I think Scottish listeners are more open to English voices these days..
I can't imagine an English voice on this would be a problem, provided they have an enthusiasm for the material and don't constantly talk Scottish football in particular down.
A rather empty Central Scotland Regional mux at the moment with just these services:
BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal 128 kbts Joint Stereo; Real Radio 128 kbts Joint Stereo; Real XS Glasgow 128 kbts Joint Stereo and Central FM 80 kbts Mono.
The mux transmits from these transmitter sites: Kirk O'Shotts (for Glasgow, west and central Scotland); Craigkelly (for Edinburgh and east central Scotland including Fife); Gleniffer Braes (for Paisley, Renfrewshire, west Glasgow and Dunbartonshire); Darvel (for Kilmarnock and north Ayrshire) and Earls Hill (for Sirling, Falkirk and parts of west Fife).
Confirmed that there is a service with the label Test at 80kbts mono on the Central Scotland Regional mux playing out a mix of 60s hits and classic rock with an announcement '"This is Ekclipse Sports Radio..."
Finally testing accross Central Scotland. under the label. test
for an october launch.
wonder what dj line up they have.
Having advertised for presentation and sales staff in July, a new ad recently appeared on their website looking for more recruits. The sales jobs are commission only while they are looking for two more presenters to 'round off' their team, with pay rates candidly advised as 'not much above minimum wage' for 5 four hour shifts a week. Which probably means £30 a show, thereabouts.
It is oft said these days that the mass redundancies in ILR make it far easier for small operations to pull together a highly pro on air team for little or no money which is true. But such nearby operations (L107 of old, Irvine Beat FM, Pulse 98.4 and Your Radio) are really just presenters playing records and having fun with it where-as this sounds like hard work!
An ideal lineup may well be one or two with pro experience who can fit it around other work commitments and one or two available ex-football player/manager types.
Test is back on this morning and sure is very loud playing a Bruce Springsteen now followed by some disco soul!
There is an annoucement that the full service starts early October.
With Ofcom publishing their digital radio report yesterday, it shows that the take-up of homes in central Scotland is 35% and with Ekclipse Sports Radio stating that it will reach a potential population of 2.7m adults, that would mean a potential population of 945,000 having a DAB digital radio.
What is the best estimate weekly reach of Ekclipse? Perhaps 2-5% At 2% 18,900 or at best 5% 47,250. Can you make a profit out of that?
By the way, Ofcom's DAB digital radio take-up is based on households. Estimate there are around 1m households across central Scotland, which means around 350,000 households with a DAB digital radio. If Ekclipse can reach 5% of these households, that would be just 17,500 households.
Strikes me a (relatively) cheap way of getting the sports coverage they want is to take the PLZSoccer feed currently supplied to Your Radio and Central FM, with Peter Martin and Alan Rough. That would take care of a midweek football phone-in and a Saturday afternoon show.
I still don't quite understand why they're trying to target two superserved audiences - rock and football - but wish them luck. They'll need it.
Yeah, do we really need another rock station tho? Wouldv been better if they had made it a 24hr scottish sport station and compete with talksport and clyde bbc scot and central/your programmes.
Yeah, do we really need another rock station tho? Wouldv been better if they had made it a 24hr scottish sport station and compete with talksport and clyde bbc scot and central/your programmes.
No we dont this is why these stations are all been set up by a individuals and tiny media groups who have an obsession with rock music.
You wouldn't see a large group such as Global or Bauer media set up rock stations these days because the radio market is saturated by them.
There seems to be a lot of rock fans with plenty of £££'s
Or is it that people with plenty of £££s tend to be rock fans? Maybe it's a personality thing: entrepreneurial people liking to think they are rebellious types who work hard and play hard etc
Or is it that people with plenty of £££s tend to be rock fans? Maybe it's a personality thing: entrepreneurial people liking to think they are rebellious types who work hard and play hard etc
Your probably right but they clearly don't have any business sense as they would realise that currently there is no demand for any more rock stations currently therefore the listener base will be low and advertising virtually non-existent
What is the best estimate weekly reach of Ekclipse? Perhaps 2-5% At 2% 18,900 or at best 5% 47,250. Can you make a profit out of that?
A wee while back they had some sales blurb on their website (including their rate card-this has all now been taken down) saying they were working to an estimate assumed audience of 30,000 people
This audience may be thinly spread across the whole of Central Scotland, although glass-half-full happy-clappy sales managers will always spin this as 'having a much bigger territory to target'. Which is true.
Whether you like it or not , the easiest way for them to build an audience is to make the content Celtic and Rangers heavy as they are by far the biggest clubs with the biggest fan bases, right across the whole region. It's axiomatic that this is where the audience is.
