AM/FM #2 — August 1992
News from the UK Radio Industry. Edited by Stephen Hebditch.
BBC To Launch 24-Hour News Station
The BBC have announced their plans to launch a new 24 hour a day news network by early 1994. It will operate on Radio Four's current Long Wave frequency and will continue to share some programming with Radio Four. The name for the new network is currently being kept under wraps. However, it won't be Radio 6 or News AM.
The new network will cost 9 million pounds a year to run, compared with Radio Four's 65 million pounds a year budget. The extra money to fund it will come from improved efficiency in the BBC. Live events will be a major component of the service, and the BBC say they will not have to rely on phone-ins to fill time. Work on FM transmitters is being brought forward to try and ensure listeners in remote areas are not left without Radio Four.
The announcement has thrown into chaos the Radio Authority's plans for the third Independent National Radio station, which the Government decided has to be for a speech-based station. The Authority are currently deciding whether to advertise the licence in the Autumn so the new station could get a head start over the BBC. They had previously been considering delaying the licence until there was a more suitable economic climate, and to allow some breathing space after the first two INR stations.
Pirate Radio Raids Up
The DTI's Radio Investigation Service carried out 304 raids on 75 different pirate stations in the six months up to the end of June. Last year there were 475 raids involving 127 different stations.
As usual, the bulk of the raids were in London — where 210 were carried out on 40 illegal broadcasters. Just 25 prosecutions were carried out up to the end of May, the majority of raids being to remove VHF broadcast equipment operating unattended on local-authority-owned residential tower blocks. Tracing personnel is more difficult with many stations using a mixture of microwave and UHF links back to their studios to avoid detection.
Along with the latest figures, the DTI has once more been putting forward the spectre of unlicensed stations being involved in violence against DTI officers. They allege that organised drug syndicates involved in illegal pay parties are setting up stations to provide publicity for them. When DTI investigators attempt to raid such stations they say they are frequently met with violence. One team was reportedly threatened with being thrown off a tower block, while others have reportedly come under attack from blocks of concrete thrown from buildings.
Although some stations do provide promotion for illegal events at which drugs are sold and there has been violence against DTI investigators in some inner city areas, the DTI's attempt to link all three in a conspiracy theory is not born out by the evidence. Previous stories by them that 'anarchists were involved in teaching pirates how to attack police and DTI officials' were similarly proved unfounded.
Wave II JICRAR Announced
The latest Independent Radio audience figures have been announced. These show a slight drop in the number of people listing to the radio in April to June 1992 compared with the same time in the previous year, both commercial and BBC. ILR's share of listening is down from 36.4% to 36.3% and BBC Radio's from 58.2% to 57%.
The main surprise was a drop in London easy listening station Melody Radio's audience, with hours down 43%. Capital Radio have now clawed back almost all the listeners they lost when London's big new ILR stations came on air in 1990.
This will be the last time the figures are published in their current format. From next time joint research will be carried out with the BBC with one common set of figures being published.
WAVE II JICRAR — April to June 1992
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Station Location Weekly Percent Total Average
reach reach hours hours
(000) (000) (000)
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Total Radio Aire 380 44 4711 12.4
Aire FM Leeds 211 24 1836 8.7
Magic 828 Leeds 253 29 2875 11.4
Beacon Radio Group Wolverhampton 614 43 6837 11.1
Radio Borders Borders 59 59 843 14.2
Buzz FM Birmingham 105 11 539 5.1
Total Capital Radio 4264 44 56814 13.3
Capital FM London 3333 34 37294 11.2
Capital Gold London 2214 23 19520 8.8
Total Chiltern East 654 36 8209 12.5
Supergold AM Bedfordshire 328 18 2910 8.9
The Hot FM Bedfordshire 466 28 5263 11.3
Total Chiltern West 181 29 2055 11.4
Supergold AM Gloucester 106 17 938 8.9
The Hot FM Gloucester 119 33 1117 9.4
Choice FM SE London 92 8 771 8.4
