2004 Wireless Waffle Diary in Full
Some links here will not work and a few pictures will be
missing this is an archive of news and
comment only
The wireless waffler's opinions may also have changed since an
entry has been made - so might those of people and companies reported on
THE
WORLD FAMOUS WIRELESS WAFFLE RADIO DAIRY
2004
THE DIARY Jan - July 2004
Click here for August 2004 onwards aug2004on.htm
Dates
in diary refer to the date the item was uploaded to this site - we regret that
we cannot always guarantee weekly updates some news will be covered in
retrospect as time permits. Your input by email is always welcome
January 29th 2004
Waffler:
A great deal of comment and news - probably better to cut
and paste todays update into your word processor and read off line!
A sad day for the pillars of public broadcasting as Greg
Dyke resigns a day after Gavyn Davies the Chairman of the Board of
Governors. Never before has the reason for public broadcasting been so
obvious to me. In spite of Hutton and even the Daily Express over the Kilroy
Silk affair trying to trash the BBC; we still need impartial news, drama and
other genres of non-commercial radio and television.
Yes there is a wealth of commercial radio and television out there; some of it
is dire. Without the competition and pioneering of the BBC the standards
would eventually be lowered even more. The BBC still do good music
radio on Radio 2 and 6 Music but this would have been done offshore or
elsewhere as admirably without the intervention authority over time. The
BBC should survive; imagine now a fight for the BBC not free radio? The
facts of the issue are reported from the BBC site in news from other sources
below. See also my comments in the diary entry on the 23rd January.
According to Hans Knot in his report on this site Worldspace
are not encrypting their own channels on older sets just new ones sold. So far
all the worldspace channels which were not encrypted before Xmas are still
fine here. A new channel to me has appeared on the Afristar satellite
which has its footprint on the UK. World Zone is on with back to back
world music. They even play Bob Marley. This morning a track about
legalising marijuana was aired. I really would like to hear Radio Caroline but
prefer not to pay for the privilege - after all it is music radio!
Worldspace charge anything from £60 to listen to Caroline and NPR to goodness
knows what. I cannot see them continuing as a viable operation in the UK
we only pay for the BBC and normally view radio as something which should be
free to air. This operation was launched to provide affordable satellite
radio to poor parts or the world and is dipping its foot into the commercial
world in a very arrogant and insulting fashion. Having sold sets costing £100
they now think we will want to pay to hear things we used to get for
free. I am listening now to Orbit Rock which is excellent but I also
have a good collection of music of my own so could easily revert to that
instead of listening free to air. Also if I go outside or knock over the dish
which is best sited on the floor pointing south wards - I lost the signal. In
conclusion a really clever invention a radio which receives radio off a small
dish about the size of an old double-cd box. This could be used by more
broadcasters for world domination - four satellites in orbit and very little
electricity and massive coverage? They will soon launch a new
aerial for reception in a car.
I have just added Ron Brown from Easy Radio London to my
hall of fame listing on this site. I could not find him in the Whos Who of
Radio and the web directed me to Friends Reunited where there are hundreds of
them! If you know anything more about this broadcaster, or are him
please can you email the site to update me, thanks in advance.
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News from others
BBC director general Dyke stands down
From the BBC Site
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Director general Greg Dyke hasquit as the BBC's crisis deepens in the
wake of Lord Hutton's damning verdict.
Mr Dyke's decision to step down follows BBC chairman Gavyn Davies'
resignation on Wednesday, shortly after the law lord's report was
published.
An emotional Mr Dyke told reporters he hoped their departures meant
"a line can be drawn under this whole episode".
The pair quit after the most serious claims in Andrew Gilligan's
BBC's reports were branded "unfounded".
Downing Street says it still believes the BBC should apologise for
broadcasting a "false allegation".
Lord Hutton's report cleared the government of "sexing up"
its Iraq weapons dossier with unreliable intelligence.
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The resignations follow former Downing Street media chief Alastair
Campbell's claim that Mr Davies and Mr Dyke had made things worse by
continuing essentially to stand by the story.
'Defending independence'
Leaving after four years in his post, Mr Dyke said his position had
been compromised by Lord Hutton's criticisms of BBC management.
"My sole aim has been to defend the BBC's editorial independence
and act in the public interest."
He said the resignations of himself and Mr Davies, as well as his
apology for the mistakes in reporter Andrew Gilligan's broadcasts about
the weapons dossier, gave the "opportunity for a new start".
