Aircheck World Report
UPDATED: 07/05/2003
Welcome to AIRCHECK World Report - and I'm looking for your input on to this page. E-mail me at this address with a report on the radio in your town, your country, wherever you are around the world. Are there any new stations coming on? Is there a battle for a new licence? It it good, is it bad? Is it available on the internet? Is there something the world ought to know? Go on - drop me a line!
-- ENTRY #1 --
Our latest entry was sent to us
by Sussex resident Bob Blunden of WBC Radio - it is a copy of an Open Letter
sent to the Chief Exec of broadcast regulator OFCOM
as well as a number of MPs with an interest in broadcasting. Bob hopes to
generate some open debate about the future of Radio Broadcasting. He says:
"It is clear that frequencies below 30Mhz will always be used for
Radio because of the various distances they can cover. There will always
be International Radio Stations. I look forward to the debate it will
create. I write as a professional Broadcaster in the commercial radio
sector for over 20 years, a former Chief Engineer within ILR
under the IBA with my early
working life spent in Electronics Manufacturing." If you have
any comments to make about Bob's letter, please e-mail
us here at AIRCHECK and we'll pass your comments on to Bob.
6th April 2004
Dear Sir.
With
the arrival of Digital Radio on the AM bands not too far away it is time to take
action. A once in a lifetime opportunity to embrace new technology, create
new Radio Services and gain new Jobs. The changes will happen with or without
the UK taking part. I have chosen to use the Open Letter to generate
debate on this important issue.
May
I start with some observations? Ofcom have highlighted the fact that
available frequencies are now at a premium however, use of the AM broadcast band
has been all but ignored for many years. When changes were made to the act
of parliament governing radio, ‘simulcasting’ was basically outlawed. This
meant that the primary services were positioned on the FM band whilst the AM
transmitters were left with usually an oldies service.
We
are now at a point of major change in spectrum use. There is DAB, the new
digital broadcast band where most of the primary services are. The
FM band looks as though it will continue to carry many local broadcasters, both
existing and new. But in addition there is now the Internet, free view and
Sky Digital Satellite. The existing stations on AM are now using various
digital platforms and the down side of this is that the AM frequencies are
ignored, un-publicised and probably often un-listened to.
A
prime example of this is here in Sussex with the BBC’s Southern Counties
Radio. This station occupies three AM frequencies 1368 KHz, 1161 KHz and 1458
KHz, three FM frequencies and broadcasts on DAB and other Digital Platforms.
Capital Gold uses two AM frequencies 1323 KHz and 945 kHz and again uses most of
the available digital Platforms including National Coverage on Sky Digital
Satellite. This is a prime example of Sussex losing a LOCAL service.
In
a relatively short time frame Digital Radio, in the form of the World Wide
accepted DRM format will be broadcast across vast areas in near FM
quality. As an example the Irish state broadcaster RTE has announced it is
moving one of its main services onto the old Atlantic 252 Long wave
transmitter. When that goes digital it will have a quality signal covering
a huge area of Europe. So too the planned station from the Isle of Mann,
and what about the possibility of Radio Luxembourg returning? The BBC
World Service already broadcasts in DRM on 7320 KHz from Rampisham in the UK.
Food
for thought!
The
UK’s existing AM transmitter network is obviously in place, and has been for
many years. The buildings, planning permissions, frequency allocation, CAA
clearance, public acceptance etc, are all there and probably not owing anyone
much money.
Every
time a new Licence has been advertised a number of groups apply, professional
broadcasters, keen individuals, inventive programmers, people with experience
and drive. These people would have submitted a professional application to
the Radio Authority, obtained financial backing, done their research, and all
the other ingredients that went to make up an application under the old
system. When my group applied for a licence in Sussex we were one of six
similar groups, with only one winner, therefore there are five groups in this
county alone that could successfully run a commercial radio station. And
that was just one of a number of advertised licences over the last few years.
If
the existing AM transmitters and frequencies were given to such groups we could
see a new breed of Radio Station, inventive and creative, not least because they
would have an uphill struggle to win an audience. There would be space for
Country, Rock, Trad Jazz, Gospel, and Blues etc. No big Radio groups, no network
programmes just great local entertainment together with news, sport, outside
broadcasts in fact all the ingredients that go up to make a good LOCAL Radio
station. An outlet for new music, live music, in fact the sort of
innovation that Pirate/Underground Radio has been credited with in the past.