Total Radio City 785 38 9440 12.0
City FM Liverpool 670 32 6891 10.3
City Gold Liverpool 334 16 2549 7.6
Total Radio Clyde 971 52 12036 12.4
Clyde 1 102.5 FM Glasgow 726 39 6549 9.0
Clyde 2 1152 AM Glasgow 436 23 5487 12.6
Total Devonair Exeter 156 35 1856 11.9
Total Downtown Radio 593 51 6725 11.3
Cool FM Belfast 246 31 2648 10.8
Downtown Radio Belfast 441 38 3941 8.9
East Anglian Radio East Anglia 440 42 5513 12.5
Total Essex Radio Essex 456 39 4140 9.1
Total Radio Forth Edinburgh 511 48 5923 11.6
Fox FM Oxford 211 41 2329 11.1
Galaxy Radio Bristol 80 17 561 7.0
Total GWR Radio South West 599 42 8017 13.4
Jazz FM London 597 6 2792 4.7
Kiss FM London 1091 11 8418 7.7
Total LBC Radio London 1870 19 20967 11.2
LBC Newstalk 97.3 FM London 1157 12 9062 7.8
LBC Talkback Radio London 1180 12 11906 10.1
Total Marcher Sound Wrexham 152 20 1679 11.1
Melody Radio London 915 9 7694 8.4
Metro Radio (Tyne Tees) Newcastle 1296 57 18905 14.6
Metro Radio (Yorkshire) Teeside 1414 35 19290 13.6
Total Midlands Radio 1831 41 22829 12.5
Midlands Radio East Nottingham 835 42 10151 12.2
Midlands Radio West Birmingham 988 39 12496 12.7
Moray Firth Radio Inverness 84 53 1031 12.3
Northsound Radio Aberdeen 138 55 1530 11.1
Orchard FM Taunton 133 30 1358 10.2
Total Piccadilly Radio 1126 39 15473 13.7
Piccadilly Key 103 FM Manchester 725 25 7095 9.8
Piccadilly Gold Manchester 693 26 8377 12.1
Total Plymouth Sound Plymouth 134 43 1399 10.4
Total Red Dragon Radio 335 40 4052 12.1
Red Dragon FM Cardiff 266 32 2770 10.4
Touch AM Cardiff 122 17 1216 9.9
Total Red Rose Radio 449 44 6178 13.7
Red Rose Rock FM North Lancs 292 29 2726 9.3
Red Rose Gold North Lancs 275 27 3451 12.6
Total Signal Radio Stoke-on-Trent 317 25 4341 13.7
Swansea Sound Swansea 203 39 2425 12.0
Radio Tay Dundee/Perth 183 42 2153 11.8
Total 2CR Bournemouth 206 40 2262 11.0
Total 210 Reading 270 37 2755 10.2
West Sound Ayr 115 43 1255 10.9
Total Radio Wyvern 128 34 1188 9.3
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+ Some stations did not take part and others have not made their results
available. Indented entries give further breakdown for AM / FM or
geographically split station groups.
Format Changes At Radio Three
The BBC have brought in a number of changes at Radio Three to try and increase its appeal to younger listeners and become more accessible. This includes introducing new drivetime programmes hosted by 'livlier' presenters and a new late-night arts programme. The station denies that the changes have come about because of the coming competition from Classic FM. However, Nicholas Kenyon, new Controller at Radio Three, has admitted that the threat from the new station made it easier to persuade BBC management of the need to make changes.
ITN Buys Out IRN
Television news providers ITN have bought 18% of Independent Radio News from London talk station LBC and are to run the service under contract for three years from October. The rest of LBC's 40% stake will go to other ILR stations. IRN will now move in to ITN's City of London headquarters, taking on most of IRN's existing 38 staff members. ITN are also expected to become part of a consortium bidding for the third Independent National Radio licence.
Since it was created in 1973, IRN has shared facilities with its main shareholders, LBC. However, with radio getting increasingly competitive in London, LBC began keeping exclusive stories to itself rather than sharing them with IRN. As a result, Capital Radio, one of IRN's other main owners, threatened to pull out unless IRN became separate from LBC's operation and LBC's owners reduced their stake in the news service.
Potential Buyers Hover At LBC
Douglas Moffat, former Financial Editor at LBC, has come forward as a possible buyer for the troubled station. He has assembled a group to buy out LBC should its parent, Crown Communications, go into receivership or be forced to sell because of its continuing financial problems.
Meanwhile, the Radio Authority have denied that they would try to keep LBC going should its owners go bust. In the event of that happening, they say they would either re-advertise the licence immediately or wait till March when it comes up for renewal. There had been previous reports that they had been talking with possible buyers for the station should Crown's situation decline further.
LBC are to relaunch their AM service at the end of August.
Radio Authority Issue Latest Quarterly Report
The Radio Authority have produced their latest quarterly report, giving details of complaints to them over the previous 3 months.
