Steve and Karen now on TFM from monday!!

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  • dpbdpb Posts: 12,024
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    How are they selling this as being a positive move rather than being a reduction of things? let's see;

    "“TFM is a much-loved radio station on Teesside and we are confident this move means it will benefit from even greater creativity, improved content and allow the station to further grow its audience share across the region. We want to say thank you to all TFM staff who have worked hard for the station in recent years.”"

    Well that's spin, a station loved so much it now has to move fully into Newcastle where it will benefit from the creativity already going at Metro which up until now had no connection with TFM, and the improved content will be filling another transmitter with the same stuff everyone on Teesside can already pick up from Metro's overlapping signal anyhow!<snip>

    Does "everyone on Teesside" realistically pick up Metro that well to be a reliable alternative choice?
    I had no idea when TFM started taking Night Owls that that also could signal that the writing was on the wall for the whole station too, given it was off peak networking, so it makes me wonder now we have seen this big crack in Bauer's "commitment" to their localised stations whether stations like Rock FM or even some in Yorkshire such as Viking could be at risk. Rock has been sharing the late show with Key and it would obviously be the weaker operation of the two, it still has things like Freejack's classics which give it its own character on that Sunday night free zone when the stations are somehow allowed to do their own thing, what if Bauer decided to take Pete Price across the whole North West from City, if it's regional anything's possible it seems and choice across the dial could go.
    Although admittedly Pete Price might be quite a strong choice for a Rock FM simulcast, better not give them too many ideas.

    Well Pete was networked across Magic 1548 and 999 in 2003 so you never know. The only change I could see with Rock's late show is a show out of Key to Rock and the Yorkshire stations.

    I do wonder if this is the first of similar programme sharing at Bauer. The Yorkshire stations couldn't share everything which each other although within the approved areas of Ofcom they could make a combination of:

    - Rock and CFM (although there's a gap in between)
    - Clyde 1, West FM, (South) Westsound FM.
    - Forth 1 and Radio Borders
    - Tay FM, Northsound 1 and Moray Firth.

    I imagine they could possibly argue a combination of CFM and (South) Westsound FM (although only with each other).

    Although there are cultural arguments why you should/would avoid such combinations.
  • phildunk1986phildunk1986 Posts: 1,658
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    Do you think the same will happen with the Big City Stations in Yorkshire & North West at a later date networking from Leeds & Manchester.
  • Station IDStation ID Posts: 7,401
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    Do you think the same will happen with the Big City Stations in Yorkshire & North West at a later date networking from Leeds & Manchester.

    In a word yes. I wouldn't be suprised if phase 2 is daytime networking across all sites. If it works in England expect Scotland to follow.
  • -ajm--ajm- Posts: 5,810
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    The worrying thought of having Magic 105. *shudders*
  • Harris TweedHarris Tweed Posts: 1,613
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    Except that Liverpool/Manchester/s.Yorks/W.Yorks/E.Yorks are all individual Approved Areas.

    So you couldn't totally merge Key/City or Hallam/Viking/Aire.

    This is the lowest-hanging fruit. I can't imagine Rock/CFM is far behind? Then I agree.. daytime sharing across everything (the only output saving they can make on the bigger stations).

    And I still think a single brand is a logical end point. Even though they're not doing it now.. probably sensibly given the wholesale change in line-up.. it surely makes sense to promote Steve & Karen's gigs at the Station X Arena across both areas (etc).
  • mbessexmbessex Posts: 2,253
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    Station ID wrote: »
    They'd have still been paid. They may not be on air but they-ll be paid according to their contract.

    Well that must just make them a shining example of being an employer......The radio industry has such low threasholds for quality across the board on and off air
  • Martin KongMartin Kong Posts: 2,909
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    SouthCity wrote: »
    They have to do separate breakfast + 3hrs on Aire, Hallam & Viking because they are in different local approved areas.

    True, but there nothing stopping them from networking the 10 till 2pm slot.
  • Station IDStation ID Posts: 7,401
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    mbessex wrote: »
    Well that must just make them a shining example of being an employer......The radio industry has such low threasholds for quality across the board on and off air

    It's not great if you're them but in my experience companies that make decisions like this usualy look after the people as best they can. It's not uncommon for someone who's been there for a long time to be given more than they are entitled to financially.

