The Newsroom

The new NEW Central West and BBC Midlands thread

(January 2013)

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HC
Hatton Cross
Temporary radio station starting in Wolverhampton (splitting off from WM)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e5vfbp


I didn’t realise the BBC had a studio in Wolves?

Newhampton Arts Centre according to wikipedia - a contribution studio for BBC WM, like Coventry had before they brought CWR back.

With this lovely, faded, 1997 vintage sign https://www.google.com/maps/@52.5908301,-2.134912,3a,28y,13.76h,84.33t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stjXdR4JZ9gpC-AyHDTBjwQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

EDIT: from looking at the building, it's probably listed, but it looks very badly maintained. Wonder what the studio looks like inside

And literally, around the corner in another part of the building is the offices and studios of WCR - Wolverhampton Community Radio. I know a couple of old Pebble Mill (and 267 Tettenhall Road) lifers ended up helping out upon retirment. I'd have thought in the current climate, the use of a spare broadcast spec studio for WM and WCR is probably out.

There was a brief piece on the Breakfast regional news this morning, and the studio did look very Mailbox-ish in studio apperance set up and wall soundproofing.
IS
Inspector Sands

It may not still be the case that Leeds still has three. The ViLoR template was two studios for each station and I think that was applied fairly rigourously. If they are using the second studio in each parent site for these pop up stations then that does reduce resilience almost completely, though I imagine if there is a failure the first thing to go would be the pop up station to maintain the main.

The pop ups are opt-outs so yes I imagine they'd just disappear

As you say, ViLoR is two studios and that's because there are two central bits of infrastructure, one for each. If Leeds has 3 studios, the 3rd would be lost of one of the others was
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Then again the Vilor deployment at Leeds would have been planned while the network evening show was coming from one of their studios, often while the other two were handling two separate sports shows on Radio Leeds, so there may have been provision for it.

I think Leeds got three because at the time the building opened they were providing breakfast Sport bulletins to the rest of the Yorkshire stations, and I guess it didn't cost that much more to add an extra studio compared with an extra NPA, in the scheme of things.
JO
Jon
Apparently this station is coming from the Mailbox unsurprisingly. I wonder if this is a way to use up some of the spare budget saved from the now arbitrary programme lengths of the main stations. It does seem a strange time for the BBC to be launching the things in a time of cuts and I wonder if they’re seeing it as pilot project to see whether it’s worthwhile carrying on full time.

These stations live feeds don’t appear to be on the BBC Sounds app either, unless they’re only on there when the local programmes are live? You’d think getting them on BBC Sounds would be much easier than getting them on DAB.
IS
Inspector Sands
They don't seem to be online at all, which I'd assume would be both very easy, and would enable more people to listen

I seem to remember that these stations were set up as a response to something Tim Davie promised. I wouldn't have thought the cost of them is that much, it's basically just a split programme for a few hours a day, apart from the extra presenter/producers there's not really any other costs - no new studios, transmitters etc
JO
Jon
You can listen through the website - https://www.bbc.co.uk/events/e5vfbp

But of course it’s BBC WM output apart from the mornings and the football. The recorded programmes are also on BBC Sounds but not the live feed it seems.
DV
dvboy
The report on Midlands Today at lunchtime confirmed BBC Radio Wolverhampton comes from the Mailbox.
WM
WMD
Seems to stem from this commitment:

Quote:
In radio, the BBC plans to make local and regional services “more dynamic and responsive” and build them around a definition of “local” that is determined on audience need.

It will focus on better serving audiences in the Midlands and the North of England, which have been traditionally underserved, including Bradford, Sunderland, Wolverhampton, Blackpool and Peterborough.


https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/bbc-faces-125m-in-lost-income-over-covid-19-as-it-reveals-digital-at-heart-of-news-plan/

Should we anticipate a BBC Radio Blackpool and reborn BBC Radio Peterborough? It doesn’t seem that long ago that the Peterborough breakfast opt-out from Cambridgeshire was axed for cost-saving reasons.

Interesting that the temporary stations seem to be going for the same format - local 6-10am and 10am-2pm programmes Monday to Friday. That represents more local output than BBC Radio Surrey or the Dorset opt from BBC Radio Solent. How long before the pendulum swings the other way, and the BBC seeks to address the ‘underserved south’?
SP
Steve in Pudsey
I think there is a fair question about why these particular places have been chosen.

Bradford for example suffers from being "not Leeds", but arguably giving Bradford its own service only make Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale feel even more underserved, particularly as Bradford has a pretty strong general interest community station.
MA
Markymark
I think there is a fair question about why these particular places have been chosen.

Bradford for example suffers from being "not Leeds", but arguably giving Bradford its own service only make Wakefield, Kirklees and Calderdale feel even more underserved, particularly as Bradford has a pretty strong general interest community station.


All three towns do I think?

Seems like another case of 'me too' provision by the Beeb

As you say plenty of places that are underserved, but of course many would require some sort of transmitter to be installed, which is beyond the budget
SP
Steve in Pudsey
True. Wolverhampton and Blackpool at least have the benefit of the parent station being named for the county rather than a city.

One benefit that has come out of the Bradford station is that they have split the DAB feed of Radio Leeds on the Bradford mux into 2x64kbps mono feeds, which means that the Bradford City commentaries that usually languish on AM only when all three local teams are playing are available in reasonable quality.

I gather it's a full-time split rather than being reconfigured back to 128kbps stereo when the opt out isn't broadcasting. (A big chunk of the audience for the Bradford mux also have access to Leeds mux now it's transmitted from Emley so can still get a stereo version)
DV
dvboy
BBC Radio Wolverhampton has replaced BBC Radio WM on the Wolverhampton and Shropshire DAB multiplex (which also carries BBC Radio Shropshire). Wolverhampton still gets good coverage of BBC Radio WM on 95.6 FM and on the Birmingham DAB multiplex.

For the two 12:30 kick-offs today, they put Wolves v West Brom on 95.6 FM and BBC Radio Wolverhampton, and the Birmingham City match on BBC Radio WM on Birmingham DAB only.

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