Been so sad hearing several of our local DJs last shows - really is a disgrace that OFCOM enabled this to happen when the current system is very profitable as it is. Losing the ability to have additional local information outside news and travel bulletins in the morning and at weekends is really making them a much poorer service, whilst in these days of so much viewer engagement removing making it far less likely that viewers in regions will get mentioned on air by going national just removes so much from the channels. And that's before you even mention the talent and opportunities axing so much regional content removes from the industry.
It is bad, to be fair Greatest Hits Radio does mention a lot of people in Liverpool still after it's re-brand from Radio City 2. I'm guessing though that is because it was based here and it's also on FM here.
A prime example of how the deregionalisation (a word I've made up) of British Broadcasting (started on TV) has now spread to radio too.
Good word.
It's certainly a trend that broadcasting is changing its granularity, to one where programme content is geographically generic rather than targetted. Radio though has a higher ratio of local to national advertising than television though, which leads me to something that could be applied as a general regulatory condition.
Broadcasters should have to match the granularity of ad sales areas with programme content areas. So that if Global (say) choose to sell Norfolk, Suffolk (and even Bury-St-Edmunds) separately - I think that they still do. Then the three areas would have to have seperate news/weather/traffic on FM and DAB. If then there's a large proportion of East Anglia (errr Anglia/East) ad spot content vs national content, then some programme ought to be originated locally too.
The purpose should be to protect genuine local broadcasters. There could be a commercial radio station in (say) Norwich that struggles with local ad sales, because Global is still selling local spots, despite not having to fund any local content. If Global wanted to leave the local market and operate pan-regional/national, then fine, but the local ad market should be available exclusively to those who care to originate local content.
In Hertfordshire, Communicorp have acquired Bob FM, a local licence for Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City and Hatfield to rebrand as Heart. This despite the area already being covered by a Global Heart FM which covers Herts, Beds, Bucks and Northants and is also in Heart's Greater London TSA.
Their plan is to merge output with Communicorp's Heart Hertfordshire, which is a local radio station for Watford, Hemel and St. Albans of which part is covered by Heart Four Counties and Heart London.
Now while it doesn't make sense to add yet another Heart, they will be able to sell local ads, while networking Global salaried talent except for three hours on weekdays from Watford.
I’m already annoyed about this. I like Bob FM because it plays a wide selection of songs and doesn’t have celebrity dj’s, just good music and some local ads. I love just on the edge of their area where I can already listen to Heart London, Heart Hertfordshire (used to be Watford’s Mercury), Heart 4 Counties (used to be Chiltern), and can just about pick up Heart Essex.... why in the flip do I want to be given even less choice on my fm radio? Local radio is dying off quickly. My only real local choices left is either two community stations Vibe or Verulam or BBC three Counties.
What a lot of people often forget is the impact on mental health when people are made redundant and there's that awful period between being told and the day you leave.
People in the media will seldom talk about it openly. I've had people from across the sector contact me (I seem to be the spokesperson for mental health in radio these days).
As most people who were around this place in 2011 know, I went through a period of mental ill health myself suffering from extreme depression and anxiety due to being in a relationship with a violent ex-girlfriend which then led to bullying at work. At one stage, I nearly took my own life.
I've been pretty open about it in the industry and have written many articles about it. Following the most recent Global news, I penned this blog/article for Radio Today last month, which I hope will encourage those who need it (particularly men, who are less likely to talk) to seek support.
I know this is a radio story but it somehow seems relevant considering the consolidation of ITV and the fact that Charles Allen is the chairman of Global:
From RadioToday:
Quote:
Global will broadcast national breakfast shows on the Capital, Heart and Smooth networks by the end of this year, RadioToday can reveal.
Capital will go first with the London output replacing 14 breakfast programmes on the Capital network in England, Scotland and Wales on April 8th. Due to deregulation and larger ‘approved areas’, only nine drivetime shows will be provided instead of the current 14.
