I miss Saga/Smooth 106.6 as it was a local station for the East Midlands and it was a clear reception to reach all the way up towards Doncaster and Scunthorpe and it was a good station to have on when going South as I could leave it on 106.6 the longest! I also liked the London version of Smooth 102.2 when on DAB which was strange at the time as Smooth 106.6 made more sense to have on DAB in Yorkshire at the time. Those were the good time in radio, shame its no longer available.
The good old days of uk local radio without a shadow of a doubt.
The likes of Toby Anstis and Paddy McGuinness being transmitted to audiences a few hundred miles away on a standard radio, they cannot relate to their listeners in the same way the local dj's once did in the pre networked era.
I think the situation with the large commercial chains means that we are now left with rather bland semi national networks which only keep the bean counters happy.
For local radio we have to turn back to the BBC or one of the new community radio stations, if you are lucky enough to have one in your area.
There is no BBC local radio in Scotland.
We have to make do with BBC Radio Scotland as the only Scottish based BBC radio station (apart fom the gaelic BBC Nan Gaidheal where only 0.01% of the Scottish population i.e. the Western Isles actually listen to it) to broadcast to the whole of Scotland.
Ofcom are also to blame because they licenced a load of stations to cover areas that are too small like Rotherham. If Rother FM had to provide a truly local service for Rotherham, with all programming coming from Rotherham, commentary on the football team, quality local news, etc, it wouldn't be on air. It shouldn't be on air.
Stations should be forced to provide commentary on the local football team?! Revenue straight into the pockets of fat chairmen and prima donnas?
In any case Rother FM do a darn site better job than Hallam at covering what's happening in Rotherham. If any station shouldn't be on air it's them with their Saturday mornings live from that famous South Yorkshire city: Edinburgh.
I used to love local commercial radio. Living on the outskirts of London it was Capital Radio that was my local radio station and it did deliver everything you would want from a local station.
However times change, services like Flat share, Job Search, etc.... that they used to offer can now be found on the Internet and that's where people turn for that sort of thing, not the radio.
My fond memories are going on UK holidays with my parents and always tuning into the local commercial stations. Radio Victory for Isle of Wight holidays, Devonair for holidays in the South of Devon, etc.... Great times.
These days living in North Surrey my local commercial station is one of the few survivors.....Radio Jackie who pride themselves on being live & local 24 hours a day, every day.
In Ireland, Holland, France Germany, Australia, Canada, Spain, America (indeed the whole of the rest of the world) their ilr's are wonderful and thriving yet here in the UK there's a desperate need to merge all our ilr's together slowly heading towards the inevitable eventual extensive networks from London.
Some already are fully networks from London apart from perhaps breakfast and drivetime in some or indeed many cases.
Disgraceful.
In Ireland there are no RTE local stations for competition. In the UK, we have BBC locals. Therefore there is no comparison. Perhaps you should do some research before posting.
...We have to make do with BBC Radio Scotland as the only Scottish based BBC radio station (apart fom the gaelic BBC Nan Gaidheal where only 0.01% of the Scottish population i.e. the Western Isles actually listen to it)...
Gaelic is spoken as a native language by about 60,000 Scots, or 1.1% of the population and understood but not fluently spoken by about 90,000, yours truly included. I don't particularly know what the reach of RnG is, but it's on universally in buses, taxis, shops, post offices etc in the Western Isles.
In terms of 'localness' of its output much of the programming comes from Inverness, which might as well be a million miles away from the Hebrides/Western Highlands. Folk listen to it nevertheless because it covers news about the ferries and the weather, which is 50% of what we're interested in. Although not much of their output is in Gaelic, Isles FM and Two Lochs Radio are still live and local, but are the exception to the rule in Scotland.
Classic Hits 4FM, 4KQ, CKDO and Big Oldies 107.3 are all better than any radio programmes networked from London on once proper ilr once upon a time.
Sigh.
Classic Hits 4FM is a regional station in Ireland. Not really 'local', is it? Yoou really don't have any knowledge of local radio in Ireland, so stop comparing it.
I think the government should licence a small proportion of the FM band to microbroadcasters like they do in New Zealand. Stations of just,a few watts requiring little regulation other than decent transmitters to avoid interference. There's hundreds of the stations and because they're run by the local community with no need to make a profit the range of formats is amazing. Ok they are mainly music based but they have good local info too. No harm in allocating a few mhz especially with big broadcasters going over to DAB.
