[jeffrey4670]

Originally Posted by in my ears

andi durrant has always done his show from london even in the old galaxy days

Real Radio Yorkshire's Studios are at Tingley and Capital Yorkshire are in Josephs Well in Central Leeds.

[kev]

Originally Posted by bluesdiamond

Things remind me of something I wondered over a couple of years ago.
Most major companies have a disaster recovery programme in place, What happens if their is a flood, fire, terrorist activity.
Though Leicester Square is a huge operation, I believe at the time that Bristol was the site with the equipment in place to keep the stations rolling.
Think Pebble Mill has a similar role for the BBC and now Salford is the main back up site.
With major brands like LBC, Classic FM, Smooth (Gold), Heart (now including Real) would Salford (think Smooth is in the Docks with the BBC) be the new 'disaster' recovery site? Or with the need for Scottish output could Glasgow be such a site?

Do Global still have BLAST or whatever it was called where any station could take over the network? - in theory that could be Nottingham broadcasting Capital, Birmingham broadcasting Heart, Reading(?) broadcasting LBC, Manchester handling XFM etc. I would also assume that if they did loose the Leicester Square building through an "act of god" or similar Ofcom would be relativity "happy" with London's "local" programming coming from outside the capital (possibly fully shared for a few days while getting staff moved about etc before the regular DJs start presenting there shows from a different station).

[Les Wires]

Originally Posted by kev

Alternatively jettison the Gold brand and rename them Smooth Radio ...

Where do OfT stand with regard to Gold and Smooth?
Aren't they similar services in direct competition to each other in many areas, and in those areas the only commercial oldies stations.

How would OFT react to say Sainsburys taking over Tescos? although this may be a much more competitive sector.

I pressume that Rajar will start to have a much less role to play as listeners will simply move about between Global networks rather than the organization losing it's audience.

UKRD, Free etc etc must be rubbing their hands sitting on a goldmine and waiting for a knock on the door.

[Martin Phillp]

Originally Posted by Station ID

Am I right in thinking that Wales is the only place at the moment where Real and heart go head to head for audience?

Also in Chester, North Cheshire and the Wirral.

[Musicmasterprox]

Originally Posted by in my ears

andi durrant has always done his show from london even in the old galaxy days

He pre-records his show and sends it down from Leeds to the London station, in order to stream it out every weekend. This also happens with mash as he records his show from Glasgow whilst sasha does her's from Birmingham studios.

Also Galaxy's main networked station was Capital Yorkshire. They didn't have a London based studio

[AllBran]

I've just had a thought about potential issues in Wales.
They'll probably just sell Real.
The Heart stations in North Wales make money and are cost-effective from Wrexham.
Ashley will never sell a Capital. So South Wales is safe.
So just sell off the expensive to run, not very profitable, Real Wales licence.
Problem solved.

[James Martin 2]

That's something worth considering - how emotionally close Tabor is to Capital. I think it's fair to say nothing in that network will get sold!

[SouthCity]

According to the Guardian Media Talk podcast Bauer submitted a late bid for GMG Radio which pushed the price up to £70 million.

Could they be in the frame to pick up some of the stations that Global have to offload?

[MSB]

Interesting Bauer have bid given they will be forced to give up a lot more than what Global will be told to let go for GMG. Still £70million sounds really low for a bunch of regional licences.

In any case Global would rather not sell anything to their direct rivals if they could get away with it.

[Martin Phillp]

Originally Posted by Musicmasterprox

Also Galaxy's main networked station was Capital Yorkshire. They didn't have a London based studio

Steve Sutherland used to present from London during the Chrysalis era.

[kev]

Originally Posted by Les Wires

Where do OfT stand with regard to Gold and Smooth?
Aren't they similar services in direct competition to each other in many areas, and in those areas the only commercial oldies stations.

London, Manchester, and the East Midlands are the areas with overlap (the Gold's in the West Midlands are currently operating under a franchise arrangement and will shortly be Free Radio 80s)

How would OFT react to say Sainsburys taking over Tescos? although this may be a much more competitive sector.

