The Feel Good Network - Bright/Splash/Arrow/Sovereign
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It's occurred to me that we don't see much on here about Media Sound Holdings' 'Feel Good Network' in Sussex, unlike a similar size network in the form of TotalStar, is that because they are actually doing a fairly good job?
I've just posted on the TS thread holding-up the Feel Good Network as an example of how networking can work and still produce a 'local feel' for the listeners to each station involved.
I've heard a bit of both Sovereign & Arrow, but mainly Bright & Splash. When they first started daytime networking they had a few technical issues occasionally, with music playing over ads or ads crashing into the news, etc.
But, they seem to have sorted that out fairly quickly and I've not heard anything like that since they even started networking Breakfast & Drive some months ago.
There is less reference by the presenter, for example of Worthing on Splash during Breakfast now, although the few people I know in that area that listen didn't notice the change and had no idea the show was now shared across 4 stations - and that's the clever bit. There seems to be plenty of local information, with local references, inserted during the shows.
News, traffic, what's on guide, certain competitions & station/website promos are all VERY local, as are station IDs which include mentions for the towns, areas & villages covered - there's a real local feel, unlike with TS.
And there's no shortage ads, which would suggest they are doing it right.
But, I confess I tend to only hear short bursts of these stations when driving in the area, so I could be wrong and therefore I am interested in hearing what others think.
I've just posted on the TS thread holding-up the Feel Good Network as an example of how networking can work and still produce a 'local feel' for the listeners to each station involved.
I've heard a bit of both Sovereign & Arrow, but mainly Bright & Splash. When they first started daytime networking they had a few technical issues occasionally, with music playing over ads or ads crashing into the news, etc.
But, they seem to have sorted that out fairly quickly and I've not heard anything like that since they even started networking Breakfast & Drive some months ago.
There is less reference by the presenter, for example of Worthing on Splash during Breakfast now, although the few people I know in that area that listen didn't notice the change and had no idea the show was now shared across 4 stations - and that's the clever bit. There seems to be plenty of local information, with local references, inserted during the shows.
News, traffic, what's on guide, certain competitions & station/website promos are all VERY local, as are station IDs which include mentions for the towns, areas & villages covered - there's a real local feel, unlike with TS.
And there's no shortage ads, which would suggest they are doing it right.
But, I confess I tend to only hear short bursts of these stations when driving in the area, so I could be wrong and therefore I am interested in hearing what others think.
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I did wonder if some of the links were separate for each station, as I am sure I have heard, using Splash as the example, presenter mentions of the Worthing area, but never Hastings or Eastbourne on Splash.
Are no DS-ers listening, or are they just happy with what the 'Feel Good Network' is doing?
Your not looking in the right place http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=872925&page=3
No i agree the stations do definately sound 'local'. I tend to listen mostly late evenings and early mornings and even the new overnight show on Bright Fm with Paul Williams does actually sound LIve. (I presume it is voicetracked though as he is Programme Manager there i believe?)
I like what I hear every time I tune in to the Media Sound stations.
So many smaller groups - TotalStar for example - could learn a lot from Splash/Bright/Sovereign/Arrow.
The Hailsham studio has been kept, drive for all 4 stations broadcasts from there.
The rest comes from Worthing, not that the average listener would notice.
There's a big different with KM-FM, that's the fact that the KM newspaper brand is strong in Kent and co-branding of the radio stations makes sense for cross-media promotion.
The on air team covered the day of the death with such Professionalism and aired a tribute Retro show a couple of weeks later.
Listen to it here http://www.splashfm.com/444
The coverage was just right, not ott but just right for someone that had been on the air in sussex for 20 odd years.
As mentioned on the other posts the industry could learn from these fella's
Yes I forgot it was the day after.
The voicetracking is the best in the UK and commitment to local news in each area is also first class.
The team deserve to benefit from the fruits of their labour.
Hopefully they will buy Juice and form a single brand and give Heart a real run for their money.
Meanwhile, The Eagle is surely the opposite - the original UKRD station, and presumably - along with Pirate - a major profit centre for that group. Why sell?
Doubt if UKRD will want to sell or merge Eagle & County or Spirit.
I know MSH has expressed interest in Juice on more than one occasion, but Juice wasn't interested in a take-over or merger.
There is, or at least there was & I assume it's still in place, an arrangement for both sales teams to cross sell advertising.
This afternoon I heard on Splash FM someone calling in to enter a competition, I assume the call was transmitted live, which of course is dangerous when it's going out on four stations each pretending to be individual stations.
The other daft thing was to ask where the caller was calling from, it went something like this:
I am calling from London [what?], I am listening on the internet [saved?, well no...] to Bright FM.
The Feel Good Network are definately the best at doing local content to each of the four separate stations. Listened a fair amount over the Christmas period and the output was good.