Oh, you mean that horrible over-compressed-to-hell noise full of explosions and whooshing sound effects and listen-to-my-dramatic-and-important-shouty-voice and annoying-as-hell adverts and zzzzzzzzzzzz.
It only survives at all because there's nothing else to listen to. The BBC stations are all so specialist, the average just-give-me-some-kind-of-background-noise "listener" puts on ILR just to avoid the soul crushing silences in their lives.
Me, I thank God for mp3 players and my thousands of tracks that still have some kind of dynamic range and no freakin' idiot talking all over them, convinced that people love the sound of his voice and his pathetic utterances.
ILR.... it's only there because sometimes anything more than pressing an on-off switch for some sounds is too much trouble.
Local radio isn't needed any more. That's what twitter is for. Radio sounds so much more professional now. Long may it continue.
Well you say that but with more radio being networked then what Is the future for up & coming jocks?.
Commercial radio is no where near as good as 30 years ago IMHO.
In Ireland there are no RTE local stations for competition. In the UK, we have BBC locals. Therefore there is no comparison. Perhaps you should do some research before posting.
Maybe you should. Are you honestly saying that if it wasn't for the BBC we would still have loads of local commercial stations up and down the Country?
Local independent radio in this country has been in a mess since around 2008 and it's Ofcom's fault. ILR should be live and local for at least 16 hours a day. Companies have been allowed to claim local radio isn't viable, then buy even more radio stations.
Ofcom are also to blame because they licenced a load of station's to cover areas that are too small like Rotherham. If Rother FM had to provide a truly local service for Rotherham, with all programming coming from Rotherham, commentary on the football team, quality local news, etc, it wouldn't be on air. It shouldn't be on air.
Licencing regional stations that play popular music also puts extra pressure on local stations. Regional stations should be either speech, or regional music promotion stations.
I'm not sure how this mess can be cleared up, except by imposing a 16-hour local content and a music to speech ratio which puts the emphasis on speech, and to ban licence holders from advertising during networked or automated programming.
Absolutely.
Ofcom letting the likes of Global and Bauer destroy local radio have failed the many millions of listeners throughout the UK who have to put up with garbage from the likes of Paddy McGuinness from a far away studio now.
I think the government should licence a small proportion of the FM band to microbroadcasters like they do in New Zealand. Stations of just,a few watts requiring little regulation other than decent transmitters to avoid interference. There's hundreds of the stations and because they're run by the local community with no need to make a profit the range of formats is amazing. Ok they are mainly music based but they have good local info too. No harm in allocating a few mhz especially with big broadcasters going over to DAB.
Yes they are called Community Radio Stations - trouble is no-one has felt the need to fund them or allow them to be able to fund themselves properly so not all of them are really very good and those that are struggle to keep afloat.
Oh, you mean that horrible over-compressed-to-hell noise full of explosions and whooshing sound effects and listen-to-my-dramatic-and-important-shouty-voice and annoying-as-hell adverts and zzzzzzzzzzzz.
It only survives at all because there's nothing else to listen to. The BBC stations are all so specialist, the average just-give-me-some-kind-of-background-noise "listener" puts on ILR just to avoid the soul crushing silences in their lives.
Me, I thank God for mp3 players and my thousands of tracks that still have some kind of dynamic range and no freakin' idiot talking all over them, convinced that people love the sound of his voice and his pathetic utterances.
ILR.... it's only there because sometimes anything more than pressing an on-off switch for some sounds is too much trouble.
OK, trash my opinions then. How about explaining why it's "rubbish"?
I'm struggling to know where to start!
Your post was just a stream of inane generalisations against something you don't personally like. Millions of people up and down the country tune into local radio every day. The idea that they do so because they can't be arsed to turn if off is, frankly, laughable.
What I was aiming to convey, was that radio is the easiest way to get something to relieve the monotony of silence. Press a button and there it is, nothing else to worry about. But exactly HOW closely are people listening? Just because they SAY there are, on surveys, doesn't mean they actually sit there focussed 100% on it. I suspect the old phrase about it being "wallpaper" is all too true for a large percentage.
And yes, maybe millions do claim to listen. But how many MORE millions don't?
What I was aiming to convey, was that radio is the easiest way to get something to relieve the monotony of silence. Press a button and there it is, nothing else to worry about. But exactly HOW closely are people listening? Just because they SAY there are, on surveys, doesn't mean they actually sit there focussed 100% on it. I suspect the old phrase about it being "wallpaper" is all too true for a large percentage.
