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AM/FM

AM/FM #17 — November 1993

News from the UK Radio Industry. Edited by Stephen Hebditch.

Third Wave RAJAR Out

The latest RAJAR audience research figures are out, covering the period from July to September this year.

Radio Five saw its share of listening hours increase by 47% since the previous survey — the biggest increase by any station — with a reach of 4.04 million. The BBC says this was mostly due to the channel's sports programming rather than the children's and young people's programming which will be axed next year. Radio Three gained listeners and hours, due to both the extended cricket coverage and The Proms. Radio One's share dropped by 12.5%, ahead of the programme changes which it hopes will help stem the flood of listeners leaving the station.

The station with the biggest reach remains Radio One at 34%, then Radio Two at 19%, Radio Four at 18%, Classic FM at 10%, Radio Five at 9%, Atlantic 252 at 8.5%, Radio Three at 7%, and in last place Virgin 1215 with just under 7%.

Overall, the ratings showed the slow but continuing decline in listening to BBC Radio. 1.3 million listeners have been lost by the BBC in the past year, giving them now a 56.1% share of all listening. This compares with commercial radio which has risen from a 37.7% to a 41.1% share in the same time period. Amongst young people there is an even greater skew towards the independent sector.

Virgin Tries To Get It Up

Following its disappointing ratings in the latest RAJAR figures, Virgin 1215 has made a number of changes to its output. Pre-launch research which indicated that listeners wanted a wide ranging music policy has proved to be incorrect, with listeners preferring to stick to known classics. Virgin has now introduced a 'safer' music policy during daytimes, shifting new and more adventurous music to the evenings.

Changes have also been made to the line-up of presenters. The album chart has been moved to a new Saturday lunchtime slot to build on the audience generated by the preceeding Big Red Mug show. Wendy Lloyd has been given a weekend late afternoon slot.

Virgin's audience slumped to 2.88 million in the RAJAR figures, down by 400,000 from its launch. This gives it an audience smaller than Radio Three. Virgin claims that there has been a significant rise in its audience over the past month, although this will not of course be seen until the next official figures due out in January.

Controller Announced For New BBC Network

Jenny Abramsky has been appointed by the BBC as the controller of its proposed rolling news and sport channel. She was previously editor of news and current affairs for BBC radio. Deputy Controller of the Radio Five replacement will be Mike Lewis, head of sports and outside broadcasts for BBC radio.

A name has not yet been formally decided for the new network, although 'UK Live' and 'BBC Live' currently seem to be front runners. It will target a 25 to 45 year old audience living in metropolitan areas outside London. The BBC believes this group is currently under-served by its existing news broadcasting. In style the network will apparently be closer to the news programming on Radio One than that on Radio Four. News bulletins will run on the hour and the half hour, with sports reports on the hour and regular travel and weather. It will not share the backbone of Radio Four's news programming as the BBC had originally planned when it first announced plans for a news network on long wave.

The budget for the new station will will rise from the current UKP 23.7 million of Radio Five to UKP 30.2 million, funded from efficiency savings. All 75 staff on Radio Five will be interviewed for jobs on the new network, which will initially employ 150 people. It will begin broadcasting on the 28th of March next year.

Programming currently on Radio Five will be split through a number of networks. One BBC insider was reported as describing this as ruining three networks, not just one. Open University and education and language programmes will move to Radio Four. Primary school education will move to Radio Three in the afternoons.

Children's programming will be heavily cut, over 1,500 hours per year on Radio Five being reduced to just 75 on Radio Four. This will take the form of a 15 minute story for pre-school children every weekday and a half hour serial every Sunday. Some elements of the late night youth programming may be picked up by Radio One with its new-found keenness for speech programming for young people. Extended coverage of major stories, such as important debates in the House of Commons, will remain as an opt-out on Radio Four Long Wave rather than going to the new station as originally planned.

