Bernard Calls For Radio Switchover Date

Speaking at today’s MediaTel Group seminar on ‘The Future Of Radio’, Ralph Bernard, chief executive of GCap Media, said that digital radio cannot flourish unless Ofcom sets a date for switching off the analogue radio signal.

He added that there is a £10 million loss per annum on digital and the industry “won’t sit and accept that for another 10 years.”

Bernard also said that while it currently costs GCap £8 million a year to run its analogue stations, it costs £15 million to run its digital stations. “Where’s the logic in that? It can’t be sustained,” he said.

This led him to reveal that GCap is seriously considering whether to continue to invest in digital stations, adding that it has already decided to stop investing in Life and Core.

Panelist Phil Riley, former chief executive of Chrysalis Radio, agreed that the “costs of digital transmission are huge” but said that he felt it was unlikely we would be getting a switchover date any time soon.

Speaking about Channel 4’s move into radio with the award of the second digital multiplex, Bernard said that the decision to award another national multiplex “could put digital back by another five to 10 years”.

“When the delicate ecology of digital radio is threatened by a flooding of capacity, it’s a dangerous thing,” he added.

Riley was again in agreement with Bernard, saying: “Channel 4’s use of its existing brands makes good sense. However, there is an over supply of digital spectrum.”

Investment director of radio at MindShare, Howard Bareham, said that he thought Channel 4’s entrance into the market is good for the industry, as the new channels it is offering open up the possibility of new advertising money.

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