Radio Heavyweights Line Up For Edinburgh Licence
Today marks the last day for applications to Ofcom by broadcasters chasing the new FM radio licence in Edinburgh, a highly coveted prize that has attracted attention from the UK’s largest commercial radio groups and investors.
Among the well known companies vying for the Edinburgh contract are Kelvin MacKenzie’s Wireless Group, the Guardian Media Group Radio, the Scottish Media Group, Chrysalis Radio and GWR. Each broadcaster has conducted wide-ranging research into the type of services required by local people and believe their various formats are strong enough to meet Ofcom’s requirements.
The Wireless Group has outlined its proposal for the creation of Dunedin FM, providing Edinburgh with an all-speech radio station and promising to using its expertise in successful commercial speech radio to better the region’s variety of media (see Wireless Group Enters Race For Edinburgh Licence).
The Wireless Group currently operates national speech station talkSPORT, as well as 16 local and regional radio stations. The group has performed well financially, reporting a massive increase of 108% in operating profits during the first six months of 2004, driven primarily by the ‘storming’ success of talkSPORT (see Wireless Revenues Driven By Success Of talkSPORT).
The Guardian Media Group is also hoping for success in Scotland, with its proposal for Smooth FM, a format targeted at more mature listeners aged over 50, offering music from the 1950s to the present day. GMG claims its bid will also provide specialist features spanning an array of genres, local information, 24-hour news, lifestyle, health and charity content, as well as programming that reflects the cultural diversity of the region.
The Scottish Media Group is planning to extend its Virgin Radio Classic Rock station to secure a successful ‘home town bid’, adapting the current content of the digital station to more closely cover local events and culture, thus meeting Ofcom’s brief for local stations.
Chrysalis Radio will propose an FM incarnation of it’s digital rock station, The Arrow. The station currently broadcasts on the central Scotland digital multiplex with a potential reach of over 28.5 million listeners. A move to FM would boost the station massively, opening its listenership to the whole of Edinburgh and the area surrounding the Firth of Forth (see Chrysalis Brings Galaxy To London And Scotland)
GWR’s proposal to launch 107 FM The Rock in Edinburgh was taken after a large-scale consultation project with local residents. The study asked residents of the city for advice on what they would like from a new local station through a series of public meetings and a 1,000 person survey. The results indicated that people in the area want a classic and contemporary rock station from the latest round of FM licences, an area in which GWR is confident it can deliver (see GWR Prepares To Rock Edinburgh With Licence Bid).
Chrysalis: 020 7221 2213 www.chrysalis.com Guardian Media Group: 020 7713 4452 www.gmgplc.co.uk/ GWR Group: 020 7284 3000 www.gwrgroup.com Ofcom: 020 7981 3040 www.ofcom.org.uk SMG: 0141 300 3000 www.smgplc.plc.uk Wireless Group: 020 7269 7180
Recent Radio Stories from NewsLine Clear Channel Circles As Radio Merger Talks Advance Ofcom In No Rush To Set Switch-Off Date For Radio Heart Rebrands As It Sets Sights On Capital
Subscribers can access ten years of media news and analysis in the Archive