As
an incentive for all of this, the groups that are successful and manage to make
some money could use that cash to convert their transmitter to Digital at some
time in the future, so the exercise would benefit everyone. The operators would
have a major goal to achieve. The UK Broadcast industry would be part of the
world wide digital transformation at very little cost, creating some diverse and
therefore interesting radio for the listener, and we would all know the future
direction of our industry, with another plus, Britain’s workers building the
new Radios.
As
for the equipment manufacturers, it would send a clear message that the new type
of Receiver for the UK would be DAB. FM. DRM, a simple three band radio, not
unlike what we are used to. This would not increase the cost of new
receivers to any great extent because units like this must become the norm for
many other parts of the world, and with the diversity of programmes available,
take up of the new receivers would be even greater.
I
realise this could be considered a radical approach but this is a one off
opportunity as Radio goes Digital, and I urge you to put Britain in the
forefront of such a wonderful opportunity.
Yours
Faithfully,
R
J Blunden. (WBC Radio)
-- ENTRY #2 --
Our
next entry is submitted by Mark Atherton - he read
it on the 'net and sent it to us for interest. It's such a rant, we
couldn't help but publish it here! Mark said:
'I
saw this on a site called 'have a rant' or something like that. Lots of
swearing but some really valid points to his rant.' Thanks Mark
- we've edited out the rather more inapppropriate content as this IS a Family
Friendly Site!
I don't know what it is. I really used to enjoy the radio but now it's all
the same pap. Through my life I've been subjected to a mixture of tin-pot
local radio and the big radio stations like Radio One. Oh, and let's get
it right here, it's called Radio One not One FM as some people who
think they are fashionable like to call it.
It's changed over the years, and so have I. To be honest, I hate Radio
One, with a passion. It's the same rubbish over and over again, the
same records every hour, the same talent less bints, bah. When Chris
Evans started his breakfast show on Radio One, I loved it. He
was the first person to bring some humour to a breakfast show, and he had a crew
with him which added to the humour and the antics. Then everyone else did
the same.
After a couple of years Evans left and in came Zoe Ball, the only woman
who has ever made me mad enough to want to put my OWN head in a vice and commit
slow suicide! Man alive she was absolutely appalling (and so was the
no-mark who co-presented it with her), but in true Radio One fashion she
stayed on for a couple of years, until flippin' Sara Cox came
along. It's only now they have gotten rid of her to replace her with Chris
Moyles from the afternoon show. Admittedly the oaf is much funnier but
needs many a slap round the chops. I don't listen to Radio One in a
morning, I cannot face it.
Back in 1999 I'd had enough and defected to a local-ish station, Century
105.4 based in Manchester but beamed out all over the North West. And
who was the morning show presented by? Andy Crane. A man who made a
career by sticking his hand in a puppet. Good grief, Charlie Brown.
I stuck with it mainly because the music was varied and from different years
& decades as opposed to different fortnights like Radio One, and
about a year later I was glad I did. A man called Tony Horne left Metro
FM in Newcastle and came down to Century. And what a difference
that made, this guy was funny, with original material and he had a sidekick who
was a great impressionist. Then it all started to go wrong. The
impressionist left to work on a show at night and it became apparent that he was
obviously the main writer of the material.
You're probably wondering where this is going. I can't fault you for
that. The reason is I've seen radio stations come under new management or
be bought out by the bigger media fish (like EMAP) and it just makes local /
regional radio look like a big bag of rubbish. I spend a lot of my working
time driving round the country. As a result I get to listen to lots of
different radio stations and just when they sound promising they come over all
stupid and spoil my fun. Also, I moved to Yorkshire in April last
year and I've had to find myself a new radio station to wake up
to.
Good
Lord Yorkshire! What are you doing? Poor radio stations with the
worst and most desperate competitions going. I mean come on Real Radio,
is this REALLY a good competition tagline: 'Would you risk it for a biscuit?'
Heavens above!
Premise: The premise of this competition is that the player is
offered various amounts of cash and has to decide whether it is an acceptable
amount to walk away with. Imagine the shock horror at winning £100, for
nothing. You'd be ashamed, wouldn't you? Anyway, so, the player has so
long to decide before the claxon sounds at a randomly chosen time. The
player then has the option to stick with their last chosen value or choose the
"mystery" prize which could be money of a lower / higher value or god
forbid, a biscuit. Would you risk it for a biscuit?'
That's what the MCs used to shout at the old school raves I went to back in 1991
for goodness sake! Next!
So I switched from Real Radio (on the recommendation of a lass at work)
to Galaxy 105 - Galaxy being a station I could not stand due to the fact
they appear to only have ten records and play just three of them. However,
I was persuaded to switch to them for the breakfast show, hosted by a chap named
Hirsty, who had come from Viking FM in Humberside. Now,
I've got to admit, it is a good breakfast show if you take out the music but
then they launched a new competition:
"Would you lick it for a ticket?" (Seethe!)
