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Rock Radio Glasgow |
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 828
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Rock Radio Glasgow
Looks like they won the West Central Scotland licence.
https://www.facebook.com/RockRadioGl...549673/?type=3 EDIT: Officially from Ofcom: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom...radio-scotland |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 433
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Well done team!!! Wonder the main reason why they won it? Fact it was on it before or the crowd support?
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#3 |
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Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 106
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Just as well I don't believe everything I read on here. Well done to the team!
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#4 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 172
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Quote:
Just as well I don't believe everything I read on here. Well done to the team!
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Sligo,Ireland.
Posts: 250
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Are they currently broadcasting online? Found this station ..
http://www.internetradiouk.com/rock-...w/#close-popup |
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#6 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Scotland
Posts: 7,274
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Hands up - I genuinely didn't think Rock Radio would get it. Congratulations to everyone involved, it was a hard-fought campaign and, like any underdog who defeats a big team, they just wanted it more.
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#7 |
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 494
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Quote:
Are they currently broadcasting online? Found this station ..
http://www.internetradiouk.com/rock-...w/#close-popup |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 433
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Tom Russell was doing Facebook live and said that the earliest launch could be April. Once staffing, contracts, advertising agencies and studios are all sorted. Fair play, as the months for getting things like this up and running tend to go quick with each part of the process taking its time.
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#9 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 1,545
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Congratulations to all at Rock Radio, the underdogs in this contest.
The reason why most DS correspondents wrote-off Rock Radio was simply the evidence that a rock style format does not work in the UK. It is a niche market with limited appeal and worse still, the commercial radio advertising market, like media buyers and agencies just don't get 'Rock Radio'. (Malcolm Bluemel, one time owner of Planet Rock lost a fortune with that venture although at the time, it well thought of and broadcast in stereo on DAB). And that was probably part of the reason that Ofcom awarded the new 96.3 Glasgow & West Scotland FM licence to Rock Radio. This niche format with limited commercial appeal will not harm Global brands Heart, Smooth and Capital and same with Bauer's Clyde 1. So the existing commercial operators will be delighted. The new Rock Radio on 96.3 has huge FM transmission costs to overcome (c£80k p.a.) with limited commercial revenues. The team behind the new Rock Radio will have to be inventive to overcome the lack of normal commercial spot revenue and maybe that is contained in the confidential sections of the application document. Otherwise, new Rock Radio could become another Beat 106 or worse, Talk 107! |
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#10 |
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Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 9,624
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I wonder who will end up on Rock Radio I cant see there being any poaching of presenters from other stations. I think Jim Gellantly and Tom Russel will have shows but I wonder who else will appear.
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 433
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Quote:
I wonder who will end up on Rock Radio I cant see there being any poaching of presenters from other stations. I think Jim Gellantly and Tom Russel will have shows but I wonder who else will appear.
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#12 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 172
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Quote:
I wonder who will end up on Rock Radio I cant see there being any poaching of presenters from other stations. I think Jim Gellantly and Tom Russel will have shows but I wonder who else will appear.
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#13 |
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Scotland
Posts: 10,719
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Quote:
Tom Russell was doing Facebook live and said that the earliest launch could be April. Once staffing, contracts, advertising agencies and studios are all sorted. Fair play, as the months for getting things like this up and running tend to go quick with each part of the process taking its time.
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I wonder who will end up on Rock Radio I cant see there being any poaching of presenters from other stations. I think Jim Gellantly and Tom Russel will have shows but I wonder who else will appear.
I'd like to hear Fraser Thomson back on 96.3 too, but not sure if he's got a stable gig at West FM now? Ciaran O'Toole (fun fact: the last ever voice on Q96) was involved in the bid, perhaps he'll turn up too? |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Shawlands, Glasgow
Posts: 3,025
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Quote:
Congratulations to all at Rock Radio, the underdogs in this contest.