    My post was just to make this point because the way some people talk about it on here it's as if they are taken off air, kicked out of the building and stop getting paid there and then. Radio is in a bad way with lots of people losing their jobs but we all know the risks and know that we won't have a job for life.
  • 6262 Posts: 295
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    I wonder if Alan Ross thought he wouldn't have a job for life when he started at Pennine back in 1979?

    As a Law graduate from LSE, might his choice of career path been different if so??
  • Harris TweedHarris Tweed Posts: 1,613
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    62 wrote: »
    I wonder if Alan Ross thought he wouldn't have a job for life when he started at Pennine back in 1979?

    As a Law graduate from LSE, might his choice of career path been different if so??

    See also how, er, every other career has also changed in the last 34 years.

    Anyway.. plenty of jocks WERE marched off the premises back in the day - and many of them had to threaten or take legal action to get their contract paid. Radio presenting has never been a job for life*

    (*Some BBC staff members notwithstanding, according to John Myers' report)
  • Jack-UKJack-UK Posts: 1,364
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    dpb wrote: »
    Does "everyone on Teesside" realistically pick up Metro that well to be a reliable alternative choice?

    I pick it up here in Billingham, north Teesside, not well but works on a good radio.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 285
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    Jack-UK wrote: »
    I pick it up here in Billingham, north Teesside, not well but works on a good radio.

    Metro's signal is listenable in a car across most of TFM's TSA. Only once you get south of Thornaby does it begin to fight a bit with Stray on 97.2.
  • commsengcommseng Posts: 5,455
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    Out of interest was there much separate output anyway, or was it only the breakfast show that was from TFM's studios?

    I've seen somewhere that listeners didn't want the "rubbish music played on Metro", but I would imagine the playlist would have been identical between the two stations already?

    How much variation is there between the various Bauer stations at the moment?

    In the last days of BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and Wyvern before Free Radio came in, the stations were all fairly much of a muchness anyway, is it the same here?
    Sad though it is to see another of the original heritage ILR stations disappear, had it already faded out some years earlier?
  • omnidirectionalomnidirectional Posts: 18,796
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    commseng wrote: »
    Out of interest was there much separate output anyway, or was it only the breakfast show that was from TFM's studios?

    According to TFM's old Public File:
    The amount of local programming per day produced by the station:
    Monday - Friday all programming is locally produced between 6am -7pm, on Saturday and Sunday it is locally produced between 6am – 6pm.

    So it seems they had full local output on weekday daytimes until now.
  • NewbieBen12NewbieBen12 Posts: 455
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    The above is incorrect for Saturday & Sunday. Locally it was 6-12pm/10pm-1am on Sat and 6am-1pm/10pm-1am on Sun.
  • Bill ClintonBill Clinton Posts: 9,389
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    They really do seem to have contempt for the intelligence of their listeners, they are advertising it as the "new" TFM from Monday, as if no one ever tunes in to Metro and wouldn't realise.

    The gall of advertising something that is a cutback as "new and exciting" how stupid would you have to be to take in that message, ordinary people are not that stupid! They can tell how things are!
  • commsengcommseng Posts: 5,455
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    They really do seem to have contempt for the intelligence of their listeners, they are advertising it as the "new" TFM from Monday, as if no one ever tunes in to Metro and wouldn't realise.

    The gall of advertising something that is a cutback as "new and exciting" how stupid would you have to be to take in that message, ordinary people are not that stupid! They can tell how things are!

    I don't think the average listener would be tuning to Metro to compare its output with TFM in the way that people on this forum would.

    It may well be that many of them don't care where it comes from, as Capital moving in to the East Midlands (which seemed unlikely to be a success at the time to me) seems to show. If the music doesn't change, other than the different voices between the records, will it be seen as that big an issue?

    The importance of local commercial radio doesn't look to be as big an issue as it once did - if you do want local info, then there is the BBC station which is heavily speech orientated or the internet.
    I speak as someone who does miss it!
  • Bill ClintonBill Clinton Posts: 9,389
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    commseng wrote: »
    I don't think the average listener would be tuning to Metro to compare its output with TFM in the way that people on this forum would.

    It may well be that many of them don't care where it comes from, as Capital moving in to the East Midlands (which seemed unlikely to be a success at the time to me) seems to show. If the music doesn't change, other than the different voices between the records, will it be seen as that big an issue?

    The importance of local commercial radio doesn't look to be as big an issue as it once did - if you do want local info, then there is the BBC station which is heavily speech orientated or the internet.
    I speak as someone who does miss it!