Bear in mind also that the station is also available on-line and if the content is compelling it could be a hit and get to the top end of Craig Kelly's range. They say they will be participating in RAJAR.
Can it make any money or at least wash its face?
Presumably Switchdigital have given them this slot at vastly reduced rates due to spare capacity, which is I Imagine why Central FM have taken it up. A thumbnail guess would be a few thousand pounds.
3 full time presenters at 'just above the minimum wage' for 6 shows a week is probably circa £25-30k a year, maybe £60-80k a year in sales people costs, then accomodation, transmission, PRS, RAJAR, toilet paper etc. Unlike FM ILR they don't have to pay for news journos so that makes a big saving.
They are also looking for behind the scenes volunteers. Despite the collapse in paid jobs in radio, those who want to to it for free and for fun have never had it so good.
In a nutshell, somewhere north of £100k a year in costs and needing £10k or more revenue a month to make it fly.
Tough but doable, so long as a good targeted on air product and sales/S&P force is in place.
To answer previous posts above me (this thread is a bit of a misnomer) I get the impression that this won't be a 'rock station' as such. It will be primarily a sports-talk station with a bit of radio friendly AOR to help it along as doing all-talk is obviously unfeasible.
It says on their website they will be on fm as well ?
The tests are on the phone app tune in now.
I like the music thou, more soft rock.
Perhaps, as pcuk suggests, they are taking the PLZ Soccer feed, so part of their output will, in a sense, also be on FM? We shall soon find out.
I like the music mix a lot. Reminds me of early 90s Q96. Echoes of Ian Scott 'playing your stereo favourites' and Nik Richards playing 'Play That Funky Music'.
To answer previous posts above me (this thread is a bit of a misnomer) I get the impression that this won't be a 'rock station' as such. It will be primarily a sports-talk station with a bit of radio friendly AOR to help it along as doing all-talk is obviously unfeasible.
I think musically that would be the right way to go. If I was them I would promote the sport aspect first and not mention the rock element - otherwise some rock fans might be disappointed it's not their flavour of rock.
Looks like Spencer Pryor started with a thought of buying Real XS but decided it will be cheaper to start a new station, could be Global might try to keep Real XS now, or if it is sold seems Jack FM and Teamrock are also interested.
Could be that some FM community stations, perhaps like the troubled Castle FM might relay the programmes on FM?
Comments
I can't imagine an English voice on this would be a problem, provided they have an enthusiasm for the material and don't constantly talk Scottish football in particular down.
Not in car at mo so can`t check dab but it says on air tests start at 8pm, well according to countdown timer.
Tablets can still play radio via radio player or tunein apps on wifi or if 3g enabled.
You'll probably have to do a system reset then, lots of sets couldn't find TeamRock when it launched without clearing the existing memory.
The ad rates published on the website assume a guesstimate audience of 30,000 people a week.The station will participate in RAJAR.
Hi guys and gals,
i cannot find your test transmissions on my car dab radio. i have done a reset but you are not there yet
your website says you are now testing on dab. i am in central scotland, motherwell and work in falkirk
but nothing anywhere.
are you actually broadcasting yet on dab?
yours sincerely,
Hi,
Thanks for email. We're not quite ready to test on DAB -slight problem with feed to Black Hill. Should be testing in a few days.
Thanks for the interest, and look forward to having you as a listener!
Regards
Eklipse Sports Radio
from website -
Launching in Autumn 2013 across Central Scotland.
Eklipse Sports Radio will be available on DAB to 2.7 million Scottish Sports Fans. Test transmissions start Monday 16th Sept.
BBC Radio Nan Gaidheal 128 kbts Joint Stereo; Real Radio 128 kbts Joint Stereo; Real XS Glasgow 128 kbts Joint Stereo and Central FM 80 kbts Mono.
The mux transmits from these transmitter sites: Kirk O'Shotts (for Glasgow, west and central Scotland); Craigkelly (for Edinburgh and east central Scotland including Fife); Gleniffer Braes (for Paisley, Renfrewshire, west Glasgow and Dunbartonshire); Darvel (for Kilmarnock and north Ayrshire) and Earls Hill (for Sirling, Falkirk and parts of west Fife).
for an october launch.
wonder what dj line up they have.
Having advertised for presentation and sales staff in July, a new ad recently appeared on their website looking for more recruits. The sales jobs are commission only while they are looking for two more presenters to 'round off' their team, with pay rates candidly advised as 'not much above minimum wage' for 5 four hour shifts a week. Which probably means £30 a show, thereabouts.