New Call For Single Radio Regulator

Speaking at a dinner to celebrate the 20th anniversary of commercial radio in the UK, Lord Chalfont, chairman of the Radio Authority, called for a single body to oversee all radio in the UK — both BBC and Independent. He said he was particularly unhappy over the way the BBC was able to switch formats for Radio Five. This brings it into closer competition with the third, speech-based INR station and, he believed, would have the effect of narrowing the range of available programmes.

The Department of National Heritage is in the process of drawing up a white paper for publication next January, dealing primarily with the renewal of the BBC's charter. Making the BBC keep to promises of performance in the same way as Independent Radio is one of the possibilities being considered. A change in the role of the BBC Governors also seems likely.

Fourth Regional Awarded

Heart FM has won the Independent Regional Radio licence for the Midlands. Owned by the Chrysalis Group it plans a soft AOR station aimed at the 25 to 45 year old market. It will serve around 2.5 million listeners including the major conurbations of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and plans to launch in September 1994.

Chrysalis has announced that it plans to become a major player in UK radio, and is to form a new core division to handle this side of its operations. It already owns a stake in Metro Radio and plans to apply for one of the next Londonwide licences with a similar format to Heart FM. It had previously failed in applications in London and the North East.

60 Channels Of Digital Radio

Music Choice Europe has announced plans to launch in January with its service of up to 60 channels of music delivered digitally to cable customers. Based in London, it will initially offer the service to the 42,000 customers of the Birmingham Cable Corporation. For UKP 8 a month they will receive a choice of channels from across the musical spectrum but without deejays, announcements or advertisements. Channels will be tailored to the areas they serve — Birmingham for example will have channels of Indian and Pakistani music alongside mainstream choices such as rock, oldies, rap and country and western.

Backers for Music Choice Europe include record companies Sony and Warner Brothers alongside hardware manufacturer General Instruments and a number of cable companies. Rival Digital Music Express is already available to cable subscribers in Bradford and plans to launch on the Astra satellite early next year.

Local Licences

One station has applied for the Independent licence for the Stirling and Falkirk area: Central FM. Central already broadcasts to the Stirling area and if as expected it wins the expanded licence it will serve an enlarged audience of 180,000 adults.

The Radio Authority has rejected Canmore Radio's licence application to broadcast to the Dunfermline area. It was the sole applicant for the licence.

Two groups have applied for the re-advertised licence for the Isle of Wight: Wight AM and present operators Isle of Wight Radio.

Two groups have applied for the re-advertised licence for Tendring in Essex: Mellow Media Group and present operators Mellow 1557.

Licences have been re-advertised for Sunderland's Wear FM, Coventry's Harmony Radio, Birmingham's Buzz FM, South East London's Radio Thamesmead, North London frequency sharers London Greek Radio and WNK and South London's Choice FM. A second AM licence is also on offer in Birmingham and the Radio Authority is considering making available a second AM licence in North London.

Restricted Service Licences

XFM will be on the air to North London for 28 days from November 27th with their indie music based programming. Amongst the deejays on the station is former Radio One jock Alan Freeman who will present the weekly indie chart.

People

The Future Sound of London are to guest for 4 weeks on Kiss FM. They will host the Givin' It Up slot between 1am and 4am every Wednesday night / Thursday morning during November with their brand of confrontational ambient music.

Steve Wright is being slated to take over the Radio One breakfast show when the station unveils its second major set of programme changes after Christmas.

Simon Bates broadcast his last show on Radio One live from a deli on New York's Seventh Avenue. He is set to join Atlantic 252 from the start of next January, complete with the return of Our Tune. Atlantic is currently searching for a sponsor for the popular slot.

Jonathan King is presenting a new 10 week series on Radio One called 'Music Music Music', commissioned from independent producers Unique Broadcasting.

Carlisle's CFM has dropped Dave Lee Travis' new syndicated show after complaints that he played too many album tracks.

Advertising And Promotions

12 ILR stations are to join with the Daily Mirror and the charity Shelter for a week long campaign on homelessness. Stations will tailor programming to highlight the problem of homelessness in their own areas while the Daily Mirror will sponsor a freephone number for people to call with credit card donations.