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I
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The most important thing about the corporation was its audiences, he
argued.
"The preservation of the BBC per se is irrelevant unless we have
the trust of the public out there," he said.
Mr Dyke said it would be for the governors to decide how to respond
to Downing Street's demands for an apology.
And clutching e-mails from staff urging him to stay, Mr Dyke said he
was proud of his time at the BBC.
Mr Dyke's deputy, Mark Byford, has been appointed as acting
director-general until a successor is chosen.
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'Bald conclusions'
The departure of both the BBC chairman and director general leaves
the corporation rudderless at a time when calls have been growing for
the BBC to come under outside regulation.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has said the Hutton report will be
taken into account in the 2006 review of the BBC's charter.
In his resignation statement, Mr Davies said that as the man at the
top he had to take responsibility.
But he questioned whether Lord Hutton's "bald conclusions" on
the dossier's production could be reconciled with the balance of the
inquiry's evidence.
And he asked whether enough weight was given to Dr Kelly's taped
conversation with Newsnight's Susan Watts.
Following the publication of Lord Hutton's findings, Mr Dyke said the
corporation apologised for key things Mr Gilligan got wrong in his
broadcasts.
But he added that Dr Kelly was a credible witness whose views the
public had a right to know.
However, the prime minister's spokesman said Mr Dyke's apology on
Wednesday did "not amount to a considered statement".
"We still believe the BBC should apologise for broadcasting a
false allegation which was unfounded," he said.
Ex-BBC chairman Sir Christopher Bland warned earlier on Thursday
against mass resignations and called for a period of reflection at the
corporation.
In his long-awaited report, Lord Hutton said he believed Dr Kelly had
killed himself after being named as the suspected source of the BBC's
controversial weapons dossier story.
The prime minister said the report showed the real lie was that he
had lied to Parliament or deliberately misled the public by falsifying
intelligence.
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Dr Kelly's has family urged the government to learn from their
tragedy.
Opinion poll
Conservative leader Michael Howard said there was a stark contrast
between Dr Kelly and "the cabal of ministers and advisers ... who
were so obsessed by the war with the BBC that they gave scant attention
to his welfare".
Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy called for an independent inquiry,
saying: "We are still no closer to determining whether this country
went to war on a false prospectus."
An NOP poll commissioned by the London Evening Standard suggests that
more people believe it was unfair than fair for the BBC to receive most
of the blame for the Kelly affair in the Hutton report.
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Non BBC news from other sources
From Mike Brand our contact in Israel:
It happens to legal stations too ......
From the English edition of the Hebrew paper Maariv
Radio station closed for disrupting control tower
The Ministry of Communication closed down radio station FM88 after its
broadcasts disrupted control tower activity at Ben Gurion Airport. The station
will remain closed until the issue is resolved. The Broadcasting Authority
said that at this time efforts are underway to find a technological solution
to the problem.
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Former TV watchdog Patricia Hodgson has joined the board of Classic FM parent
GWR. Ms Hodgson, who missed out on one of the top jobs at new communications
regulator Ofcom, is also a member of the committee on standards in public
life, which scrutinises the behaviour of MPs and government officials.
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to Top
RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Limited), is to launch a range of new
developments and initiatives from audiometer testing to improving digital
radio measurement for 2004. RAJAR has earmarked £500,000 for the testing of
second generation Arbitron and Radiocontrol audiometers. These tests are
scheduled to start in July 2004, the earliest both developers could provide
their respective devices to RAJAR. It is anticipated that the tests will last
just a few months with the results being known before the end of 2004. RAJAR
is taking steps to ensure that these tests are conducted against the highest
possible degree of independence and transparency.
RAJAR is also investigating a number of alternative devices which display
potential but have yet to reach the production stages of the established
brands.
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to Top
As ever our friends at UK radio have sent some interesting
news stories - the ones that appeal to the waffler are below
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A director of one of the UK's leading blind charities has
set in
motion plans that could lead to the setting up of Britain's first
dedicated national radio service for blind and partially sighted
listeners.
Nick Ward, of St Dunstan's, is calling on interested parties to help
him form a steering group to explore the possibility of using digital
satellite broadcasting via BskyB, which already broadcasts to 6.8
million households.
Britain lags behind several other major countries such as the USA and
Australia which have already set up bespoke national and even local
24-hour radio stations for blind people.
