[cma-l] Media Guardian: Cut local shows, say radio giants

[Richard Berry]

I don't think there's any real answer to this, I think part of the 
problem is that running a local station can be far more expensive than 
you first think, even the radio groups. If everyone at a CR station was 
paid, imagine what the costs would be to make 'real' local radio. I am 
tiny shareholder in Fresh Radio, they tried it and never made a penny.

The other problem is that shareholders want to see a return on their 
(often substantial) investment, so unless ofcom intervene and insist 
that profits are ploughed back into programming then profit will come 
first - and can we blame them for that? Of course some commercials can 
be very local when they want to, they might not do it in a way we like 
or understand to be local but they have a go. Of course we need to put 
all this into context and realise that ad revenues are down, with more 
people advertising online. So if you can't increase revenue you must cut 
costs by co-locating, automating or not investing in talent. It's business.

The glimer of hope is that some stations are playing the local card and 
my guess is that where they don't and where community radio exists 
they'll lose audience and soon change their tune. Our local station 
already is and we aren't even on air yet!!

Rich
Utopia FM, Sunderland


matt at freshwatford.com wrote:

> My view on this is very simple. Either they make the stations proper 
> 'local' stations or just bite the bullet and go for a proper 
> 'national' station.
>
> I feel the authorities from day one should have created more national 
> licences and perhaps more regionals instead of all these town wide 
> commercial stations. That way you could have more listener choice 
> (i.e. one oldies, one pop, one soul, one rock format etc) and the 
> regionals would cater for the local needs of each region (much like 
> ITV), then fill the rest in with each region having it's own BBC Local 
> station and towns with their own community licences (where you could 
> have a couple of community stations maybe).
>
> As for talent in media now. It is just too easy. Even when I was 
> younger there was a ladder to climb if you wanted to be a presenter on 
> air and I looked up to presenters even on local stations as they were 
> talented and good, but now you just have a crowd of people with no 
> life experience being put straight on air and I feel it is that which 
> has brought the 'quality' of talent down, alongside real talent being 
> driven away due to heavy formatted stations.
>
> They should in my opinion not have bothered with a second tier 
> commercial radio system as very few stations make money - in time I 
> can see more licences being handed back, which in turn should have 
> been community licences in the first place?
>
> Your thoughts?
>
> Matt (Fresh Watford)
>
> Listen 2 FreestyleRadio.co.uk <http://www.freestyleradio.co.uk/>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From*: CMA-L <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
> *Sent*: Thursday, October 25, 2007 10:00 PM
> *To*: 'CMA-L' <cma-l at commedia.org.uk>
> *Subject*: Re: [cma-l] Media Guardian: Cut local shows, say radio giants
>
> Fwd:
>
> From: "Chinese Radio London Huayu"
>
> Yeah, I think the idea that talent can only be found in London is absurd!
> Or maybe the water is purer in London.
>
> Peter
> London Huayu
>
>
> On 10/26/07, Phoenix FM wrote:
> >Fwd:
> >
> >
> > Hi Everyone
> >
> > I think this is just a cop out for local commercial stations the big
> > players that own these stations just have to pay 2-3 presenters and just
> > network it out to all the stations.
> >
> > Haven't they forgotten something? Chris Moyles and Chris Evans started
> > on local radio that's how they were spotted. There is a wealth of talent
> > out there that won't get spotted if this is allowed by Ofcom and Gcap
> > and Emap will be laughing all the way to the bank because they won't
> > need as many presenters, so more profits to line their pockets.
> >
> > Anna
> > Phoenix Radio
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