New rules will mean the merger of Capital Brighton and South Coast (Meridian), the merger of Capital Birmingham and East Midlands (already a merger of stations in Leicester, Nottingham and Derby) (Central), and the merger of Capital Manchester and Lancashire – being created by rebranding its latest purchase, 2BR, on the same day (North West).
London, Liverpool, North East and Yorkshire will retain a local Drive show, along with Scotland and Wales. The rest of the output will be networked with local news, ads and information.
Heart will get a single breakfast show across England, Scotland and Wales on all stations owned by Global and Communicorp in the coming months – putting an end to the current line-up of 22 breakfast shows and their teams. And instead of 23 separate drivetime shows, there will be 10 covering the enlarged areas.
For Smooth, a new national breakfast show will launch later in the year, replacing breakfast programmes in East Midlands, West Midlands, North West, Lake District, North East, Scotland and Wales. Drivetime programmes will be reduced to seven with the expected merger of Smooth North West and Lake District, whilst Smooth East Midlands will network with Connect FM once it has been rebranded.
All local and regional weekend programmes on all brands will end with national programmes provided on all frequencies.
Global’s Founder & Executive President Ashley Tabor made the announcement to staff this morning in London and via video link to the rest of the company, along with plans to reduce their broadcast centres from 24 down to 14 – therefore closing 10 studio sites.
Merging the stations means fewer broadcast facilities are required, and RadioToday can bring you details of which sites will stay and which will remain:
The sites closing are:
Brighton
Cambridge
Chelmsford
Exeter
Gloucester
Kendal
Kent
Lancaster
Norwich
Swindon
The sites remaining are:
Birmingham
Bristol
Cardiff
Fareham
Glasgow
Leeds
Liverpool
London
Manchester
Milton Keynes
Nottingham – non-broadcast (except Communicorp)
Reading – non-broadcast
Newcastle
Wrexham
Apart from the fact that this is a crying shame, what could it mean for the future of regional commercial television? Could we see the merger of ITV's regional news programmes to cover larger areas? As we know, their programmes already share human interest content.
It would seem odd to allow such consolidation in radio and then force ITV to continue in its present form.
In my opinion they should let Capital/Heart get on with going ‘National’ and being Commercial rivals to the BBC’s Radio One and Two. Therefore no Local Programming, no Local News, just National programming (including National News) with maybe a few specialist shows thrown in. Smooth would also follow suit the ‘Classic FM’ National model.
In exchange for this arrangement, maybe Ofcom make Global’s LBC go FM and produce more Localised News bulletins with maybe a couple of Local Phone In programmes thrown in? A bit like ITV’s National/Regional set up...
As for the TV Broadcaster’s own Regional content, we’ll probably see more cutbacks at some point. To be honest if we lost 10 minutes from the 6pm programme (National News starting at 6:20pm) but it was totally dedicated to it’s Region/Sub-Region I’m not sure many would complain. I’d personally scrap the Lunchtime bulletin (along with the less important National bulletin?) too to prioritise a couple of extra minutes within Good Morning Britain. As for the Weekend bulletins, I wish ITV would consider two 5 minute updates than a 10 minute bulletin as it always seems to be mostly filler anyway!
Going back to the Radio, someone asked will Global/Bauer merge? It’s unlikely but so was Granada/Carlton’s merger!
The reality is that the majority of the UK radio market will be two operators, Global and Bauer, with the scraps being a couple of independents such as Radio Jackie and High Peak Radio, with some community focused commercial stations in Scotland.
Going back to the Radio, someone asked will Global/Bauer merge? It’s unlikely but so was Granada/Carlton’s merger!
There would have to be some major changes to UK competition law for this to be allowed.
You cannot compare regional radio to regional ITV.
There are significantly more TV channels than radio stations.
One of the reasons for the Granada/Carlton merger being allowed was the fact that there were hundreds of other TV channels, with significantly more choice for viewers than when ITV started. The same cannot be said for radio.