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Lincs Radio group & other Local Radio Groups- the future?
bingoman
Posts: 23,939 Forum Member
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Just been reading the Transtion(sp) to Heart Thread and the seems to be Speculation on the Lincs Group as the buy-out for Global Radio if that does happen what does the future hold for Local Radio, is there still a future for Local Radio once Global finishes the latest round of Hearts & Capital
If Global did buy the Lincs Group and turned Lincs FM for example into say a Smooth or Heart the County as a whole would not have Locally Independent Radio Station other than BBC lincs
What do the Local Radio Companies including UTV, and UKRD do to combat Global Radio and the buying of local Radio and turning them into a heart or a Smooth For Example, do they keep the Radio station Local or Copy Global and Bauer and putting them on a network during the day meaning nothing local or just carry on as there are
I like listen to Local Radio as it keeps me updated with what's going in the local area
How can these local Groups stop Global Road buying them up there Radio Stations and keeping them local, do you what have Local Radio Station during the day to listen to and keep you informed on what happening in your area without networking in place in the day or not are you not to bothered
If Global did buy the Lincs Group and turned Lincs FM for example into say a Smooth or Heart the County as a whole would not have Locally Independent Radio Station other than BBC lincs
What do the Local Radio Companies including UTV, and UKRD do to combat Global Radio and the buying of local Radio and turning them into a heart or a Smooth For Example, do they keep the Radio station Local or Copy Global and Bauer and putting them on a network during the day meaning nothing local or just carry on as there are
I like listen to Local Radio as it keeps me updated with what's going in the local area
How can these local Groups stop Global Road buying them up there Radio Stations and keeping them local, do you what have Local Radio Station during the day to listen to and keep you informed on what happening in your area without networking in place in the day or not are you not to bothered
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I read in the Transtion to Heart Thread that where I read it first, someone in there said they heard a rumour, what else I can say, only read about it
A mate of mine hosts a radio show on a community station in Lincolnshire and he said to me that he feels that Global are out of control as he thinks Lincs FM is the next station to be Heartified.
UKRD say they are now making good profits, but whether small FM groups are making enough profit to keep going will have to be seen?
Reading 107 seems to be surviving as Jack and Palm looks next to be Breeze?
Lincs group said they would be profitable except for DAB costs,
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldselect/ldcomuni/100/10006.htm
par 94
and have now cut back DAB costs in Yorkshire and Midlands, so may be able to resist a takeover?
It may still launch DAB in Lincolnshire as a shareholding operator which could help it if the DAB mux starts to fill, but looks like the local DAB mux is on hold at the moment and the local Belmont DAB transmitter is still in use by MXR Yorkshire?
If they came reasonably cheap then they'd have them but I don't think they'd pay over the odds. I wouldn't say obtaining them is top of their priority list at the moment but I could be wrong.
What's interesting in the longer term is the success of DAB. If we do eventually have a breakthrough for digital radio you can envisage Global putting all their brands national. At that time buying up old analogue licences becomes less attractive. Make no mistake Global want all their brands on an equal footing with the BBC.
Those stations could not share breakfast & drive (or local news) with Heart Yorkshire, they are in a different approved local area and Heart Yorkshire has a different owner.
That makes them less attractive than Heart Cornwall, where the breakfast show could be shared with the Devon stations (in the South West approved area). As you say, it depends on the price really.
Yes different areas, Real Yorkshire does not cover Hull and Lincoln on FM but does on DAB (for a while).
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiolicensing/mcamaps/MCAs.htm
If the price is right though I can still see Lincs FM going to Heart but that depends what that price is. Global won't pay over the odds no, but on the other hand Lincs TSA is one thing but their transmitter coverage is an entirely different thing. Check out the output of their transmitter at Belmont and it's huge, this would be really lucrative to Global.
Speculating further, it could be that Betton keeps something like Compass Radio in the north of the county as his 'train set' as it's cheap to run and operates very similarly to Sky Radio in the Netherlands with automation. Seems to pull in decent enough listening figures for its size and coverage area.
As others have said though the county would not be able to use Yorkshire's output, it would either need to be individual or possibly enter some sort of syndication with Peterborough or East Midlands.
I'd be interested what MuxCo have to say about this - another year and no progress.
Trax/Rother/Dearne/Ridings really should be a networked show rather than this uncomfortable hybrid voice tracked oddity. Lincs FM makes Real Radio seem modern and progressive and the whole thing is just quite difficult to listen to for any length of time.
Heart will cause them some problems in Yorkshire more than any other group as the Trax offering is a rough version of Heart in my opinion and it could lose out.
I'm surprised that it hasn't been "looked at" and shaped up.
Agreed, it needs it, but the two words another poster used sum up the situation; "train set".
If it's making money and providing local jobs (especially all the back office stuff for the group at Lincoln & Donny, which would inevitably go in a takeover), then fair enough.
Why would it be better to network them than keep them separate? The only point of difference is that they're local to their specific areas. By networking you make them more like Heart and take away their individuality.
That's not to say they can't do local better. Always room for improvement.
Based on what though? As I said earlier money doesn't seem to be a driver and Betton at least on the face of things appears happier simply being a name in radio with his Lincs Group train set. Even if Global offered say an extra £1m over its market value for the group I'm not sure Betton would be that bothered.
Of course we all have our price tags so who knows what may be in that eventual commercially sensitive envelope, I am simply not as confident as you the station will go Heart as quickly as you predict unless the group starts to lose money.
Global do want national output and that's no secret but what if Betton simply says no? Both Betton and Tabor will have met in 2010 during the select committee on digital switchover, the same year Betton issued that memo which was leaked online about rationalisation and news hubbing, probably one of the most vulnerable times for the group when Tabor could have used this to his advantage. If a takeover was so imminent it would have happened back then. I reckon the group is ripe for going to Heart but with Betton at the helm it possibly won't happen for years until he gets bored, by which time the UK market will look very different from today.
This also suits Global who will be able to have Heart, Smooth, Capital, Gold and XFM from the Belmont DAB transmitter and build up audiences.
I also read about a change in the decision making of the company of the percentage of shareholders that could agree to any sale. Therefore with such an agreement in place and if the strategy is working I could only see them selling to a friendly group with a similar ethos – UKRD probably.
If they did sell to Global I imagine it would be a hefty price tag - a deal to retire on - and I can’t see that being worth Global’s while. Yes I imagine Global would like to fill any Heart shaped gaps in the country but not at any price. Heart is already covering the vast majority of the major population areas - any stations that could come up which they can buy won’t be as important as the GMG deal was.
They probably wrote that change in as part of a review of their business practices. It doesn't mean that they are likely to sell anytime soon.
I can't decide whether you are A) Trolling or
As Smart Programmer said in the Real/Heart thread you are taking rubbish.
What gives you the idea UTV are broke? Radio Today reported last month that revenue is up..http://radiotoday.co.uk/2014/03/radio-revenue-up-7-at-utv-radio-stations
UTV aren't going anywhere, Not to mention they own several profitable market leading stations in Ireland, FM 104 being one of them as well as Talk Sport here in the UK. Plus UTV Radio's parent company being UTV, You know who they are? The Northern Ireland ITV franchisee?
Fair enough mate. I'll ignore the radio today article as your source is obviously correct and that radio today website can't possibly be accurate. That Roy Martin bloke who runs it must make it all up, Strange how people put rubbish on the Internet and pass it off as the truth isn't it ha!
Got to give it to you, you certainly have some sources, More than I have after 15 years working in ILR I'll give you that.
Peace and love
I was only talking if they did sell. I suspect the agreement was made to make sure a couple of big shareholders can't influence others to make sale.