From amfm-errors@orbital.demon.co.uk Mon Jul 12 01:29:54 1993 Received: from post.demon.co.uk by cs.tut.fi with SMTP id AA06953 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Mon, 12 Jul 1993 01:29:48 +0300 Received: from orbital.demon.co.uk by post.demon.co.uk id aa20322; 11 Jul 93 23:21 BST Received: from (server@localhost [127.0.0.1]) by orbital.demon.co.uk (8.1C/8.1B) with SMTP id WAA22728; Sun, 11 Jul 1993 22:14:49 GMT Received: from localhost (steveh@localhost) by orbital.demon.co.uk (8.1C/8.1B) id WAA22680; Sun, 11 Jul 1993 22:12:47 GMT From: Stephen Hebditch Message-Id: <199307112212.WAA22680@orbital.demon.co.uk> Subject: AM/FM #13 - Radio news from the UK To: amfm-list@orbital.demon.co.uk Date: Sun, 11 Jul 1993 23:12:46 +0100 (BST) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Length: 14677 Reply-To: amfm@orbital.demon.co.uk Sender: amfm-errors@orbital.demon.co.uk X-Mailing-List: AM/FM Mailing List Status: OR ------------------------------------------------------------------------ * ------- ******* ------- * * ** ** * ** ** AM/FM #13 FOR JULY 1993 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ***** * * * NEWS FROM THE UK RADIO INDUSTRY ***** * * * * * * * * * * * * EDITED BY STEPHEN HEBDITCH * * ------- * ------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *** BEERLING QUITS ONE-FM Johnny Beerling has announced that he is to step down as Controller of Radio One in October. He has been with the station since its start, producing the Tony Blackburn breakfast show on the very first day that Radio One broadcast. A number of names are being put forward as successors. His current number two, head of music Chris Lycett, is seen as the safe choice, while others favour Paul Robinson, head of daytime output. There have also been suggestions that Janet Street Porter could move into the job from her current position of Head of Youth Programmes and Features. *** 48 APPLY FOR LONDONWIDE LICENCES 48 groups have applied for the eight Londonwide licences on offer from the Radio Authority. These are for four AM stations and four FM stations. The licences for the frequencies used by Capital FM and Capital Gold will be readvertised in the autumn, possibly alongside two new FM licences. An announcement of the winners of these first licences is expected at around the same time. News LBC Newstalk (London Broadcasting Company Ltd) London News FM (GWR / Reuters / Associated Newspapers / ITN) London News Radio (Guinness McMahon / ex LBC staff) Business News City Talk Consortium (Bloomburg / Int. Herald Tribune) London Business Radio (GWR / Reuters / Associated News / ITN) Travel News LTR (London Regional Transport) Sport London Sports Radio Consortium (QPR, Arsenal, etc) London Sports Radio Ltd (Maison Caurette) Talk Metropolis AM (Chrysalis Group) People Power AM (Allied Radio) London Forum AM (Guinness McMahon / ex LBC staff) London Talkback Radio (London Broadcasting Company Ltd) For Women Viva AM (Radio Viva Ltd / Golden Rose Communications) London AM (EMAP Radio) Comedy Radio Barking Religous London Christian Radio Adult Contemporary / AOR Music FM (CLT / Trans World Communications) Radio Greater London (ex GLR people) London Rock Radio (Complete Communications) Lazer AM (Radio Seagull Ltd) Crystal FM (Chrysalis Group) Easy FM (Allied Radio) Alternative Rock X-FM (Fiction Records, Harvey Goldsmith, Pinnacle Distribution) Dance Kiss FM (EMAP Radio) Choice FM (Chiltern Group) Jazz Jazz FM (Golden Rose Communications Ltd) Euro Jazz London (Euro Jazz / ex Jazz FM staff) Country Eagle Radio (UK Radio Developments / TV3 / Enterprise Radio) Electric Radio (ex Jazz FM) London Country Radio (Allied Group) MOR Melody Radio (Hanson plc) London Light AM (GWR / Associated Newspapers / SelecTV) Ethnic London Irish Radio (Irish) Star Sound Radio (Asian) Sunrise Radio (Asian) Ace Radio (Asian) Radio Africa (African) Akash Radio (Asian) All Arab Radio (Arabic) (ex Spectrum) Apna Radio (Asian/Arabic) Radio Asia (Asian) (TV Asia / Spectrum Radio) Asiansky Broadcasting (Asian) Radio Britannia (Asian) Eastern London Radio (Asian) Jang Publications (Asian) London Arabic Radio (Arabic) London Orient Radio (Multi-cultural) Spectrum International (Multi-cultural) *** VIRGIN LOSES EVANS, AUDIENCE AND FREQUENCY BATTLE Chris Evans has left Virgin 1215. The 27 year old broadcaster has claimed that presenting The Big Breakfast 5 days a week on TV and doing the Saturday morning show has left him exhausted. With a new evening show on Channel Four in the autumn, he says he wants to have weekends off. The move is a major disappointment to Virgin, who according to leaked figures from the next RAJAR ratings are not doing as well as they hoped. The leaked ratings give Virgin a 7 percent reach nationwide, 1 percentage point below what the station guarantees to advertisers. This works out at around 3.5 million listeners, down slightly on earlier internal research. The newcomer's arrival has only