"A permanent national radio service for the blind here will enrich
their lives in ways that are not currently being served by any
mainstream broadcaster," said Ward.
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Hitachi is the first of the major Japanese brands to adopt the
RadioScape DAB module concept, which has been used to bring the
world's first microsystem with DAB, the AXM68D, to the UK market.
The RadioScape RS200 module makes DAB radios as easy to make as FM
ones by fully integrating Band III DAB, FM and RDS into a single
module that only requires buttons, power, output, case, display and
antenna to be added.
"The RS200 is based on Texas Instruments' advanced baseband technology
in the form of the DRE200, which is one of the world's best selling
receiver chips for the Eureka 147 DAB standard," said Peter Johnson,
Product Marketing Manager at Hitachi.
Capital Radio Digital is to launch its Sussex based DAB
digital radio
multiplex serving Brighton and other parts of the coastal area of
West and East Sussex.
This licence was awarded last January and will broadcast on VHF band
III frequency block 11B (centre frequency: 218.640 MHz).
The launch of digital in this area and for Capital's Southern FM and
Capital Gold means that Capital Radio's Capital FM Network now has
all but one of its stations broadcasting on Digital. Capital Radio
PLC now owns 51 digital licences.Return
to Top
Latest GfK listening figures released
=====================================
The latest radio listening figures from GfK Media have been released,
covering the period September 15th to December 14th 2003.
GfK Media uses electronic metering using the Radiocontrol measuring
device developed by the Telecontrol Group, a GfK subsidiary.
In most countries, radio audience figures are still measured using the
interview method, either by telephone or by filling in a diary.
Radiocontrol measures radio and television audience behaviour by
means of audio comparison, whereby the tone sample recorded by the
participant is compared with the tone samples of all radio stations
surveyed. The measuring device is incorporated into a wristwatch.
The electronic system for measuring listening habits was launched in
Switzerland and has been used there since 2001. In addition AC
Nielsen Media International acquired a licence to use the
Radiocontrol technology in 16 countries in the Asia Pacific Region.
The results for the UK show - that the self-styled saviour of BBC
Radio One Chris Moyles has a lot of saving to do as the station has
recorded its lowest weekly reach for 2003. Radio One had a weekly
reach of 11.8 million adults in the period from September 15th to
December 14th , which is the lowest since the Survey began publishing
results in May.
In fact, Radio One had been steadily growing its weekly reach in 2003
- from 12.5 million (March 10-May 25) to 13 million (June 23-Sept
14). From that peak, however, it slipped month by month to hit rock
bottom with the latest figure - which is 1.2 million below the year's
high point.
Moyles who replaced Sara Cox on breakfast in January claims he "could
absolutely kick anybody's arse on breakfast, ever".
He is going to have his job cut out overhauling Terry Wogan because in
contrast to Radio One, Radio Two picked up 300,000 more listeners in
a month with the latest GfK results, totalling 15.3 million.
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BBC Hereford & Worcester is celebrating its 15th
birthday on
Valentine's Day and as part of the station's celebrations, it is
running a competition called Why I Love BBC Hereford & Worcester.
Listeners are invited to phone in with their reasons for loving the
station.
The radio station is also celebrating by broadcasting from 15
different locations around Hereford and Worcester in the 15 days
leading up to Saturday 14 February.
Last year the parent company of local radio stations Swansea Sound
and The Wave was awarded the new Digital Radio licence for the
Swansea and South West Wales area. On January 31st the company will
switch on three new transmitters that will bring a whole new
listening experience to people across South West Wales from the Vale
of Glamorgan to Pembrokeshire.
Programme Director at The Wave and Swansea Sound, Andy Griffiths,
said the timing of the big digital 'switch on' marks a significant
milestone in the station's history. "This is Swansea Sound's 30th
year of broadcasting. It seems fitting then that the station that
launched Wales' first ever local radio service should be marking its
anniversary by looking to the future in this way.
From January 31st we will be broadcasting our existing services of
'Swansea Sound' and 'The Wave' on this new platform. Both stations
will also still be available as they are now on normal radios too.
The huge benefits of crystal clear digital sound quality in particular
will benefit listeners to 'heritage station' Swansea Sound, which is
currently only available on Medium Wave" said Andy Griffiths.
