gracious to me personally a few years ago, together with his father, founded Global.
The company bought four established commercial radio brands from Chrysalis: Heart, Galaxy, LBC and The Arrow.
A year later, it acquired GCap (formed by the merger of GWR & Capital Radio Group earlier in the decade) and welcomed The One Network (many local/regional stations across the country), Classic FM, XFM (now Radio X), Choice FM (now Capital XTRA), Gold and Chill (now Smooth Chill) into its portfolio.
Ocean FM (now Heart) and Power FM (now Capital) were part of this deal - two local stations on the South Coast of England where many of the first radio people I met worked.
Some networking had already been introduced prior to the formation of Global but I was too young to understand it. However, I saw the impact of redundancies in 2009 and could tell it wasn’t pretty.
Fast-forward 10 years: I'm still young, I’ve been lucky enough to get on-air and off-air experience as well as present my own show which I've put my heart and soul into for the last 8 years and had an absolute blast.
My Hampshire Hit Radio journey comes to an end in a couple of weeks and I’m proud of all the things our team achieved. I’m ready for the next chapter and can confirm that I'll be presenting a new show somewhere else come autumn.
Deregulation has long been on the horizon. Radiocentre lobbied for years so that stations could gain the freedom to make their own business decisions in accordance with changing market conditions.
By clicking on a petition, I admire your passion, but you’ll achieve nothing.
How can it be right that local FM licences are so heavily regulated with competition from DAB and big tech virtually set free by comparison?
The rules stem from a bygone era.
Take Heart South Wales and Heart North Wales still having to provide a separate local show from each other, despite being in the same approved area, because they have different owners. Listeners don't know, or care, about this.
See also: "full service" licences with speech quotas and other outdated format requirements such as music genres (removal of these was proposed by the government two years ago but is yet to be legislated).
Having been involved for almost a decade, I believe passionately in localness.
There’s still an appetite for content that lives where its listeners live - that understands and truly reflects communities.
In certain markets that could be a linear station, but in others on-demand might be more effective (certainly cheaper!)
I'd like to say to anyone who's lost their show or behind the scenes role not by their own choice: your talent and experience will lead to bigger and better things.
This was just the beginning and a bright future is ahead.
To anyone looking to kick-start their radio career: don't give up! While there are fewer roles at a local level, overall, there are more opportunities in audio today than ever before.
You'll achieve great things by putting the work in, showing your passion, having faith and making the right connections.
Social media has made it easier to get your name out there and make a good impression - in fact, it’s a key skill employers look for today.
Radio is now a multi-platform business and there's more to it than what comes through the speakers.
This year’s changes do not mark not "the end" or "the final nail in the coffin" - they mark the beginning of a new era.