marginally impacted other stations: Radio One is down 2 percent to 33% and Atlantic 252 down 1 to 7%. The figures also show that Virgin is attracting a younger audience than it was originally anticipating. Meanwhile, Virgin seems to have failed in its lobbying for an FM frequency swap with the BBC. The Radio Authority has announced that it would veto such a swap even if the BBC had not already dismissed the idea. The Authority says that only they should have the power to award licences and it would not be right for Virgin to get a licence that they did not apply for. If Virgin does manage to gain any extra frequencies from the BBC then they will go through the usual Radio Authority advertising process. *** LBC LOSES COX One of the main contenders in the Londonwide licence battle has lost its Managing Director. LBC's Charlie Cox has decided not to renew his contract with the talk station. This is reported to be partly due to a difference in style between him and LBC's new owners and partly because he doesn't want to be tied down to another long term contract. Cox joined the station from Australia's 2GB and helped to bring it back on target after LBC's plans for separate AM and FM services went disastrously wrong. He is likely to remain at LBC until the end of the Summer while a new Managing Director is found. *** NE REGIONAL LICENCE AWARDED Radio North East has won the new regional radio licence for the North East. The winning consortium is backed by Scottish ITV station Border Television and will offer a primarily talk based service. Music on the station will be a mixture of easy listening and country. Although aimed primarily at 25 to 55 year olds it also plans to carry early-evening youth programming. *** BBC PUTS MORE PROGRAMMING OUT TO INDIES The BBC are to put 150 hours of Radio Four programmes out to private tender from next April. Programmes that will in future be produced by independent companies include Gardeners' Question Time and Feedback - the listeners complaints series. Radio Three plans to take around 200 hours of independently produced programming, mostly chamber music. Radio One's Saturday afternoon Johnny Walker programme will join the already independently produced Adrian Juste show and a number of music documentaries. A new group, the Association of Independent Producers, has been formed to represent outside contractors supplying programmes to the BBC and other broadcasters. *** RADIO FOUR DISMISSES LONG WAVE RUMOURS The BBC has dismissed reports that it has given in to the protesters and decided to keep Radio Four on Long Wave. This follows a number of press reports that a decision has been made, based on leaks from the committee examining the options available for the planned rolling news service. The committee will be reporting in September and a decision is expected shortly afterwards as to whether to proceed with the new service and which frequency it should use. The press reports suggested that Radio Four would be kept on both Long Wave and FM. The rolling news service would then be merged into Radio Five to create a news and sport network and the education programmes on Radio Five moved back onto Radio Four. Continuing to broadcast on more than one waveband would require a change in the law, which could come when Parliament renews the BBC's charter next year. Meanwhile, new research by the Radio Authority in preparation for the third, speech-based, Independent National Radio licence has shown that most listeners don't want a rolling news service on the radio. *** LOCAL LICENCES The Radio Authority has re-advertised the licences for Greater Manchester. These include the AM and FM frequencies for Piccadilly Radio, Sunset's FM frequency and a new AM frequency which was previously used by the BBC's GMR. The Radio Authority has advertised a new licence for the town of Harrogate in Yorkshire. The service will reach 110,000 adults with a deadline for applications of the 7th of September. The Radio Authority has re-advertised the licence for Stockport. This was originally awarded to KFM which was subsequently taken over by Signal Radio. Two groups have applied for the new Radio Authority licence for Aylesbury: Bucks Broadcasting and Vale Radio. The Cardiff Broadcasting company is the sole-bidder for its re-advertised licences for Cardiff. Owned by Trans World Communications, the company runs Red Dragon FM and Touch AM. Four groups have applied for the licence for Bournemouth, currently held by 2CR. It faces opposition from First Coast Radio, Prime Radio and Fun Radio. The Radio Authority has held off making a decision until the end of June over the licence for Derry in Northern Ireland. Just one group bid for the licence: Maiden City FM. Radio Tay has been re-awarded its licence for Dundee and Perth in Scotland. GWR is the sole applicant for its re-advertised licence for Bristol. *** FINANCIAL NEWS BBC Enterprises doubled its profits in the last year. The