The reason why most DS correspondents wrote-off Rock Radio was simply the evidence that a rock style format does not work in the UK. It is a niche market with limited appeal and worse still, the commercial radio advertising market, like media buyers and agencies just don't get 'Rock Radio'. (Malcolm Bluemel, one time owner of Planet Rock lost a fortune with that venture although at the time, it well thought of and broadcast in stereo on DAB). And that was probably part of the reason that Ofcom awarded the new 96.3 Glasgow & West Scotland FM licence to Rock Radio. This niche format with limited commercial appeal will not harm Global brands Heart, Smooth and Capital and same with Bauer's Clyde 1. So the existing commercial operators will be delighted. The new Rock Radio on 96.3 has huge FM transmission costs to overcome (c£80k p.a.) with limited commercial revenues. The team behind the new Rock Radio will have to be inventive to overcome the lack of normal commercial spot revenue and maybe that is contained in the confidential sections of the application document. Otherwise, new Rock Radio could become another Beat 106 or worse, Talk 107! As you say it was reasonable of DS posters to assume that OFCOM took previous outcomes into consideration but maybe their procedures and rules don't allow them to do this, and that they operate akin to a jury which is to consider the evidence put before them only, and not be swayed by real life previous experience. It is also noteworthy that Rock Radio were the only bid of the 4 to campaign for the licence in any way once the bids were in. While it is true OFCOM place less value on quantitive letters of support than qualititive data, the fact remains that OFCOM's inbox would have been deluged with support for Rock and next to nothing for the other bids. If one would-be station is doing all the running and no one else is bothering it may well have had the desired effect. "Less value" still means some value, after all. The other anlogy to Talk 107 is that when Kelvin Mackenzie's 'Wireless Group' applied, soon after the award it became apparent they did not expext to win, had only applied to show bullish intent, and Kelvin did not even know what 'Dunedin FM' (the bid name) meant! It did occur to me that had 'Bring Back Rock Radio' failed to win, it would have made for a good DAB project either as a replacement for Rocksport, or even on Spencer's local MUX. This award is a surprise to us. Is it a surprise to them? As their facebook post puts it, 'shit just got real'. Indeed. I really wish them well. |
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#15 |
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 433
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April seems ambitious, wish them all the best to get on-air asap.
It'll certainly be interesting. Tom Russell definitely sounded out of place during his brief stint on XFM Paisley (sic) and I'd say Jim wouldn't have been at home on the original 96.3 Rock Radio. The fact both are involved suggests a more diverse range of rock than either of those two stations. I could see it being mostly like 96.3 Rock Radio, but perhaps with some off-peak specialist programming of new music and related genres. I'd like to hear Fraser Thomson back on 96.3 too, but not sure if he's got a stable gig at West FM now? Ciaran O'Toole (fun fact: the last ever voice on Q96) was involved in the bid, perhaps he'll turn up too? Interested to see how many live outside broadcasts they'll do. Wondering if they'll get T in The Park coverage or Download again? In the application, they have also stated that there will be syndicated shows on overnight? There's still a question of whether there's enough money for it to return to the Central Mux owned by wireless group? |
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#16 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 1,545
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It was a rough suggestion, but I would say that would be when the test transmissions kicks off? There's still a question of whether there's enough money for it to return to the Central Mux owned by wireless group?
The business would seem to have a capitalisation of around £750,000 with about £100,000 (include VAT etc.) going on annual 96.3 FM transmission costs. There is some doubt if there would be any uplift in listener numbers if Rock Radio was on the Central Scotland DAB mux. I would have thought Rock would want carriage at 128 kbts stereo (none of this 80 kbts mono nonsense on D2 SDL) and that would be heading towards £100,000 or thereabouts. Maybe DAB will follow when there is good cash flow. |
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#17 |
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 433
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Launch will probably be in the spring of 2017 to capitalise on the start of the summer 2017 rock and music festivals. Typically, in the current tech age, FM test transmissions are usually not more that a month before launch. So you may see a stereo beacon on 96.3 FM again from sometime in March 2017.
