Feature: GWR Seeks Licence Disposal Amid Consolidation
GWR has agreed to consolidate DMG Radio, the radio interests of the Daily Mail and General Trust (DMGT), in its own radio business. The deal, worth £146 million, will see GWR, which owns Classic FM as well as 38 local licences, add a further eight UK local stations to its portfolio and enhance its overseas interests.
The incorporation of DMG Radio into GWR’s operations is likely to strengthen GWR’s position as the UK’s largest commercial radio operator, with almost 60 licences. However, the acquisition pushes GWR over the current ownership limits. As a result the group will be forced to sell off some of its smaller stations to bring DMG into the portfolio – the disposal will most likely come from GWR’s AM licences.
DMG currently operates stations in the East of England and on the outskirts of London, which include Essex FM, Breeze 1521 and Mercury FM; the group’s combined weekly audience is about one million listeners. Its minority interests including Medway FM will provide GWR with almost adjacent assets around London’s commuter belt. Combined, DMG Radio’s eight main stations take an average of just under 10,000 listening hours a week according to the March 2000 RAJAR survey. GWR currently reaches just over 4.2 million listeners a week, excluding Classic FM which itself commands 6.3 million listeners a week.
Source: March 2000 RAJAR
The biggest stations in the DMG bundle are Essex FM and Suffolk and Norfolk’s Vibe FM, with weekly reaches of 371,000 and 350,000 respectively. In their service areas Essex FM and Vibe FM take 15.2% and 8.4% shares of listening respectively. These two stations cover a broad area from East Anglia down through Suffolk and into east London. GWR operates a few stations that cover this region of the country, but even the station with the largest coverage of the region, Classic Gold Amber, only broadcasts to just over a third of the population catered for by Essex FM and Vibe FM.
It is likely that sales for the DMG Radio stations will be transferred from the current representation by Clear Channel Radio Sales to GWR’s own dedicated sales operation Opus. The two groups are also looking at enhancing the cross media opportunities offered between GWR’s radio businesses and DMGT’s national and regional newspaper titles. Classic FM and the Daily Mail are already looking at marketing tie-ins, as are the regional titles in DMGT’s Northcliffe Newspapers division and GWR’s local stations.