Atlantic FM sold to Global
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Has anyone else seen that radio today are reporting that Global have brought Atlantic FM and that it will become Heart?
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If true it will certainly become Heart, I feel sorry for all the people who are about to lose their jobs. Presumably it'll just be another transmitter for the South-West merged station and Atlantic basically closed down.
Interesting move. The article says that breakfast and drive will come from Exeter, but would it be lumped in with Heart Devon or have its own shows? All comes within one OFCOM region so I guess the former.
And of course it leaves Pirate FM as the last remaining local commercial station in Cornwall.
100% lumped in, doing extra local content than needed is not Global's style. All current local shows will be done-away with for certain, sad times.
“We are delighted to conclude the sale of Atlantic to Global Radio. Very few local stations get the invitation to join a network like Heart, where they care about the localness of their output and offer high quality network programming in a challenging new digital era."
Horses for courses. What are Atlantic's books looking
Iike? In terms of RAJAR it has half the reach of Pirate. In a market like Cornwall, I wouldn't have thought 16% reach was a sign of success.
Programming WILL be coming from Exeter (that is confirmed). I would presume that means it will run as another split of the current Exeter service, but I could be wrong.
With way more Music variety :rolleyes:
I can't think of an other similar stations they could buy. Bauer wouldn't sell. UTV aren't going to sell off Signal. Lincs FM would be a good fit, but would they want the rest of the group, and how viable is the rest of the group without the flagship????
Unless/until GMG sells up, where else would they go??
Well, they've supposedly been buying GMG for the last 4 or 5 years, according to these forums! Realistically, I think we may see the occasional small purchase like Atlantic FM, but nothing bigger.
Yeah, basically all they've done here is buy a transmitter and a licence to extend coverage of their nearby station they own to make it cover another pretty big town. They've just expanded their existing regional a bit more, Atlantic is basically closing down.
Yes i too feel very sorry for those at Atlantic about to loose their jobs & for the people of Cornwall who are loose their regional station
Another outlet for Heart is just what the country needs:rolleyes:
The people of Cornwall have still got their own regional station in the form Pirate which seems to have won the war for listeners although it will be interesting to see how Heart does compared to Atlantic.
Sad news for those at Atlantic which always sounded a good service from the limited listening I've had of it.
What? In an area that doesn't already have Heart and has a pretty successful heritage commercial station which isn't cutting back on local content?
I'd say it doesn't lessen the overall choice available in Cornwall. As others have said, Pirate will now have some real competition in an area that has traditionally been a two horse race between Pirate and BBC Cornwall.
I can't see Pirate changing its format or lineup any time soon. In fact, they can play the local card even more and make a big issue out of it.
As I said earlier, Atlantic's figures aren't great. It comes down to the harsh reality of business rather than looking at everything through rose tinted specs.
Oh do shut up.
What we really need is a frequency audit....
You little rebel, you!
Exactly right. If it was profitable the shareholders wouldn't have taken Global's money as dividends would have been voted to keep them happy.
Pirate are understandably being a bit smug at the moment but they may not be laughing when the Heart marketing campaign gets into gear across the South-West.
A big South West regional station is not going to be easy to beat.
Could someone nice enough relay the Pirate FM story here please?
The bits about UKRD say:
UKRD Chief Executive William Rogers told Radio Today that today was a ‘very sad day’ for local commercial radio in Cornwall. “The sell out by Atlantic’s owners to London based Global will inevitably mean job losses and programming coming from outside the county,” he said. “So much for Atlantic’s owners’ commitment to Cornwall as made in their application document to Ofcom. The staff will be gutted. What a reward for all their hardwork and effort put in over the years.”
William added that Pirate FM had no plans to change its commitment to Cornwall. He said: “We will continue to serve the county, be based in the county, employ local people and work with local businesses. We certainly won’t be moving out of Cornwall. We are proud of our Cornish roots and will continue to be a genuine part of the Cornish community. We have no intention of dumping our involvement with Cornwall like the owners of Atlantic have sadly done.”
Makes me slightly smile when UKRD say stuff like "So much for Atlantic’s owners’ commitment to Cornwall as made in their application document to Ofcom." - same could be said for the applications for Northallerton, Durham, Preston and Blackburn where UKRD have (sadly but rightfully) merged local services.
It'll make good copy in the local press though.
At least we agree on that