AM/FM #9 — March 1993

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

Reshuffle At Radio One

Radio One is to carry out a programme reshuffle in an attempt to try and make the station more attractive to younger listeners. Dave Lee Travis will leave after 25 years at the station. He will be replaced at the weekend by Simon Bates who has reportedly tired of his weekday morning programme and wants to do something different. Our Tune will be moving with him to the new slot though.

Simon Mayo will take over from Simon Bates and Mark Goodier will move into the breakfast slot. The new presenter for the evening slot has not been yet decided. Steve Lamacq, who recently sat in for the holidaying Mark Goodier, is apparently on the shortlist. He has previous radio experience on GLR and XFM as well as working as news editor at the NME.

Meanwhile, Liz Forgan, new Managing Director of Radio at the BBC, has pledged to keep Radio One and Radio Two in their current form.

Independents Call For Review Of New Ratings

Independent stations are asking for a review of the way the recent RAJAR audience research figures were carried out. Of particular concern is a large drop in the number of 15 to 24 year old listeners. This hit London's Kiss FM particularly hard, seeing the amount of time people listen to the station drop by 36 percent compared to the old JICRAR figures. Capital FM was also hit hard, losing 11 percent of hours.

JICRAR used the total number of young people in the UK taken from the Government's 1981 census. The new research uses the 1991 census, which showed a drop in the number of young people. However, the stations also want the way young people were recruited for the audience survey to be examined. There has also been some reduction due to changes in counting the number of listeners tuning into stations which don't directly broadcast to where they live.

Classic FM Accused Of 'Spoilers'

Classic FM is being criticised for putting out a series of operas one week before the same opera is broadcast on Radio Three. The station has apparently been upset that it is not allowed to carry any of a series of live concerts from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York which are broadcast on stations which are members of the European Broadcasting Union. Classic FM applied to carry some of the live transmissions, but after complaints from Radio Three were barred as they did not qualify for membership of the European Broadcasting Union.

Local Licences

The Radio Authority has advertised the second regional licence, covering 1.9 million adults in the North West of England.

The Radio Authority are advertising eight Londonwide licences this month. Up for renewal are the licences for Jazz FM, Kiss FM, LBC Newstalk, LBC Talkback, Melody Radio and Spectrum Radio, together with two new AM licences on 990 AM and 1458 AM, currently used by GLR.

CLT, owners of the now deceased Radio Luxembourg and co-owners of Atlantic 252, have been in talks with the Radio Authority over a London licence. The media group are interested in running a station in an area of Britain that Atlantic 252 cannot reach.

A new licence has been advertised for Maidstone and Folkestone, aimed at cross-channel travellers.

Two groups have applied for the re-advertised licence for Leeds in Yorkshire: Radio Aire, who currently hold the licence, and The Voice Of Yorkshire.

The Radio Authority have re-advertised the licences for Peterborough (currently held by Mid-Anglia Radio), Bournemouth (2CR), Bristol (GWR) and Cardiff and Newport (Red Dragon Radio). For each of these the AM and FM licences are being advertised separately.

Essex Radio was the sole-applicant for its re-advertised AM and FM licences.

Financial News

Allied Radio, owners of most of the Independent stations south of London, made a loss of UKP 1.72 million for the 9 months up to the end of last September. The station turned over UKP 4.55 million, and says that advertising sales for the next financial year have begun well.

Essex Radio has reported a profit of just under UKP 140,000 on a UKP 3.25 million turnover for 1992.

Southern Radio has sold small Essex station Mellow 1557 to a consortium led by David Cocks, former boss of Suffolk Radio Group.

Kiss FM are having a management shake-up. The moves are seen by many as main owners EMAP taking more control in the day to day running of the station.

Bits

The BBC axed local station Radio Solway at the end of January. Radio Scotland will in future put out four local news bulletins a day for the Dumfries area where it was based.

The Radio One Roadshow is to carry advertising this year on a big outdoor video screen. The advertising will support the cost of hiring the screen which the BBC could not otherwise afford.

The BBC are to review their plans to turn Radio Four's long wave frequency into an all-news station. A BBC committee is to review the corporation's current use of radio frequencies and examine the reception problems reported by listeners on FM.

John Aumonier has left the post of Managing Director at Virgin Radio. The station has seen some major upheavals, with owners Virgin wanting to more firmly stamp their identity on the station. Meanwhile, Virgin has accused the Radio Times of unfair treatment of the station.

Dame Shirley Porter is to succeed Christopher Chataway as chairman of LBC.

Right-wing think tank The Adam Smith Institute has published a report recommending the floatation of the BBC on the stock exchange and the introduction over 10 years of advertising on the BBC and the withdrawl of the licence fee.

Radio Four is to replace The Radio Programme with a new half hour media programme to run all year round.

President Clinton has announced plans to close Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty, which broadcast to the former Communist countries in Eastern Europe.

Michael Heseltine has announced a forum to promote Digital Audio Broadcasting. The first DAB transmissions are expected to begin in 1995 and it is likely to take over from traditional FM broadcasting over the next 25 years.