    It should generate a lot of badwill as people would perceive the change just through its resonant energy, wouldn't word get round that it's just the same as Metro, if people are that much unthinking drones then surely all local commercial radio is pointless to them so there might as well just be a national hits service, so they'd be better off with Radio 1 or Heart, it makes Metro & TFM irrelevant anyway, Free Radio hasn't done so well so it doesn't always work.
  • krob2krob2 Posts: 1,199
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    It should generate a lot of badwill as people would perceive the change just through its resonant energy, wouldn't word get round that it's just the same as Metro, if people are that much unthinking drones then surely all local commercial radio is pointless to them so there might as well just be a national hits service, so they'd be better off with Radio 1 or Heart, it makes Metro & TFM irrelevant anyway, Free Radio hasn't done so well so it doesn't always work.

    Capital EM hasn't done that well either compared to what we had before - its not a station I'm hearing anywhere. The demise of the independent TFM is pure and simple cost cutting by Bauer following on the established Global model. Hopefully they won't do too much to Radio City - It wouldn't go down very well on Merseyside if it shared a lot of programming with Key.

    Of course the real villain is OFCOM and the Government for allowing groups to remove local content - you can't really blame the groups when its allowed and a way they can increase profitability.
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 41
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    TFM has a greater TSA of 700,000 and it is still profitable so why have OFCOM allowed it to be networked? The reason as far as I can see is that they grouped it within a regional map and the current rules allow for stations within the same map area to network everything if they so wish.

    The sad part of all this is that I'm told TFM is still profitable, over 700,000 and would still have to be doing at least 7 hours of local programming a day if OFCOM had not made the error of grouping it within one regional map. Bauer have simply taken advantage of that. It does not make it right and it does not make good sense. Teesside is very different to Newcastle. It is like a station in my area of Leeds being allowed to broadcast the same output as Sheffield. They are two very different places. I expect other owners to be quickly reviewing their regional OFCOM maps to see what they can do. Local Radio is now as old fashioned as dial up internet. There is still some of it around but it is fast becoming a laughing stock.

    Just seen that Myers blogs about TFM on his website today with many comments from posters on it. http://myersmedia.co.uk/2013/tfm-the-reality-of-radio-today/.
  • soapfan_1973soapfan_1973 Posts: 3,624
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    I was very sad to hear this news as I lived in Teesside from 1985 so grew up listening to the old Radio Tees from Dovecot Street before it moved to the Thornaby studios. It got me interested enough in radio that I joined Radio North Tees, the local hospital radio station, and stayed there for 13 years. Through this I had the opportunity to sit in on many shows at TFM and also Magic 1170 which was great experience for a young presenter.

    For those interested in studio gear etc Radio North Tees was donated an entire studio from tfm a few years ago which I think was a lovely gift
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWnxSjwGSkk
  • dpbdpb Posts: 12,024
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    krob2 wrote: »
    Capital EM hasn't done that well either compared to what we had before - its not a station I'm hearing anywhere. <snip>

    If I go into a shop in Nottingham or Derby city centre and it has a radio on, half the time it's Capital.
  • Jack-UKJack-UK Posts: 1,364
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    casaboy22 wrote: »
    Metro's signal is listenable in a car across most of TFM's TSA. Only once you get south of Thornaby does it begin to fight a bit with Stray on 97.2.

    That's true, I noticed on a car trip to Yarm one night with Metro on, Stray FM began to take over on 97.2 and even came in with RDS.
  • Lost WeekendLost Weekend Posts: 152
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    dpb wrote: »
    If I go into a shop in Nottingham or Derby city centre and it has a radio on, half the time it's Capital.

    Agreed, and I called in for petrol in Derby the other day, Capital was on in the petrol station, and I heard it from one of the cars that pulled up as well
  • omnidirectionalomnidirectional Posts: 18,796
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    Local MP:
    Stockton South MP James Wharton today called on broadcasting watchdog Ofcom to investigate.

    He said: “I am extremely concerned. I am not sure Ofcom realise that the North-east is such a diverse place. This decision, made in Germany, could have been rubber stamped in London with no input from people who understand the area.”
    http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2013/04/06/tfm-radio-station-to-move-to-newcastle-84229-33127381/

    I didn't know Bauer Radio had moved their HQ to Germany. The Germans must be to blame for the Magic AM networking too. ;)
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