A complaint was rejected against Buzz FM that they were no longer a local station following the closure of their newsroom. The Authority said they were happy with the Birmingham station's assurances that a journalist had been employed to provide local news stories.
They upheld a complaint against Wolverhampton's Beacon Radio, which has severely reprimanded two presenters for broadcasting the telephone number of a listener after one of them had an on-air disagreement with them. Complaints were also upheld against Bristol's Galaxy Radio over an inaccurate news report, Manchester's Sunset Radio after a deejay swore on air when he'd accidentally cued up the wrong track, and IRN over a politically biased news report in the run-up to the election. Seven complaints were upheld over advertising.
New Local Licences
The Radio Authority have awarded the ILR licence for Windsor, Slough and Maidenhead to Tristar Broadcasting. There were eight bidders for the station. Unsuccessful applicant WSM Radio who broadcast on Windsor's cable service closed following their defeat.
The Colchester licence has been won by Colchester FM.
Two new Independent Local Radio stations have opened: Minster FM in York and KLFM in Kings Lynn.
The new Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, ILR station will use the on-air name CD-603.
Restricted Service Stations
The Radio Authority have brought in new restrictions on restricted service licences. In future these will not be awarded where it is felt that they could damage existing commercial stations. They have already refused one licence for an Asian station in West London who they felt would affect Sunrise Radio. The number of restricted service licences available in London will also be reduced in the run-up to 4 new full licences being awarded.
Quay FM are broadcasting to Bridlington in Yorkshire from August 8th to September 4th. Festival Radio are broadcasting at the Edinburgh Festival from August 9th to September 5th on 100.4 FM. West London Radio are on the air with a black music format from 17th July to 14 August on 101.6 FM. Bromley AM will broadcast on 1242 AM during August. Cambridge Community Radio broadcast for the duration of the Cambridge Festival in July.
Financial News
Allied Radio, owners of ILR stations in Surrey, Sussex and Kent, have announced a loss of 357,000 pounds for the six months up to the end of March. The company says that it expects results to slowly pick up now, helped by the relaunch of County Sound and Radio Mercury.
A group headed by WNK boss Joe Douglas has bought out Midland Radio's stake in the North London black music station. WNK, which shares a frequency with London Greek Radio, is under threat of losing its licence in the renewals starting this autumn.
People
The last of Jazz FM's young jazz deejays has been sacked by the station. Steve Edwards was given the push in the middle of a programme, following a minor breach of station rules. It is understood that there had been a growing disagreement between him and station management over the direction of his programme.
Radio One has launched a nationwide search for one of its original deejays. Pete Brady worked for the station between 1967 and 1971 when he left for a short lived television career. The BBC are looking for him as part of their celebrations of 25 years of Radio One and hope to recreate a picture of the original deejay lineup.
Former Radio Two presenter David Jacobs has joined London's Melody FM. His company has also been involved in talks over setting up a new satellite radio station.
Terry Wogan returned to the radio for the the BBC's Olympic coverage.
Former Invicta Radio deejay Caesar The Boogieman sat in for Chris Philips on Kiss FM while he filled in for the holidaying Dave Pearce.
Bits
Classic FM have announced that the station will launch on September 6th. They will be providing their own news service for the station, rather than using IRN.
Listeners to Kiss FM have been complaining over Classic FM's test transmissions. The arrival of the new station has meant that people in the outer home counties who could previously listen to Kiss are now finding it swamped by Classic's tests.
Test transmissions for the second INR station, Independent Music Radio, have now begun on 1215 AM. It will target 20 to 24 year old males with an adult-oriented rock service.
The BBC have announced their intention to have 10 percent of national radio programmes made by independent producers by 1996. 450 hours worth will be made by independents in the coming year.
44 ILR stations are to broadcast this summer's Coca Cola Live concert series.
A deejay on Manchester's Sunset Radio has been suspended after playing a track that criticises police raids on raves.
Radio Clyde have launched a new green trust to encourage people to support recycling, saving energy and looking after the environment.
Chiltern Radio are to put together a consortium to apply for the third INR licence. The station is also looking for sponsors for its new Airplay Chart to be heard across five stations from July 21st.
Choice FM have announced that they intend to apply for a Londonwide licence when the licences come up for renewal.
A Midlands hospital is advertising same-day operations on the radio. When vacancies become available at short notice they are relayed on BBC Hereford and Worcester, with potential patients invited to ring in to see if they are suitable.
Copyright 1992 TQM Communications / 2001 amfm.org.uk. All rights reserved.