Local radio stations

[lachlan]

I will miss the "non-stop" dance music Wave play on Saturday evenings, for that has kept me company a few times over the years when driving home from Salisbury/Romsey etc.

I just wish my DAB radio in my car didn't break last year (I suspect a wire got broke when my windscreen got replaced) to give me more options to listen to music when driving.

Radio 1 still does dance music on a Friday and Saturday evening - in my experience the Friday show was better than the Saturday one which tended to play the same songs each week.

 

[GoneSouth]

Aye, still remember the stir Allan’s late night phone in show on Red Rose caused in the 80s. As I remember he started at 21:00 with first callers at 21:30. I had school the next day so couldn’t listen to much but would record the next 90 minutes on cassette. Kids were talking about it each morning and sharing recordings. Allan is a local radio legend however at 75 maybe it’s the right time for him to hang up the mic.

I do feel sorry for younger people wanting to start a radio career now. It’s always been cut throat from what I’ve gleaned but now it’s just seems impossible. What Bauer has done in the last 10 years or so is nothing short of vandalism in my opinion. However I do wonder if younger people are listening to radio, there are just so many alternatives now, and if no one’s listening then what’s the point?

The output is just dire. Younger people won’t listen because it’s rubbish output. Why should any of us tune in to Hesrt or GHR for the same 100 songs on rotation with a few local ads and no real local content like sport.

To those talking about Bauer, let’s not forget it was GWR followed by Global that started this process around 1990 with the Hot FM stuff. Back then people like Chris Moyles built their careers form it but not today, radio is dead.

Global and Bauer have destroyed any creativity in commercial radio, it’s such a depressing listen…

That was Ed Sheeran, next up it’s Mr Blue sky… play 4 mins of ads for national brands… YAWN YARN YAWN.

The presenters must be bored to death!

Radio 1 still does dance music on a Friday and Saturday evening - in my experience the Friday show was better than the Saturday one which tended to play the same songs each week.

Weirdly there was some dance music on BBC local radio (Bristol area) last night, I really have no idea what their target audience is anymore, and I don’t think they do either. The same slot a year ago was probably occupied by a big band or something. It’s not just the commercials, nobody knows what to do with radio anymore including the BBC

 

[Ashley Hill]

Do tell more (genuinely interested - community radio is something that has passed me by). Might be a consideration to switch to after Wave ends.

Try Phonic FM. Whilst only broadcasting for Exeter it is available on Smartspeaker/phone etc everywhere else.

 

[adc82140]

Do tell more (genuinely interested - community radio is something that has passed me by). Might be a consideration to switch to after Wave ends.

There are upwards of 150 community radio stations on FM and DAB in the UK. All run and operated by volunteers, yes the quality can be variable, but there are some good ones out there. Some are specialist interest (Southampton, for example, has Fiesta FM, which is Spanish cultural) but a lot of others are there to serve the community, and are heavily involved with local organisations, schools etc. Many, like the one I broadcast on, have a similar playlist to Wave or Radio 2 during the day, and go a bit more specialist at night. For example we have after I've been on air tomorrow a local history programme, followed by a 90s show, then folk music, then indie, then rock! A bit of something for all tastes I think. I won't directly self promote, but I broadcast from within the current Wave 105 area.

 

[Typhoon]

There are upwards of 150 community radio stations on FM and DAB in the UK. All run and operated by volunteers, yes the quality can be variable, but there are some good ones out there. Some are specialist interest (Southampton, for example, has Fiesta FM, which is Spanish cultural) but a lot of others are there to serve the community, and are heavily involved with local organisations, schools etc. Many, like the one I broadcast on, have a similar playlist to Wave or Radio 2 during the day, and go a bit more specialist at night. For example we have after I've been on air tomorrow a local history programme, followed by a 90s show, then folk music, then indie, then rock! A bit of something for all tastes I think. I won't directly self promote, but I broadcast from within the current Wave 105 area.

Local to me is one which has programmes with a jazz/ swing tinge and one on musical theatre. One thing had modesty make have prevented you from mentioning is that. although they may not have professional presenters, they tend to know their stuff, not infrequently more than those paid to do the job simply because it is their type of music, they will seek out the unsung, they might know the back-story behind the artists or tracks. They might also react positively to suggestions made to them - 'Have you heard ...'. They are presenting the programme because they are passionate about the music, not because they need to earn to keep the bread on the table.

 

[nw1]

Radio 1 still does dance music on a Friday and Saturday evening - in my experience the Friday show was better than the Saturday one which tended to play the same songs each week.

Which era? If up to and including the early 00s, it could be interesting but as R1 is mostly AFAIK an under-25s station I guess it'll be more recent than that.

