The Local Radio Company to close HQ

The Local Radio Company has been forced to announce job cuts as it confirms plans to close headquarters in High Wycombe.

TLRC’s chief executive William Rogers confirmed plans to close the office yesterday and said that while, in some cases, the company hopes to deploy staff to other areas of the business, redundancies would also be necessary.

The company, which owns a network of over 25 stations including Isle of Wight Radio and Durham FM, has already entered consultation with a number of its 30-strong HQ team, according to reports.

TLRC has to leave the office by next year and plans to decentralise functions to other centres.

In May, the radio group, which employs around 175 staff in total, was taken over by a majority shareholder UKRD (see UKRD wins battle for The Local Radio Company).

TLRC is also understood to be in discussions to sell the Isle of Wight Radio station to a single party, although the identity of the buyer is not known.

In the latest Rajar release, Isle of Wight Radio reported an average of 33,000 listeners per week, from a population of 120,000, with listeners tuning in for an average of 8.9 hours a week.

TLRC has already off-loaded Macclesfield radio station Silk FM for a nominal sum, as well as Hastings-based Arrow FM and Sovereign Radio in Eastbourne.