Global Radio axes all regional/local breakfast shows

The more I dig into this the stranger it gets. Its all a bit mysterious with one of these stations receiving money from the National lottery but from a different area from which it is based ->

GREAT DRIFFIELD PEOPLE
£9,770 to GREAT DRIFFIELD RADIO LIMITED on 1 March, 2018

The group will deliver broadcasting workshops, to include interview techniques, research and recording, for individuals and community groups who are interested in promoting and publicising local events and activities and becoming actively involved in the local community. View full grant details
Location
Filey, Thirsk and Malton, Scarborough
Grant Programme
National Lottery Awards for All

All the above towns are hardly local to, or even in the same county as Driffield. The station seems to be registered to a flat in a pair of semis in Filey opposite a chip shop!

Application details here>
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0015/106116/Great-Driffield-Radio_application_form.pdf

Ive asked a few contacts in the area and no one seems to heard it or of it.

Interestingly the presenters on the Driffield station seem to be the presenters on the Yorkshire one.

Hang on there is another one...

Everyone seems to be a director/secretary of the others - a strange little empire.

Heart 80s has switched to DAB+ today.

Heart 90’s will launch tomorrow, another station on Friday, one on Monday & 2 next Tuesday, according to their press release:
https://global.com/global-news/new-global-stations-heart90s/

Interesting to see Heart 90’s will have a Breakfast show, I wonder if all 5 of these stations will? If so, does Leicester Square have enough studios for so many Breakfast shows?

I hadn't heard of it until just now, but it appears to be Barry Robinson's latest venture.

If you change the imaging dates of the Street View of the registered office address, you'll see the various branded cars parked in the drive, such as for Vale Radio, Scarborough TV News, and West Hull Community Radio.

Yes they do.

Chill Radio from Global seems to be there purely to renew a FM licence in and around the London area.

Interesting - how does it do that?

Under the current rules, DAB station licences can renew FM/AM licences owned by the same group. Most will use the DAB simulcast of the FM station to renew the existing licence, however there are some instances where a digital only station can renew a FM licence that doesn't have a DAB simulcast. The Arrow (soft rock format, which is a legacy of Chrysalis's digital stations) and Chill are used to renew a Heart licence that covers Herts, Beds and Bucks on 96.9 and 97.6 FM and Capital Xtra's north London licence on 107.1.

How does that work with Capital Xtra? That was originally Choice FM North and Capital Xtra is on the national DAB mux. So does that renew the South London 96.9fm license?

Yes, D1 renews the South London (Brixton) license. Choice was originally two distinct services for those parts of London with split programming. The North London station was more dance skewed, while Brixton was skewed towards their West Indian community.

Heart ’90s has launched and Capital Xtra has moved to DAB+

Looks like Global are moving most of their services on D1 over to DAB+ to fit in these new stations. Capital UK and Radio X should be the next to make the switch, I’m not sure they’d risk it with Classic FM though. Will be interesting to hear if there’s many complaints from people with DAB-only sets.