Try Phonic FM. Whilst only broadcasting for Exeter it is available on Smartspeaker/phone etc everywhere else.

Thanks for that, will try and give it a listen.

There are upwards of 150 community radio stations on FM and DAB in the UK. All run and operated by volunteers, yes the quality can be variable, but there are some good ones out there. Some are specialist interest (Southampton, for example, has Fiesta FM, which is Spanish cultural) but a lot of others are there to serve the community, and are heavily involved with local organisations, schools etc. Many, like the one I broadcast on, have a similar playlist to Wave or Radio 2 during the day, and go a bit more specialist at night. For example we have after I've been on air tomorrow a local history programme, followed by a 90s show, then folk music, then indie, then rock! A bit of something for all tastes I think. I won't directly self promote, but I broadcast from within the current Wave 105 area.

Thanks for that. So I guess if I do a bit of digging around I'll find it.

I'd hazard a guess you might get quite a few more listeners once Wave comes to an end.

 

[adc82140]

I'd hazard a guess you might get quite a few more listeners once Wave comes to an end.

That's what we're hoping for. But like pretty much all community stations we are not signed up to RAJAR due to the enormous costs involved, so getting accurate figures is always going to be difficult.

 

[Howardh]

I'm an internet radio addict and have been since 2000, lots of genuine variety although I go for deep house and vocal trance, stations with no DJ and limited ads if any (where do they get their income from?) + the likes of Ibiza Global Radio.

I'll record hours for any long car journey where the internet isn't an option.

 

[Furryanimal]

If you are just looking for good music with minimal chat and adverts then this grand old lady is still broadcasting.
Even on DAB and MW in parts.
And they have three ( four if you include Caroline Community Radio) stations to choose from,although Caroline North is only on one weekend a month.

Radio Caroline

Radio Caroline continues – with music from the past and present on DAB in selected UK towns & cities and on 648 AM to South East England, The Netherlands, Belgium and beyond

www.radiocaroline.co.uk

i gave up on local radio a long time again apart from for sport.

 

[nw1]

Update:

Even though Wave hasn't changed yet I think the playlist has.

A couple of weeks ago they abandoned current and recent songs from the playlist.

So I guess the playlist now is typical of what Greatest Hits plays. Pleasant enough, many good songs but generally the "obvious" ones you hear all the time.

For example, taking a few genres from the 70s-90s: little in the way of glam rock, punk or new wave, disco, 80s or 90s indie, 90s dance, harder rock, or rarer tracks which might have been big hits at the time but are played less these days.

Listenable enough, but one of the great things about the "old" Wave is how it would play slightly rarer tracks and had a wider variety of genres. "The South's best variety of hits" wasn't wrong.
And while I am less a fan of current music, it was good to hear a few of the better 21st-century hits to mix it up a bit.

In fact rather than "just" 70s to 90s, my preference for covering a late-20th-century focused station would be a bell-curve with 80s the most frequently played, then 70s and 90s also played a lot, then the better tracks of the 60s and 00s, and finally a few choice and select tracks from the 50s and 10s. And with all the genres above included.

I note that Greatest Hits still seems to have some kind of "party" shows on Fri/Sat evenings. I wonder if these will maintain the "dance classics" feel currently played on Fri/Sat nights.

Biggest loss to me personally will be the excellent "Teenage Kicks" on Sunday evening though apparently the presenter Steve Power is continuing with it, but elsewhere (presumably not allowed to say where as it would be a competitor).

 

[PTR 444]

Final night of Wave 105 tonight.

 

[nw1]

Indeed, definitely sad.

Switched to R2 this morning (one of my other go-to stations - Gary Davies currently) but the main things I will miss will be Teenage Kicks and the Saturday night dance show. As suggested above will probably look round the community stations to see what's on offer. My most-loved shows of late (on all stations) have all been evening shows, strangely.

 

[Kite159]

I missed the Saturday night dance show coming back from Salisbury tonight, kept flicking through the channels to get music rather than adverts or listener messages which sounded like someone was drunk when they recorded it.

From what I could tell the Saturday night offering from "Greatest Hits" sounded just like their regular output. Reminds me a bit of Absolute Radio when they do "no repeats" during the day, with the playlist 90% repeating the following day etc

 

[Blindtraveler]

GHR have some excellent presenters who the BBC have either disposed of or simply allowed to go but honestly the music offering is so limited and whilst the tracks it plays are undoubtedly good ones they have put so little thought into the overall music selection because they're the same 100 or so tracks that everyone plays and whilst I'm sure the royalty payments are pouring in for those whose tunes are heard hundreds of times on this and similar radio a networks not to mention in the store broadcasts and streaming they could do so much better

 

[nw1]

I missed the Saturday night dance show coming back from Salisbury tonight, kept flicking through the channels to get music rather than adverts or listener messages which sounded like someone was drunk when they recorded it.

