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ANOTHER rock station to start on dab..
DiandalScotland
Posts: 2,099 Forum Member
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... central scotland
So yet another rock station to hit our air waves on central scotland dab. Eklipse
http://radiotoday.co.uk/2013/05/new-sports-rock-talk-station-to-launch/
Already got Kerrang-PlanetRock-Real xs manchester+glasgow and TeamRock
So yet another rock station to hit our air waves on central scotland dab. Eklipse
http://radiotoday.co.uk/2013/05/new-sports-rock-talk-station-to-launch/
Already got Kerrang-PlanetRock-Real xs manchester+glasgow and TeamRock
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Unfortunately, a lot of these people make a ton of money then decide to sink it into their passions. And end up losing a huge amount.
I don't know if that's the case here. I hope not. But I can't see that there's an audience for all these tiny radio stations playing the same sort of thing.
During the day, Yorkshire Radio mainly plays rock music. Its name probably gets the attention of listeners. Leeds United are the most popular sports team in Yorkshire, and the station has exclusive commentary rights, as well as shows about the club throughout the week. I don't think Eklypse is a name that would make sports fans wonder about the station and want to check it out.
Always thought Real XS sounded like a dance music station, any true rock fan will be listening to TeamRock.
But not locally in Scotland
It does strike me as the type of format that can have a good niche in Central Scotland mainly due to interest in Celtic and Rangers in the West of which folk never tire of talking about/hearing opinions on.
Always felt GMG should have done this with their two rock stations in Glasgow and Manchester, both of which would have suited sports-talk content.
A hook up with Central Fm and their footy phone-in anyone?
Wish the venture well and looking forward to hear.
Personally as a rock fan ill be listening to XS till the 14th and then Planet Rock on 105.2 at which point ill either sell or get rid of my dab radio as i will have no use for it come August when XS and LBC disappear in this area. I wont be listening to Team Rock as i wont listen to my rock music in 80k mono (plus i like rock as opposed to metal which there is too much of on Team Rock)
As a point of anorak interest, this was the intended name of one of the unsucessful bids for the Lanarkshire licence, and it is the same person (Spencer Prior) behind this new venture.
The idea behind the 'Eklypse' name of old was that had they been sucessful in the Lanarkshire bid, the station would have launched during the solar eclipse of the sun that occurred in July 1999, bringing with it a head-start of interest and publicity. Since it intended East Kilbride as the core area there was a logic there.
I can see a logic here too........two different concepts.....rock and sport...... combined and 'eclipsing' eachother.
I immediately thought of East Kilbride when I saw the name - and given that I don't live there, it seems like a daft name.
Eclipse if you really want, but to get people's attention scrolling though their DAB stations, SportTalkScot or SportRock or something that says what it does would be much better.
I tend to agree that if this would work anywhere, it's in Glasgow/Central Scotland, and in fact a Scottish Rock 'n' Roll football could go down very well. But with high costs and no analogue frequency, it'll be an uphill battle. Good luck to those involved!
Switchdigital were recently advertising for projects of this nature to take space on their Central Scotland MUX. I have no idea what the costs are but presumably they must be offering highly discounted rates.
Also, as we know there are a huge number of presenters on the market so it will be far easier to pull together a pro team that won't cost the earth than it might have been previously.
If you have a station heavy on Scottish football chat and playing mainstream bloke rock......I can see that flying.
Don't forget Kerrang will be closing soon, according to reports.
I think the mix of music, talk and sport being advertised by Eklipse Sport Radio looks interesting although a certain (ex-) member on DS has taken time to bad mouth it! Jealousy's a terrible thing! lol
Actually whenever football was discussed on Rock Radio/Real XS(meh) the result has been muted to say the least, Motorsport has always been a popular subject for on the station though.
Kerrang is only closing on fm in West Midlands I think.
Switchdigital took the step of throwing open space to new providers in Central Scotland and presumably are offering vastly discounted rates compared to previously.
The usual complaint about DAB......and in part why it has not yet had full lift-off in the way FM did against AM.......is that while it purports to offer 'more choice' it's essentially mostly just more of the same.
This new station strikes me as the type of thing we always hoped DAB would provide and if switchdigital get another couple of similar things on there........say a student station (perrhaps a mashup of existing student output ) and maybe something genuinely aimed at an older audience (perhaps cherrypicking people and shows from hospital and community radio) then it may well see a significant new takeup of DAB in Central Scotland and others will follow.
Another rock station is maybe not whats needed.
Darren
Are we really so narrow minded up here?:rolleyes:
I do work in marketing and branding and you're right - It's a terrible name!
Says nothing about rock or sport or Scotland and, for a radio brand, suffers the crime of not being immediately searchable when you only hear it.
EDIT: Semi-apologies. I see the full name is Eklipse Sports Radio, which at least covers the sport angle. But now I've Googled it, I see they've also opted for the worst logo in history, and a piss-poor website too.
As I remember it, Saga was getting about a 10-12% reach, 6% share of listening. Xfm about 6-10% reach, 3-4% share when they were on FM, and funded and marketed by two of the biggest radio groups in the country.
Why would similarly targeted stations, on a less universal platform, expect significant audiences?
I'd say we're too busy fighting each other over ridiculous psuedo-religious lines to worry about the English these days. Some people in the west of Scotland are addicted to the kind of sectarian nonsense people in Northern Ireland are desperate to be rid of and have suffered through.
I think Scottish listeners are more open to English voices these days. I imagine it also helps that the English football team hasn't been too hot recently, as it's constant references to repeating 1966, talking about England for the duration of the build-up to another game and matters like that which cause people to become a bit annoyed.
Indeed. I think the bigots don't worry who is spouting the garbage that fololws their agenda as long as the flames are constantly being fanned and they can idulge in the petty ping pong type name calling.
Well not necessarily any individual stations themselves but if there were a range of targeted services this might have a positive cumulative effect on DAB takeup as a whole which is what I was referring to.
Perhaps this is more in hope than expectation. Atlernative formats on analogue haven't really worked in this country so one might well wonder why they would now on DAB.
But if what we are accepting is that they never will and that the masses just want to listen to Steve Wright et al for the rest of his/their days then what on earth is the point in forging ahead with DAB?