It is oft said these days that the mass redundancies in ILR make it far easier for small operations to pull together a highly pro on air team for little or no money which is true. But such nearby operations (L107 of old, Irvine Beat FM, Pulse 98.4 and Your Radio) are really just presenters playing records and having fun with it where-as this sounds like hard work!
An ideal lineup may well be one or two with pro experience who can fit it around other work commitments and one or two available ex-football player/manager types.
There is an annoucement that the full service starts early October.
With Ofcom publishing their digital radio report yesterday, it shows that the take-up of homes in central Scotland is 35% and with Ekclipse Sports Radio stating that it will reach a potential population of 2.7m adults, that would mean a potential population of 945,000 having a DAB digital radio.
What is the best estimate weekly reach of Ekclipse? Perhaps 2-5% At 2% 18,900 or at best 5% 47,250. Can you make a profit out of that?
By the way, Ofcom's DAB digital radio take-up is based on households. Estimate there are around 1m households across central Scotland, which means around 350,000 households with a DAB digital radio. If Ekclipse can reach 5% of these households, that would be just 17,500 households.
It is all guesswork!
I still don't quite understand why they're trying to target two superserved audiences - rock and football - but wish them luck. They'll need it.
No we dont this is why these stations are all been set up by a individuals and tiny media groups who have an obsession with rock music.
You wouldn't see a large group such as Global or Bauer media set up rock stations these days because the radio market is saturated by them.
Or is it that people with plenty of £££s tend to be rock fans? Maybe it's a personality thing: entrepreneurial people liking to think they are rebellious types who work hard and play hard etc
Your probably right but they clearly don't have any business sense as they would realise that currently there is no demand for any more rock stations currently therefore the listener base will be low and advertising virtually non-existent
A wee while back they had some sales blurb on their website (including their rate card-this has all now been taken down) saying they were working to an estimate assumed audience of 30,000 people
This audience may be thinly spread across the whole of Central Scotland, although glass-half-full happy-clappy sales managers will always spin this as 'having a much bigger territory to target'. Which is true.
Whether you like it or not , the easiest way for them to build an audience is to make the content Celtic and Rangers heavy as they are by far the biggest clubs with the biggest fan bases, right across the whole region. It's axiomatic that this is where the audience is.
Bear in mind also that the station is also available on-line and if the content is compelling it could be a hit and get to the top end of Craig Kelly's range. They say they will be participating in RAJAR.
Can it make any money or at least wash its face?
Presumably Switchdigital have given them this slot at vastly reduced rates due to spare capacity, which is I Imagine why Central FM have taken it up. A thumbnail guess would be a few thousand pounds.
3 full time presenters at 'just above the minimum wage' for 6 shows a week is probably circa £25-30k a year, maybe £60-80k a year in sales people costs, then accomodation, transmission, PRS, RAJAR, toilet paper etc. Unlike FM ILR they don't have to pay for news journos so that makes a big saving.
They are also looking for behind the scenes volunteers. Despite the collapse in paid jobs in radio, those who want to to it for free and for fun have never had it so good.
In a nutshell, somewhere north of £100k a year in costs and needing £10k or more revenue a month to make it fly.
Tough but doable, so long as a good targeted on air product and sales/S&P force is in place.
To answer previous posts above me (this thread is a bit of a misnomer) I get the impression that this won't be a 'rock station' as such. It will be primarily a sports-talk station with a bit of radio friendly AOR to help it along as doing all-talk is obviously unfeasible.
The tests are on the phone app tune in now.
I like the music thou, more soft rock.
Perhaps, as pcuk suggests, they are taking the PLZ Soccer feed, so part of their output will, in a sense, also be on FM? We shall soon find out.
I like the music mix a lot. Reminds me of early 90s Q96. Echoes of Ian Scott 'playing your stereo favourites' and Nik Richards playing 'Play That Funky Music'.
I think musically that would be the right way to go. If I was them I would promote the sport aspect first and not mention the rock element - otherwise some rock fans might be disappointed it's not their flavour of rock.
Scotland between 6-8pm there will be duplicate broadcast
of Peter and Roughys football phone in on DAB ?
At one point when i first heard about Eklipse and seen their
website and their Online OnDAB OnFM i thought maybe
they had took over Real xs Scotland but apparently not
but don`t know where on Fm they will be unless it is when
they are taking the feed from PLZ and claiming they are on
Central and Your frequencies.
Could be that some FM community stations, perhaps like the troubled Castle FM might relay the programmes on FM?
Good interview with Spencer Pryor here
http://mad.ly/83bec3