Global Radio axes all regional/local breakfast shows

I think licensing it going to become an irrelevance over the next 10 years anyway thanks to technology, and smart speakers which I’m sure will be fitted in cars as standard soon. Which will eliminate the need for FM or DAB.

With Android Auto making appearances in lots of cars, this is already possible today - even a Hyundai i10 in the right trim has Android Auto compatibility.

Radio stations, particularly commercial ones, do mention their names a lot, not just as a branding exercise, but because they rely on people knowing what they’re listening to when they’re filling in a Rajar diary.

What they don’t want is someone assuming that, because they’re listening to classical music, they must be listening to Radio 3, and so ticking the wrong station in their survey diary.

It might seem obvious to you, but it’s widely acknowledged that mis-reporting by Rajar respondents does happen. When there was an experiment a few years ago of using wearable devices to listen and automatically log which station was being heard, it was found TalkSport in particular showed a huge increase in listening because in Rajar, people assumed as they were listening to sport, they must have been listening to 5 Live.

It wasn't just TalkSport (although that figure perhaps should be taken with a pinch of salt as they funded the trial), all speech stations as well as BBC London saw a massive increase compared with Rajar

The system isn't perfect though, the devices that insert the watermark are a bit unreliable at times and of course it discounts any headphone listening

There is a lot of misreporting of radio stations in Rajar, when an established name changes. Virgin's ratings were surprisingly good when it launched, how many of those were getting it confused with Absolute? The recent dive in ratings for what was Key 103 isn't surprising under Rajar as the name is so well known unlike its rather bland replacement branding

That is true, though as you say it is part time (It is a bit annoying that they are able to simulcast so much when that is the reason the original LBC lost their license back in the 90s)


It might also be that some of the ethnic stations are local London stations but I lose track of what's on what frequency (after Sunrise went bust they all seemed to swap round) and only a few are Greater London licenses - 1458, 558 and 963/972 (558 is Kelvin Mckensies latest sports station but is swapping with Panjab radio for some reason - 558 is a very good license to have)

Premier is the other London license but I'm not sure if that counts, it's been quasi national for years and has spread out with another MW outlet in Guildford

I'm not sure local radio is quite as dead as Global would have everyone believe. Where I live we have two local community radio stations nearby both of which recently gained FM and (local) DAB+ licences. The first is HCR104fm based in Huntingdon and the other is Black Cat 107 based in St Neots. In my opinion ultra local radio stations still have their place (and a more varied playlist), though when it comes to larger 'local' stations there's only really BBC local radio left.

The problem with community radio is that it's generally run by volunteers and the quality can often be shocking. A quick glance at Ofcom's monthly reports is all you need to do to understand how poor they can be. From inciting religious wars to endless swearing - the kind of issues they create would result in larger commercial licenses being revoked! Some community stations are decent, but the majority are up there with That's TV.

I did think that at first the current London hosts would be a shoo-in but now I'm not so sure. With the opportunity for near nationwide coverage is Jamie Theakston the best Heart can do? He might have been a name in 2005 when he started, but I wouldn't be surprised if they went out into the radio world with their chequebook. Capital's duo, possibly? They are newish and seem to fit the bill quite well. And Smooth....(quickly Googles)...well that definitely seems to be a caretaker presenter.

I'm pretty sure it's been confirmed that Capital's London current Breakfast Show will now be the national one. Heart and Smooth's presenters are TBC

Yes, Russ Williams was the presenter before him. He took over from Andrew Castle in 2016 after leaving Absolute Radio where he had worked since launch (as Virgin Radio in 1993). But he suddenly left in early 2018 without warning.

It's so local that it rebranded as LBC London News.

Sad to see the local Heart Breakfast shows going, although I’m not hugely surprised. Surely they’ll bring in a big name for the new nationwide breakfast show? Scott Mills, as others have suggested, would be a good hiring. I had no idea Scott Mills was 44, although I’ve thought for a while he’s seemed a little out of place at Radio 1. I wouldn’t be surprised if Maya Jama got the afternoon slot if Mills did leave, she seems to be a favourite of the bosses at the moment.

With regards to ITV, I don’t see how this might have an impact. If the ITV regional news was to get any less local they might as well not bother!