From what I could tell the Saturday night offering from "Greatest Hits" sounded just like their regular output. Reminds me a bit of Absolute Radio when they do "no repeats" during the day, with the playlist 90% repeating the following day etc

I switched to R2, I also discovered "Forest FM" which is one of the local community stations which I might visit again, though I can only stream it - I can't get it on FM.

Not sure why Greatest Hits can't switch to the dance format for a Saturday night. It's a popular format by all accounts; I've listened to the Wave dance offering on Sat night on and off since around 2007 or 2008.

Other stations used to do it too, at one point there were 2 or 3 stations all doing dance hits on Sat night. Ocean FM used to do it too, if I remember right, so at one point you could flick between 2 stations and get a good show. Plus Isle of Wight Radio around 5 years ago - and that seems to have gone too.

(Incidentally was it Wave that used to end with "Lily the Pink" on their dance show in around 2007 or 2008? I remember one of the Sat night dance shows did that. I know it's the Wave dance show I've been listening to since 2009, but in the mid-00s it's conceivable it was one of the other local stations).

GHR have some excellent presenters who the BBC have either disposed of or simply allowed to go but honestly the music offering is so limited and whilst the tracks it plays are undoubtedly good ones they have put so little thought into the overall music selection because they're the same 100 or so tracks that everyone plays and whilst I'm sure the royalty payments are pouring in for those whose tunes are heard hundreds of times on this and similar radio a networks not to mention in the store broadcasts and streaming they could do so much better

That's the problem. They need to realise that most listeners, I suspect, want to hear a greater variety of music. Yes, I like the idea of Ken Bruce or Simon Mayo, but I did give GHR a brief listen last autumn. It lacked a certain "je ne sais quoi". It was Mark Goodier at the time, who I used to listen to in the late 80s to mid 90s on R1, but it wasn't comparable to his R1 output back in the day.

Plus, they advertise themselves as a "70s to 90s" station. Will you get punk? New wave? Less-played New Romantic tracks? The Smiths? The Cure? Late 80s dance? Italo House (e.g. Black Box)? "Madchester"? The KLF? Britpop? 90s dance? If the Wave programming during the past few weeks (where they appeared to move to the GHR playlist) is any indication, the answer appears to be "no". Yet any "70s to 90s" station should really be playing all of those as they are an integral part of those decades.

Don't get me wrong, the music is generally good but they need to vary it. Even the best track you can tire of if you hear it every day.

Also if I were them I wouldn't rigidly stick to 70s to 90s, but instead think of that period as the "core" years with tracks outside the period also allowed. Think about it - it even means basically no Beatles or other mass-market artists such as Coldplay. I'd add some 60s and 00s music to their selection, and even the occasional 50s and 10s track.

Wave had it just about right. Why Bauer can't use the Wave music selection as their template for GHR, I don't know. It was successful and it worked. Oh, and keep successful shows such as "Teenage Kicks" and have them go national.

 

[greatkingrat]

But whether you like it or not, GHR is succesful and it works. While there are certainly some listeners who want the more specialist output, there are a lot of people who just want songs that they already know.

It's like films on TV, showing Harry Potter / James Bond / Star Wars etc for the umpteenth time will get higher viewing figures then showing more obscure stuff.

 

[dgl]

GHR is only successful because in some places it's the only option that's not a BBC station on FM, if there was any competition they wouldn't still exist.

 

[greatkingrat]

GHR is only successful because in some places it's the only option that's not a BBC station on FM, if there was any competition they wouldn't still exist.

That's simply not true. Most listening now is via DAB or online anyway, so everywhere apart from very remote regions has dozens of stations to choose from.

You could just as easily say that the only reason the old local stations were successful is because they were the only option apart from the BBC.

 

[Blindtraveler]

GHR is only successful because in some places it's the only option that's not a BBC station on FM, if there was any competition they wouldn't still exist.

Spot on


And there are still plenty of places in the UK where the broadband is sufficiently ropey and dab is limited where FM listening will continue for some while yet, the matrix will only really tilt fully in favor of DAB or digital platforms of other kinds once we finally get a handle on rural broadband and dab black spots in urban areas, doesn't work well anywhere near my own home as an example


As a totally normal friend of mine said to me just the other week, the format sounds tired and the playlist has not changed in well over five years which is when the brand first started to emerge on a very much trial basis all be it still the using a lot of local station identities at the time

 

[dgl]

To add to my previous post, on our new van at work DAB reception even on the BBC stations is ropey, and Weymouth does have a relay, FM (which also has a relay but is closer) works much better. What was wave 105 is very difficult to pick up.