They will do what happened when Morrisons aquired Safeway, or Asda acquired Netto - they would require Sainsbury's to sell a number of stores - some current Sainsbury's will go to one or more competitors, and some current Tesco's would go the same way. Typically they jettison the stores which will be re-branded as it saves customer confusion and refurbishment costs (the latter not really an issue in radio).

I pressume that Rajar will start to have a much less role to play as listeners will simply move about between Global networks rather than the organization losing it's audience.

UKRD, Free etc etc must be rubbing their hands sitting on a goldmine and waiting for a knock on the door.

In the case of Free (actually Orion) their whole reason for existing is because Global needed to sell Heart 106, BRMB, Beacon, Mercia and the West Midlands Golds to keep hold of Heart 100.7, Galaxy 102.2, Trent FM/RAM FM, Classic Gold GEM, and Leicester Sound.

If we ignore OfT restraints for the moment, but assume Bauer is off limits, Global have a fully national reach for Heart in England & Wales with a few obvious gaps which could lead to some groups being on the hit list...

UKTV - Peak, Signal 1, Signal 107*
Lincs FM - KCFM, Lincs, Rutland, Trax (Bassetlaw)**
UKRD - KLFM, Spire, Minster, Stray, Yorks Coast, Wessex***

* Mainly for Shrewsbury/Telford) - The remaining frequencies could then be flipped to Capital (i.e. Wolverhampton / Kiddieminster)
* The Lancashire & Cheshire stations would then be possibles for Capital (i.e. Tower, The Bee, Juice, Wave, Wire, Wish, 2BR) - Although quite how you'd get a single station which can pass the format for Galaxy, Juice and The Bee I'm not sure!

** The rest overlap with Heart (Real) and Capital in Yorkshire so would be - possible Smooth/Gold stations

*** They have a few others which are primarly overlapping with Hearts - the odd extension to Capital may be possible but seam to be worthless for Global

The main gaps could then be filled by Sunshine 855 and Touch Radio - but would only require one station each in a group (i.e. Touch, Sunshine) with the rest overlapping so seam of little worth. If they acquired them only Cumbria (i.e. CFM) and the East Midlands (i.e. Gem 106) would be uncovered (alongside some unpopulated areaS)......

[douknowotimean?]

As much as it would make more sense to sell Real Wales, I can see Global getting rid of Capital South Wales (where we could see the return of Red Dragon FM if sold to the right company) along with the Heart stations in North Wales.

Heart is Global's biggest brand and I'm sure Global's management would want their no.1 brand to reach as far and wide on FM wherever possible.

Heart Wales (what is now Real) may even turn into a profitable licence as they will only be producing less amount of local programming per week.

Capital South Wales is pretty much underperforming, It's not doing so well as it was under the Red Dragon name and if Heart was to broadcast throughout the whole of Wales, I'm sure Global may be forced to sell Capital.

As for the current Heart's in North Wales I'm sure Global could do without the costs of producing Welsh Language programming.

Whatever they have to sell in Wales, I can see Bauer picking up Capital or Real at least.

[Musicmasterprox]

Originally Posted by SouthCity

According to the Guardian Media Talk podcast Bauer submitted a late bid for GMG Radio which pushed the price up to £70 million.

Could they be in the frame to pick up some of the stations that Global have to offload?

As I have said before, they may need to sell off Real XS as Global may not want to have an old rock station, hence if gold replaces Smooth radio (over 40s) and they decide to keep XFM. What would be the benifit of having these ex XS licenses?

It would be great if Bauer got it and rebrand it to Kerrang (surely ofcom would be happy with that!) I could see that happen!

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by douknowotimean?

As much as it would make more sense to sell Real Wales, I can see Global getting rid of Capital South Wales (where we could see the return of Red Dragon FM if sold to the right company) along with the Heart stations in North Wales.

Heart is Global's biggest brand and I'm sure Global's management would want their no.1 brand to reach as far and wide on FM wherever possible.

Heart Wales (what is now Real) may even turn into a profitable licence as they will only be producing less amount of local programming per week.

Capital South Wales is pretty much underperforming, It's not doing so well as it was under the Red Dragon name and if Heart was to broadcast throughout the whole of Wales, I'm sure Global may be forced to sell Capital.

