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Global Radio axes all regional/local breakfast shows

(February 2019)

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IS
Inspector Sands
It seems to be just Bauer and the BBC and a few others, it doesn't have the stations Bauer recently bought (although theyre 'hold seperate' for now). No Greatest Hits either spot might not have been updated for a while

It doesn't exactly show their own stations in that good a light. The Hits Network stations only have 400 unique tracks, Kiss 300... Compared with 4000 on Radios 1 and 2, and 6000 on 6Music
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 29 August 2019 9:02pm
VM
VMPhil
Inspector Sands posted:
I thought it was offline too as I tried to find it a couple of months ago.

The fact it is connected to Absolute would explain why when I tried to find it, I think, it redirected to Bauer Radio's website

It was part of Absolute’s OGS Labs which tested out new tech, I think it petered out before the Bauer acquisition though. You may notice that in the header it still says it’s in beta. I don’t think it’s been changed much since it launched around ten years ago.
LL
London Lite Founding member
dvboy posted:
Inspector Sands posted:
That is the problem with decades stations - there's only a finite amount of songs to play (though of course some decades have more than others)


There's definitely a difference between Heart 80s/90s playlist and Absolute 80s/90s which is more indie/rock skewed.


Indeed, the Absolute decades stations are skewed to what is considered 'real music' along with some credible pop. Think Prince, Madonna etc with guitar bands. Heart's stations are contemporary in style.

If you prefer the poppier end of the decades, Heart is for you, if you like the more guitar skewed stuff, then it's Absolute with a dash of Madonna.
Asa posted:
London Lite posted:
And what happens when you play a tight playlist? It attracts the listeners.


Virgin Chilled is a decent station I’ve been listening to a fair bit, but my god they’ve got to have the smallest playlist of any station. First time I heard an acoustic version of a track I thought ‘there’s something you don’t really hear on commercial radio, that’s really good’ but when you then hear that same track for the thousandth time it’s ridiculous.


The Virgin stations (owned by our friend R. Murdoch) are clueless with what to do with them. They've gone too tight with the playlists and are over reliant on Chris Evans at breakfast to raise their share. The main Virgin station has had more changes than I've had hot dinners.

There is a skill to how to program a tight playlist and still keep listeners. Global understand that, Bauer to an extent with their national stations, but Virgin haven't got a clue.
LL
London Lite Founding member
623058 posted:
London Lite posted:

Forgotten 80s is scheduled between 9-11pm on a Sunday night, a dead slot in radio.


Its also one of the most tweeted things on a sunday night.


Social media doesn't necessarily reflect the actual listenership of a station. Yes, it'll have a following, but from a commercial point of view, it won't bring in as many listeners as playing the most popular songs from the decade during daytime hours.
DJ
DJ Dave
Inspector Sands posted:
That is the problem with decades stations - there's only a finite amount of songs to play (though of course some decades have more than others)
And in that already limited choice they will only play the hits because that's what provokes the memories of the audience.

Then there's a station such as Greatest Hits which only plays the biggest most well known music, but has three decades to choose from. Personally I really like GHR, I'm not a fan of heavily formated radio but it is a reliable listen - you always know you'll get something you recognise and normally like.


I wouldn't be surprised if these spin offs do what some linear streaming music services have always done and go niche. There are decades stations and genre stations, how long before we get the likes of 'Radio X 90's Indie'* 'Absolute 70s Prog'

Mind you the BBC are launching a pop up Beatles station next month



*which I would definitely listen to lots

GHR is not bad, but it was better when it was Radio City 2, I did listen to Heart 90's last week via tunein but after about 2 days it was the same songs at the same time just a different day.
01
01tomki
I’ve been listening to Absolute 90s for years now (even more so since getting a car with DAB). I’ve given Heart 90s a go and I’ve got to say I really like it. As someone else has posted, they play more pop compared to Absolute but there are no adverts (at least during the day) which makes a big difference.
DJ Dave and DeMarkay gave kudos
VM
VMPhil
I heard an announcement on Gold saying that in order to continue listening, you will soon need to have a radio that supports DAB+, which it already is on the national D1 multiplex. Makes me wonder if they’re removing it from the local DAB multiplexes in favour of something else, perhaps Radio X to appease those who won’t be able to get it if it makes the change to DAB+.
DV
dvboy
Perhaps one or both of the last two of the new services from Global is being added to local multiplexes instead of D1 as it's almost full once they add Capital Xtra Reloaded on Monday.
Manchester is a pretty full local multiplex so they would need to make room to launch anything new there and Gold is the obvious one as it's duplicated on D1.
DV
dvboy
Smooth Chilled replaces Chill in London
Smooth Country replaces Chill in the East Midlands and Gold on a number of other muliplexes
Last edited by dvboy on 2 September 2019 10:49am
VM
VMPhil
Bit disappointing, was kind of hoping for Radio X to go stereo Smile The first press release said these would all be national DAB stations so you can forgive me for speculating.
JA
james-2001
Still ridiculous we have so many mono stations on DAB in 2019.
VM
VMPhil
james-2001 posted:
Still ridiculous we have so many mono stations on DAB in 2019.

Well it slowly seems to be changing. Probably a combination of people replacing their old radios with newer DAB+ compatible sets (without knowing of course) so there’s less of an impact, and the increase of cars with DAB built-in where the need for stereo is much more important.

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