The business would seem to have a capitalisation of around £750,000 with about £100,000 (include VAT etc.) going on annual 96.3 FM transmission costs. There is some doubt if there would be any uplift in listener numbers if Rock Radio was on the Central Scotland DAB mux. I would have thought Rock would want carriage at 128 kbts stereo (none of this 80 kbts mono nonsense on D2 SDL) and that would be heading towards £100,000 or thereabouts. Maybe DAB will follow when there is good cash flow. |
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#18 |
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Join Date: May 2014
Posts: 9,624
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Would 112 kbts not be good enough for Rock Radio or does the central mux not provide that im not very technically minded. Also is there not space on the glasgow mux at 80kbts but that might not be the best option
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#19 |
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Join Date: Apr 2015
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Would 112 kbts not be good enough for Rock Radio or does the central mux not provide that im not very technically minded. Also is there not space on the glasgow mux at 80kbts but that might not be the best option
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#20 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 1,545
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Quote:
Would 112 kbts not be good enough for Rock Radio or does the central mux not provide that im not very technically minded. Also is there not space on the glasgow mux at 80kbts but that might not be the best option
Transmitting at 80 kbts mono is not great for a rock station, particularly for in-car listening with well positioned stereo effect. Just listen to any of the mono music stations on D2 SDL like Virgin. The music is produced for full stereo. |
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#21 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 1,545
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My idea was that they would bring back their Edinburgh listeners, like they did in the GMG era. But I assume that the central mux was for them to convince more advertisers, rather than having a weak 500 watt transmiter for broadcast. It's certainly something that did them no harm and would encourage former listeners of Rocksport, Clyde, Gold and XFM to listen in on their DAB sets.
The previous (and original) 96.3 FM transmitter was licensed for 100W ERP vertical with mixed polarisation, therefore 200W mixed was used until the closure last September of 96.3 Xfm. This NEW licence is for 2kW vertical with mixed pol. the ERP will be 4kW. As a comparison Clyde 1 transmits on 102.5 from the top of the Black Hill mast with 13kW vertical ERP and 11.5 kW horizontal, therefore 24.5kW ERP mixed compared to the new Rock Radio which has been allocated 4kW mixed. |
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#22 |
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 4,475
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112 kbts stereo is the normal Global stations carriage for Heart, Smooth and Capital. Clyde 1 and Clyde 2 are on 128 kbts stereo.
Transmitting at 80 kbts mono is not great for a rock station, particularly for in-car listening with well positioned stereo effect. Just listen to any of the mono music stations on D2 SDL like Virgin. The music is produced for full stereo. I think they might leave it a year and see how the financial results look. They won't welcome the prospect of the BBC launching a permanent Radio Scotland "Music Extra" station, which might play a lot of rock music. |
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#23 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Shawlands, Glasgow
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It is the cost of carriage on the DAB mux that will determine if Rock Radio is on DAB at launch, but I doubt it. There is also the incremental fees for RAJAR in a wider area. It all adds up. There is no licence requirement for DAB carriage until the licence is due for re-advertising in 2029 - all long way off!
In practice, being on DAB proved to be a large albatross around the neck of the station for a long time. Nowadays there is a much stronger argument for Rock Radio going on DAB which is that a significant minority of listening is done this way, and arguably, likely listeners are much more likely to be doing so because fans of rock type music are so well catered to on DAB already. But as you say Rock faces a very hefty annual fee for use of that Cathkin site so may be glad of the no DAB obligation for the moment. |
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#24 |
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Join Date: May 2004
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96.3 of old were only on DAB due to guarantee of licence renewal, and it therefore was an ongoing condition of the licence. In 1999 IRG, owners of (then) 96.3QFM signed up for this to prevent readvertisal that year. This was just after a hotly contested competition for the regional licence Beat 106 won, and the perception was that many of the unsucessful bidders may have gone after 96.3 if it was put to open contest.
In practice, being on DAB proved to be a large albatross around the neck of the station for a long time. Nowadays there is a much stronger argument for Rock Radio going on DAB which is that a significant minority of listening is done this way, and arguably, likely listeners are much more likely to be doing so because fans of rock type music are so well catered to on DAB already. But as you say Rock faces a very hefty annual fee for use of that Cathkin site so may be gilad of the no DAB obligation for the moment. |
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#25 |
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Join Date: Mar 2004
Location: Glasgow
Posts: 1,545
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Although the station will probably now not go on DAB at launch, hopefully if it is successful could go DAB+ stereo later at lower cost which will expand coverage area?.
Under 50% of households have a DAB digital radio receiver and even less so in cars, then that is further reduced by DAB+. Ofcom state in their Annual Market Report for Scotland: "In 2016, ownership of DAB digital radios in Scotland (36%) is lower than the UK average (50%). Radio listeners in rural areas of Scotland are more likely to own a DAB set (45%) compared to those in urban areas (34%)." After more then 16 years on-air, taking carriage on a DAB digital radio mux is still not commercially viable. |
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