commercial arm of the BBC, best known for selling BBC videos and cassettes and publishing the Radio Times, made a profit of 11.8 million pounds in the year up to the end of April. Overall the BBC is expected to show an operating surplus of 60 million pounds for the last financial year. EMAP's radio division made a profit of 800,000 pounds in the year up to the start of April - up 18 percent over the previous year. This included a 130,000 pound profit from London's Kiss FM on a 3.5 million pound turnover. EMAP plans to expand further into radio over the next year. The GWR Group has announced an increase in profits of 25 percent, up to 317,000 pounds on a 4.08 million pound turnover in the six months up to the end of March. The west country based group is one of the major shareholders in Classic FM. *** BITS The last edition of Our Tune went out at the end of June. Simon Bates is being slated to move to weekends in an autumn shake-up on One-FM. Capital Radio are planning major changes on Birmingham's BRMB which it recently aquired. There is likely to include some sharing of programmes between the Xtra-AM and Capital Gold oldies services. Independent Radio advertising revenue was up 6 percent in the last quarter of 1992 according to figures produced by the Association of Independent Radio Companies. The chairman and three members of GLR's Advisory Panel have resigned over the decision to change the format of the London BBC Local Radio station. Independent Local Radio stations have introduced a new package for national advertisers. They can now centrally buy time on ILR aimed at six different sections of the audience. The stations brought in the new package to counter the loss of national advertising to Virgin 1215, Classic FM and Atlantic 252. Capital FM's evening news programme The Way It Is was voted best radio news programme at the New York International Radio Festival. David Dimbleby has joined LBC as a non-executive director. The station has been refreshing its management and board following its recent takeover. Anne Robinson has resigned from her show on Radio Two in protest at BBC plans to put its production out to an independent company. John Humphrys is to take over as main presenter on Radio Four's Today programme when Brian Redhead retires next Spring. Heritage Secretary Peter Brooke is to ask BBC executives to look into the implications of introducing advertising on Radio One and Radio Two. Capital Radio has agreed to limit the discounts it gives to advertisers for exclusively using the station in London. The Office of Fair Trading decided such deals were unfair. In future they will be restricted to test campaigns lasting no longer than 2 months. SES, owners of the Astra satellites, are carrying out research into satellite radio broadcasting without a need for satellite dishes. They hope to be able to introduce a new system with the next series of Astra satellites which would allow people to tune in using conventional-style car radio aerials. The Radio Authority earnt 3.3 million pounds in licence fees from stations in 1992. It spent 2.8 million pounds on its operating costs, leaving a surplus of 587,000 pounds. Adult comic Viz has had three radio adverts banned before they were even broadcast. Two were ruled out because they relied on the listener supplying offensive words to fill in a gap. Another featuring the line "more fun than a jammy bun" was not allowed because Viz couldn't provide formal proof that the magazine really was more fun than a jammy bun. *** AM/FM NEWSLETTER COMPETITION The winner of the competition to win a satellite dish featured in the Summer 1993 AM/FM Newsletter was Chris Nevitt of Shirley in Croydon. He correctly guessed that 36 different stations were featured in the competition. Thanks to everyone who entered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ amfm@orbital.demon.co.uk fax: +44 81 509 0729 AM/FM, BCM Box 225, London, WC1N 3XX, England This is a monthly summary of stories carried by AM/FM Newsline, the weekly UK radio industry news round-up on 0336 404550. (Calls charged at 36p per minute cheap rate, 48p per minute other times, available within the UK only, TQM Communications, PO Box 2306, London, E17 4TU.) The AM/FM Online Edition can be obtained on the Usenet rec.radio.info newsgroup, in the 'broadcast' conference on London's CIX conferencing system, UKFORUM on CompuServe or from our list server at listserv@orbital.demon.co.uk. To subscribe, send the message 'subscribe amfm '. Back issues can be requested by sending the message 'get amfm amfm1.txt', 'get amfm amfm2.txt' etc. You can resign from the list by sending the message 'unsubscribe amfm'. Copyright (C) 1993 TQM Communications. All rights reserved. This publication may be freely distributed provided it is done so in whole, no alterations are made and only basic online charges are levied. ------------------------------------------------------------------------