As for the current Heart's in North Wales I'm sure Global could do without the costs of producing Welsh Language programming.

Whatever they have to sell in Wales, I can see Bauer picking up Capital or Real at least.

In South Wales there is ex XFM now Nation radio (which will will also be in North Wales later in 2012) and Kiss on FM, so Global may be able to keep both Capital and Real/Heart.

But just give up one station north Wales?

[SouthCity]

Originally Posted by hanssolo

In South Wales there is ex XFM now Nation radio (which will will also be in North Wales later in 2012) and Kiss on FM, so Global may be able to keep both Capital and Real/Heart.

The important factor is the combined 61% of the Cardiff radio advertising market which Capital, Real & Gold have.

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by SouthCity

The important factor is the combined 61% of the Cardiff radio advertising market which Capital, Real & Gold have.

So they could sell or close Gold in Cardiff (rather than Capital or Real?), would that keep the regulators happy?

[kev]

Originally Posted by hanssolo

So they could sell or close Gold in Cardiff (rather than Capital or Real?), would that keep the regulators happy?

OfCom would be happy with Global just offloading either Heart or Real in North Wales - they want 2 plus the BBC.

The OfT on the other hand didn't seam to think that was a suitable option in the East Midlands - Gold has very low ratings (so much so that Heart on DAB / Freeview is beating Gold here in the East Midlands*) so probably low impact on the advertising revenue.

* Although admittedly only two of the four counties (Notts, Derbys, Leics, Rutland) get Gold on MW properly dispite the TSA seemingly being the same - then again DAB isn't available in Derbys properly either.

[Musicmasterprox]

if gold becomes smooth, then it does make sence for them to ether sell off the AM frequency to the owners of Free Radio or cease broadcasting in the area.

AM has sadly seen its day. Like LW

[-ajm-]

Originally Posted by Musicmasterprox

if gold becomes smooth, then it does make sence for them to ether sell off the AM frequency to UTV for another Free Radio station or cease broadcasting in the area.

AM has sadly seen its day. Like LW

UTV doesn't own Free Radio

http://www.orionmedia.com/orionholding.html

Could possibly become Signal Radio though.

[Martin Phillp]

Originally Posted by hanssolo

So they could sell or close Gold in Cardiff (rather than Capital or Real?), would that keep the regulators happy?

Gold South Wales has 2.7% of the share in the Cardiff market, where as Capital has 6.7%, so divesting Gold on it's own wouldn't hardly make a dent in Global's domination.

So it's either Real/Heart or Capital. The latter is more likely with the possibility to selling the AM Gold frequency which could be sold as part of a deal to keep the station on as part of a franchise.

[Martin Kong]

I was thinking what if UTV purchase Capital South Wales and merge it with their Swansea station 96.4 FM The Wave?

[James Martin 2]

Would Global be allowed to buy the Touch network? The only stations in that group where I believe there's no Heart are Hinckley, (officially, but 100.7 is reasonably receivable) Loughborough, and possibly some of Stratford.

[hanssolo]

Originally Posted by Martin Phillp

Gold South Wales has 2.7% of the share in the Cardiff market, where as Capital has 6.7%, so divesting Gold on it's own wouldn't hardly make a dent in Global's domination.

So it's either Real/Heart or Capital. The latter is more likely with the possibility to selling the AM Gold frequency which could be sold as part of a deal to keep the station on as part of a franchise.

But(Capital's main rival Kiss Severn estary has over 6% share so Global may use this to keep both Capital and Real in Cardiff (ignoring local advertising share)

[suffolkblue]

I only get smooth here on dab which I love I really hope it don't become gold. But I also recieve gold on AM and on the norwich duplex on dab I hope global keep gold and keep smooth as I switch between the two sometimes. My only gripe with global is their tight playlists if they changed that I would listen more apart from capital which is of course a hit station so plays the current hits.

[douknowotimean?]

With Nation Radio only being on DAB in North Wales would Global still have to sell something up there?

As for South Wales I would be very surprised if Global were lucky to keep Capital and Real. There are places like Newport or Cwmbran who aren't officially in Nation's TSA so that may go against Global.