And yes, maybe millions do claim to listen. But how many MORE millions don't?
That can be true of anything though. There are at least five times as many people in the country who don't listen to Radio 2 as those who do. How many people never watch football? Is that a case for saying "as a sport I'm surprised it's not dead?"
Comments
Me too
Saga was a brilliant station. Under Global, Smooth Radio is an utter insult to listeners
The good old days of uk local radio without a shadow of a doubt.
The likes of Toby Anstis and Paddy McGuinness being transmitted to audiences a few hundred miles away on a standard radio, they cannot relate to their listeners in the same way the local dj's once did in the pre networked era.
There is no BBC local radio in Scotland.
We have to make do with BBC Radio Scotland as the only Scottish based BBC radio station (apart fom the gaelic BBC Nan Gaidheal where only 0.01% of the Scottish population i.e. the Western Isles actually listen to it) to broadcast to the whole of Scotland.
Stations should be forced to provide commentary on the local football team?! Revenue straight into the pockets of fat chairmen and prima donnas?
In any case Rother FM do a darn site better job than Hallam at covering what's happening in Rotherham. If any station shouldn't be on air it's them with their Saturday mornings live from that famous South Yorkshire city: Edinburgh.
However times change, services like Flat share, Job Search, etc.... that they used to offer can now be found on the Internet and that's where people turn for that sort of thing, not the radio.
My fond memories are going on UK holidays with my parents and always tuning into the local commercial stations. Radio Victory for Isle of Wight holidays, Devonair for holidays in the South of Devon, etc.... Great times.
These days living in North Surrey my local commercial station is one of the few survivors.....Radio Jackie who pride themselves on being live & local 24 hours a day, every day.
Bearing in mind BBC Radio Bristol does 12 hours local a day, what exactly is this extra time going to consist of?
Should be 16 hours a day local content ideally. The idea of just 16 hours a week of local content is shocking.
And less of going to the Sky News Centre at the top of the hour as well.
In Ireland there are no RTE local stations for competition. In the UK, we have BBC locals. Therefore there is no comparison. Perhaps you should do some research before posting.
In terms of 'localness' of its output much of the programming comes from Inverness, which might as well be a million miles away from the Hebrides/Western Highlands. Folk listen to it nevertheless because it covers news about the ferries and the weather, which is 50% of what we're interested in. Although not much of their output is in Gaelic, Isles FM and Two Lochs Radio are still live and local, but are the exception to the rule in Scotland.
Sigh.
Classic Hits 4FM is a regional station in Ireland. Not really 'local', is it? Yoou really don't have any knowledge of local radio in Ireland, so stop comparing it.
Oh, you mean that horrible over-compressed-to-hell noise full of explosions and whooshing sound effects and listen-to-my-dramatic-and-important-shouty-voice and annoying-as-hell adverts and zzzzzzzzzzzz.
It only survives at all because there's nothing else to listen to. The BBC stations are all so specialist, the average just-give-me-some-kind-of-background-noise "listener" puts on ILR just to avoid the soul crushing silences in their lives.
Me, I thank God for mp3 players and my thousands of tracks that still have some kind of dynamic range and no freakin' idiot talking all over them, convinced that people love the sound of his voice and his pathetic utterances.
ILR.... it's only there because sometimes anything more than pressing an on-off switch for some sounds is too much trouble.
Well you say that but with more radio being networked then what Is the future for up & coming jocks?.
Commercial radio is no where near as good as 30 years ago IMHO.
Absolutely.
Ofcom letting the likes of Global and Bauer destroy local radio have failed the many millions of listeners throughout the UK who have to put up with garbage from the likes of Paddy McGuinness from a far away studio now.
You've never heard the likes of Andrew Castle or Kate Garroway then.
Completely agree with you.
Yes they are called Community Radio Stations - trouble is no-one has felt the need to fund them or allow them to be able to fund themselves properly so not all of them are really very good and those that are struggle to keep afloat.
What a load of rubbish.
I'm struggling to know where to start!
Your post was just a stream of inane generalisations against something you don't personally like. Millions of people up and down the country tune into local radio every day. The idea that they do so because they can't be arsed to turn if off is, frankly, laughable.
And yes, maybe millions do claim to listen. But how many MORE millions don't?
That can be true of anything though. There are at least five times as many people in the country who don't listen to Radio 2 as those who do. How many people never watch football? Is that a case for saying "as a sport I'm surprised it's not dead?"