"Swansea Sound has been an integral part of the fabric of South West
Wales for the past 30 years and is committed to serving the local
community and people of the region in future through this new
medium".
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The other big BBC success in the Broadcast Survey is Radio Five Live
(9.44 million), which added 350,000 listeners since the previous
month's results.
Amongst the national commercial stations, talkSPORT (6.6 million)
consolidated its lead with more than a million listeners than Classic
FM (5.5 million) and almost 3 million more than Virgin (3.7 million).
Full details available at:
http://ukradio.com/news/articles/4F59C2A0FB314D7089867034EBB3606B.asp
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Andrew Jeffries has been appointed as programme director for Emap's
Kerrang! 105.2 which launches in the West Midlands later this year.
Andrew, previously a senior programmer at both Capital and Chrysalis,
will be relocating to the West Midlands from Australia to take up the
post.
Kerrang! 105.2 will be the second radio station he has helped to
launch in less than two years. His most recent role was as programme
director for Australian-based Nova 937 - the first new radio station
to launch in Perth for 22 years.
Born and bred in New Zealand, Andrew's career has criss-crossed the
equator with a host of senior roles in the UK, Australia and New
Zealand.
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January 23rd 2004
Waffler:
Looking ahead the next week could be very cold - stay
indoors in the evening and listen to your radio! As I type this I am
listening to Arrow Rock on dab radio - they are playing their oldies show at
10pm and excellent it is too - Magic Bus by the Who has just come on.
Since the last update I have been busy but have had plenty
of opportunity to enjoy the shortwaves. I was shocked to find that I have not
listened to this part of the radio spectrum since well before Xmas. This
makes the medium that much more interesting, because once the winter or summer
broadcasting schedules settle down you eventually know most of the stations
and programmes that are air. Unfortunately about 8 international broadcasters
have closed down their English programmes recently, but thankfully there are
still plenty of stations to listen to. This year I purchased the Passport to
Worldband Radio, and this has been invaluable in identifying many foreign
language broadcasts.
Radio Cairo on 9990 Khz has been noted on my Panasonic
receiver and it is very strong but the signal is distorted. I must check this
on my other shortwave receivers because this is an old superhetrodyne
receiver, and these can manifest this sort of problem. Mind you All
India Radio do seem to use microphones which lack any top frequencies and the
presenters can sound muffled on any set.
I was chuffed to hear Radio Tashkent from Uzbekistan on 5025
Khz at 22:00 hours on the 18th January. It was poor reception but a
catch for me. Another station heard was the Voice of Mesopotamia, via Maldovo
with oriental music and unidentified language ids but the Voice of Mesopotamia
was easy to hear.
Return to Top
I will try to put up some information about my latest logs
on this site soon. There just do not seem to be enough hours to do work
on the site. I am ashamed to say that I have not done much to the sound
and vision site recently. I did re-model and simplify the index page
last night and will try to put up a super new picture a friend took for me of
the front of BBC Broadcasting House. This time there are more building
scaffolds up but a super picture of the Practical Sound Effects center which
stores all the doors etc used in radio drama.
In Southall they have a new RSL called Urban Radio on
87.7. Initially this was better in my area of London on 87.8 but they
must have sorted out the transmitter. Overall this station is not as
professional as the station Hayes FM which was audible in this area during
December. The adverts on Urban Radio are absolutely excellent
though very tongue in cheek and very local. I think that the RSL medium
is superb; it gives people a chance to experiment and because they can only be
on for 28 days it gives plenty of variety.
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One mystery is how the pirate stations in London continue -
so many now crowd round Radio 3 and 4 in my area of London. Radio 4 for
some reason is the weakest BBC FM station and it makes tuning uncomfortable on
a portable receiver. Of course I may be mistaken, perhaps all
these stations have now been legalised? Ofcom are also expected
soon to launch a report on public broadcasting.this.
I am not comfortable with the Daily Express campaign to
abolish the licence fee for the BBC. We could end up then having to pay
for all sorts of television and radio services separately. Worldspace
charge £60 alone for Radio Caroline and NPR. The campaign was a
reaction to the Kilroy Silk suspension. The BBC is much more than a
puerile gossip show in the morning. The licence fee supports national
and local radio stations the length and breadth of the uk as well as the 4
national TV stations, two of which can only be viewed on digital televison.