Kahlua are to sponsor 15 minute mixes to go out in 5 different Kiss FM programmes each week. This is their second sponsorship deal with the dance music station.

Philishave are to sponsor a new series of 15 minute rock celebrity interviews on Virgin 1215, aiming to reveal 'the man inside'.

Provident Life is to sponsor the weather on Classic FM for a trial period.

Pitney Bowes is to sponsor the financial news on London's Jazz FM.

Trans World Communications has switched sales houses for its sponsorship business to Media Sales and Marketing following the demise of the Radio Sales Company.

Independent Radio Sales has picked up the national sales business for Cornwall ILR Pirate FM.

Financial News

Chris Carey, owner of Birmingham's Buzz FM, says he has agreed a sale for the Birmingham pop / dance station. He claims an advert which recently appeared advertising the station for just one pound appeared by mistake after the deal had already been set up. He bought the station for one pound a year ago when it was incurring heavy losses and having turned it around was reported to be looking for a new owner at a UKP 500,000 asking price.

Independent Radio News made an undisclosed profit in the first year of its separation from LBC. The company is now owned by a consortium of ILR stations with ITN supplying the news service under contract.

Bits

The BBC is to create a single management structure for its news and current affairs staff as part of its move towards bi-media working. From January current TV news editor Peter Bell will head all news programmes on both TV and radio. A new head of weekly programmes for both media will be appointed shortly.

The Radio Authority has upheld a complaint against Moray Firth Radio after a deejay on the station broadcast an extract from a telephone sex line. The station admitted breaking the Authority's programme code and suspended the presenter for six weeks.

The Broadcasting Standards Council has censured BBC Radio Four's Woman's Hour for broadcasting a reading from a book depicting violence against women and rape. The BBC accepted that it had been unsuitable for the weekday morning slot.

Classic FM has introduced its first set of sung jingles, from English National Opera soprano Lesley Garratt backed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

The BBC had denied rumours that it plans to close or merge its Coventry and Warwickshire local station unless it shows a significant increase in its audience size.

The Department of National Heritage is recommending that the BBC licence fee be raised in line with inflation next year. This would take it from its current UKP 83 to either UKP 84.5 or UKP 85.

The BBC is to close down its radio reference library. It will be merged with other BBC library services.

A new pressure group has been formed to campaign for an increased say for Scotland in its broadcasting services. Broadcasting for Scotland wants to see a fairer allocation of airtime for Scottish productions and more local control.

Peter Bottomley MP has called on the BBC to give its GLR frequency to LBC instead.

Newsroom South East now seems likely to join GLR in its Marylebone headquarters rather than moving with GLR to a new home in the former Thames Television studios in the London's Euston Road as had been previously considered.

BBC Radio Wales has increased the amount of news on the station and broadcast to an extra 20 hours a week.

Irish state broadcaster RTE is testing out the viability of broadcasting on the Astra satellite with a temporary subcarrier on a transponder used by MTV. RTE has also joined the World Radio Network consortium.

Sunrise Radio has appointed IRS as its first national sales house. Sunrise currently broadcasts to West London, the Midlands and Bradford and will move to Londonwide broadcasting in January. Sunrise has a turnover of 1.2 million pounds in 1992 and hopes to expand this to 3 million with its new Londonwide operation.

Choice FM has begun a new 150,000 pound poster campaign in Central London, aiming to repackage the black music station.

Bob Scott has been appointed as the new chairman of Manchester's Piccadilly Radio. He was previously chairman of the city's Olympic bid.

David Dimbleby has resigned from the board of LBC following the loss of its licence.

The Association of Independent Radio Companies is to change its rules to allow Atlantic 252 to join the organisation.

GLR has dropped its AM frequency. Specialist programming previously carried as an opt-out on this channel has now been merged with the FM output. The 1458 frequency will be used by Sunrise Radio from the start of the new year.

Kiss FM has been forced to censor a new TV advert which recommended that viewers spent a day without the telly and listened to them instead. ITV refused to allow the advert on until they dropped the advice. The uncensored advert from the half million pound campaign can still be seen in London cinemas.