GWR had a consortium of local stations largely in the south and south west of England, they were the first major media group to buy up ILR stations and brought in Australian consultants to bring in a format which is common in English commercial radio today. They weren't the first to introduce networking to the UK, but they did it on a large scale.
They later merged with Capital Radio to form GCap and then Global acquired the merged businesses.
GWR had a consortium of local stations largely in the south and south west of England, they were the first major media group to buy up ILR stations and brought in Australian consultants to bring in a format which is common in English commercial radio today. They weren't the first to introduce networking to the UK, but they did it on a large scale.
They later merged with Capital Radio to form GCap and then Global acquired the merged businesses.
And not to be confused with Great Western Railway.
The GWR FM stations were in Bristol, Bath and Wiltshire. Here's an interesting fact, according to Wikipedia...
Quote:
It should also be noted that GWR's oldies service was originally called Brunel Classic Gold, after the Great Western Railway's founding father Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
I wouldn't say any of Global's brands are "12-22" - Smooth is very much for over-50s for example. Forth and Clyde still do very well. but I always attribute that to the fact that GWR never happened up there. As a result, you hadn't had 10+ years of that heavily researched, heavily produced sound they were known for on their local licenses, so the transition to Heart wasn't that significant. The switch from Real Radio Scotland to Heart Scotland though would probably have always been a lot more jarring, no matter how well Global handled it.
I'm not convinced the GWR history or lack of it has anything to do with the relatively poor performance of Heart Scotland. South Wales and Yorkshire didn't have GWR local stations, and yet the switch from Real to Heart there has resulted in a slight increase in audiences.
I wouldn't say any of Global's brands are "12-22" - Smooth is very much for over-50s for example. Forth and Clyde still do very well. but I always attribute that to the fact that GWR never happened up there. As a result, you hadn't had 10+ years of that heavily researched, heavily produced sound they were known for on their local licenses, so the transition to Heart wasn't that significant. The switch from Real Radio Scotland to Heart Scotland though would probably have always been a lot more jarring, no matter how well Global handled it.
I'm not convinced the GWR history or lack of it has anything to do with the relatively poor performance of Heart Scotland. South Wales and Yorkshire didn't have GWR local stations, and yet the switch from Real to Heart there has resulted in a slight increase in audiences.
Real had huge brand awareness across South Wales in a way Heart hasn't really managed. But then people round here still refer to Capital as Red Dragon.
Interestingly the That's Scotland Twitter account @thatstvscotland is implying they are out and about newsgathering, but I've not heard anyone mention an actual launch.
Freeview multiplex frequency changes mean some viewers will need ro retune to continue accessing the local TV mux tomorrow in Glasgow and Edinburgh. But will anyone notice they're missing That's TV?
Going by their Twitter account, they have three reporters. One based in Edinburgh, another in Aberdeen and I suspect the other in Glasgow. I won't be surprised if the Aberdeen reporter will also have to cover Dundee and the Glasgow one for Ayr.