Premise: Each day a bunch of people ring up and promise to lick
something. The person who licks the most disgusting / crazy thing live on
an OB wins a ticket for a holiday for two people. Whatever next though eh?
It's not the fact that the competitions are tackier than a freshly painted
doorframe; it's the fact they have to get the entire premise of the competition
into the title itself. How long before we start hearing something bordering on
the disgusting or totally ridiculous? What's happened to Radio? It's
awful! Thank God for Radio 4 (Comedy at night is great) and Radio Five
Live. Anyway, I'm off to launch my new competition: "Would
you kill your own family, for a lovely trip to Withersea"
Strewth!
MajicM
-- ENTRY #3 --
'Steel Man' writes: 'Hi. I really enjoy your website. The choice of Midland stations is pretty poor. Heart, and the GWR clones are pathetic. I have had to resort to DAB and internet for good music. I have to agree with the state of radio in the East Midlands especially Century. Thanks Steel Man'
AIRCHECK says: Thanks for the kind words about the site and your opinion. You're absolutely right - since GWR got a stranglehold in 1994, things have been pretty awful. Still, it's great to have some old log tapes of Trent when it was superb. Other than that - it drives me batty when you drive down the M1 and it's just a GWR madhouse 'til you get to London - it never used to be like that pre-GWR. You had all those Chiltern Radio stations that were each totally different. I drove back from Brighton earlier this year with my brother-in-law and things were so bad we actually turned the radio OFF and talked all the way home. Unbelievable. Like you, I've resorted to the internet - I listen a lot to www.the80smix.com - they're aiming for a full time analoguue licence one day apparently. And there are loads of others of course. We desperately need a decent off-shore station such as Laser 558 in the 80s to shake things up again!
-- ENTRY #4 --
Through a mutual interest, it is purely by chance that I caught up with Nicola Lewis, who, she advised me, used to work at Chiltern Radio. I asked her what she did there. She writes: I didn't really do much, I used to catalogue the records for the DJ's, most of them you probably wouldn't have heard of, Michael Martin ... Tony West .... and the one you will have heard of is Paul McKenna ... he was the best, such a laugh! Although he was very particular about the way that you handled his vinyl! I saw him several years later when I went to see his hypnotic show (which I had never believed in), I was stuck on the front row and he looked straight at me and said "nice to see so many here tonight - especially the sceptics among you" and smiled at me, I could have killed the person I went with - cos I knew if he HAD of got me on that stage he would have got me doing something really silly, just to prove his point! I don't know what had happened to the other DJ's, but Paul has certainly made it. I kind of miss my days there, there has never been a more enjoyable job to go to. I am now a stay at home housewife/mother - they would never believe it if they could see it now.
-- ENTRY #5 --
Greg Blouch from Ohio, USA writes: I don't really feel qualified to comment on American radio as a whole. I will say this: Beware of a company called ClearChannel Communications! It sounds like they've done the same thing to U.S. radio as GWR has done over there. In 1996, (I think that was the year) the restrictions on how many stations one company could own went away. You can only own so many stations per market but unlimited total amounts nationwide. ClearChannel gobbled up more than 1,000 stations in the next few years and turned them into carbon copy, cookie cutter, repetitive, robot stations. Often, they use the same DJ coast-to-coast on multiple stations (cyberjocking) to save money. The reason I'm telling you all this is because I heard they were looking into entering the UK radio market.
AIRCHECK says: Thanks Greg...I'm sure I've heard of ClearChannel already. I think they wanted to get to grips with the UK but have recently sold out! Whatever the case, it's a slightly worrying proposition bearing in mind that a lot of radio people in the UK tend to think that US stations and their formats are about 10 years ahead of the British! Is there no chance of a turn in tide yet?
-- ENTRY #6 --
Lisa Dance
reports: Here in Newport, Gwent, we have Red Dragon Radio which is excellent
and is available on 97.4 or 103.2FM. It plays mostly chart music and
does get a bit boring on times as they repeat the same songs from the charts all day long. I wondered if you could help with this one what has
happened to John Dash who used to work on
there?
We also have Real Radio which is broadcast on 105.9 - that station is excellent. It broadcasts from as far as Chepstow to Swansea. It seems to appeal to all ages, it plays music from the 60s to present. It has a lot of good DJs (one which they lost called Adrian Allen - where is he?
AIRCHECK
says: Thanks Lisa...our links will take you to either the presenter's very own
Tracker page or the Tracker Homepage (if the former does not yet already
exist)