 

[Richardr]

Whilst there will be the odd place that doesn't have decent DAB or internet access, 72% of listening is digital now. The bandwidth for radio is low anyway, hardly requiring fast broadband.

The 72% is split - 43% DAB, 15% smart speakers, 11% web / apps, and 4% digital TV.

 

[adc82140]

I switched to R2, I also discovered "Forest FM" which is one of the local community stations which I might visit again, though I can only stream it - I can't get it on FM.

Why thank you. Glad you liked us, I'll give you a shout out. We are on 92.3 in Ringwood and Verwood, 98.9 in Ferndown, Wimborne and West Moors.

 

[Trackman]

Manchester's Piccadilly Radio is 50 years old today!
OK, it's a GHR station now, but was Piccadilly.
They had a birthday bash for people who worked there last week, exactly where the studios once stood.

 

[317 forever]

I missed the Saturday night dance show coming back from Salisbury tonight, kept flicking through the channels to get music rather than adverts or listener messages which sounded like someone was drunk when they recorded it.

From what I could tell the Saturday night offering from "Greatest Hits" sounded just like their regular output. Reminds me a bit of Absolute Radio when they do "no repeats" during the day, with the playlist 90% repeating the following day etc

That reminds me of a show Rob Charles presents called Songs that don't get played on the radio anymore.

I have noticed some repeated, such as Kenny's Heart of Stone and the Rubettes' Tonight.

So, if anything, it is songs that don't get played on the radio anymore, except on the Songs that (allegedly) don't get played on the radio anymore show.

 

[nw1]

That reminds me of a show Rob Charles presents called Songs that don't get played on the radio anymore.

I have noticed some repeated, such as Kenny's Heart of Stone and the Rubettes' Tonight.

So, if anything, it is songs that don't get played on the radio anymore, except on the Songs that (allegedly) don't get played on the radio anymore show.

What radio station is this incidentally?

I don't know either of those two songs (proving the point, I guess - though I do know other songs by those artists) but it would be good to hear shows that play relatively rare hits.
As I've said above, "Teenage Kicks" (Steve Power, Wave) was the classic example of that - coming back in a live-streamed format, apparently.

 

[Bevan Price]

It is all down to accountants and advertising agencies. Commercial stations play what they think will get them the most advertising revenue - and that involves playing what the advertisers think "we" will want to listen to.

And (apologies to the exceptions) - if many administrative / financial types have zero interest in anything but finance, they will see no need to "experiment" by playing anything except the typical boring playlist stuff.

 

[317 forever]

What radio station is this incidentally?

I don't know either of those two songs (proving the point, I guess - though I do know other songs by those artists) but it would be good to hear shows that play relatively rare hits.
As I've said above, "Teenage Kicks" (Steve Power, Wave) was the classic example of that - coming back in a live-streamed format, apparently.

It's Tameside Radio, although I have come across the show elsewhere too.

It is on Sundays between 3pm and 5pm. The website is here https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/player/

 

[SteveP29]

Obviously I'm biased, but I grew up listening to this station and its presenters:
https://metroradio261.blogspot.com/p/memories-of-metro-radio.html

Growing up with stars (some local, some national) like Giles Squire, James Whale (yes, him) Charles Harrison's dulcet tones commentating on football, Paddy MacDee, Laurie Giles, Nicky Brown, Steve Colman's breakfast show and latterly Tony Horne and of course, Night Owls with Alan Robson 'hello Alan, I'm a first time caller and I'm a bit nervous'

Once I left the North East in 1989 and returned in 1992, it had changed.
From then on, I only listened to it for the coverage of Newcastle United away games (pre internet, pre illegal streaming), then they stopped and commentary moved over to BBC Radio Newcastle.
Since then, which I believe was 1996, I think I've listened to about 3 minutes of Metro Radio

Now it's also part of Bauer and plays only around 5% local content so I'm told.

Unfortunately, my now favourite radio station (Planet Rock) is also a Bauer station. I only get to listen to about an hour a week of them these days, I just don't have time for radio any more and I guess others feel the same

Metro Radio finally died at 6am yesterday

 

[Harvey B]

Metro Radio finally died at 6am yesterday

I'm Hopeful that in another couple of Years, This Stupid rule is reversered.

It works okay for National Stations that were created as such, and then want to add on an additonal Local Program, But the way that Bauer has carried it out has killed off so many Local Stations (Radio Aire, Radio City, Pulse, Radio Wave, Rock Fm, Viking FM & Pirate FM. To name a Few)

I'm hopeful that the rules and regulations do eventually change, forcing Bauer tor reinstate those Radio Stations that have been lost at the expense of creating National Brands such as Hits and Greatest Hits

 

[adc82140]

Not a hope of that happening. Any government would find themselves in court if they tried that.