The BBC has innovated with digital television and radio and the money did not
come from the licence fee but from the sale of its transmitters and sites to
Crown and Castle. The government agreed the sale could take part and that the
money could be directed to digital. I pay council tax, income tax and
national insurance but do not have any control over what authorities do with
the money; it would be more constructive if the Express launched a scheme to
abolish taxes?
Return to Top
Music:
Forgot how good the Four Seasons were - listened to them
tonight. Working my way back to you, Rag Doll and Opus 17 are just some of
their magnificent tunes.
Today on BBC Radio 2 Terry Wogan played a song by Colin
Blunstone called "Say I Don't Mind" - at least I think it was
him. It reminded my of Kenny Everett because I remember hearing this on
his shows in the 70s. He also did a song called Caroline Goodbye -
very apt for me now that the are encrypted on worldspace, I do not own or
intend to get a sky dish!
Website:
One of the waffler's favourite sites for pictures and the
occasional soundbyte is run by Bob Le Roi - here is his latest email
specifying updates
In www.bobleroi.co.uk "Scrapbook" we cross to Ireland for part one
of a feature on "South Coast Radio". See the mast & transmitters
being commissioned & hear the jingles.
Whilst over in www.bobleroi.co.uk "One Subject One Link" there's a
contribution on Zero Cue.
"Feedback" mail & contributions always welcome
As always keep it tight ......
Selected news from others
Long wave radio hearing concludes
Wed 21st Jan 2004
A hearing to get a petition to stop a long wave broadcasting licence for the
north of the Island has concluded today in the High Court.
Bride resident Nick Cussons lodged the petition and claimed the
Communications Commission didn't have enough information to grant a
substantive licence two years ago
He believes Isle of Man International Broadcasting PLC, who want the Long
wave license, hadn't met the conditions set down in the provisional licence,
which was awarded in nineteen ninety-nine.
The aim of the petition is to get the licence revoked, although Paul
Rusling, chief executive of IMIB, remains hopeful he can progress with his
plans for a long-wave radio station in the north of the Island.
After a two and a half-day hearing, Acting Deemster Roger Kaye will now
consider his verdict which is expected to be made known between four to
eight weeks.
(manxradio.com)
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Five Live gear up for 10th Anniversary
======================================
As part of its ten year anniversary, BBC Radio Five Live is trying to
contact every ten year old who shares its 10th birthday - 28 March
2004.
With the help of the Five Live generation and their families, the
station will undertake an ambitious survey of the hopes and fears,
aspirations and lifestyles of the UK in the 21st century.
The results of this important survey will be featured on Radio Five
Live.
If you or someone you know was born on 28 March 1994 you could be in
line for an all expenses paid family trip to a host of top
attractions.
Schools can also get involved in the project, as one class of ten year
olds will be offered the chance to make a radio broadcast and become
the voice of the next generation on Radio Five Live, learning some of
the techniques of radio production in the process.
Additionally they are seeking diaries, pictures and messages that
reflect what life is like as a ten year old in the UK today. The best
will be featured on the BBC Radio Five Live website.
Weblink: www.bbc.co.uk/fivelive
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New Kent Schedule
=================
BBC Radio Kent is revamping its programme schedule, giving listeners
even more of their favourite presenters. From February the 1st the
schedule will give presenters - Steve Ladner, John Warnett, Pat
Marsh, Julie Maddocks and Dominic King extended shows.
The new weekday schedule will be:
* 05.00 - 07.00 The Early Riser with Steve Ladner.
* 07.00 - 10.00 Good Morning Kent with John Warnett.
* 10.00 - 13.00 Pat Marsh.
* 13.00 - 13.30 Kent At One, the latest news around the County and
around the World in thirty minutes.
* 13.30 - 16.30 The Afternoon Show with Julie Maddocks
* 16.30 - 19.00 The Drive Show with Dominic King (including The News
Hour from 1700).
* 19.00 - 22.00 The Evening Show with Sue Dougan
* 22.00 - 01.00 The Late Show with Paul Miller. BBC Radio Kent is
also giving listeners another chance to hear some of the highlights
of the week's broadcasting in a new programme `Kent's Best' to be
broadcast on Saturday afternoon at 1300 and Sunday teatime at 1700.
The programme will be presented by Steve Ladner.
Key's JK and Joel off to Radio 1
================================
Key 103's breakfast hosts JK and Joel are waving goodbye to
Manchester and are off to Radio One.
The final details are still being thrashed out, but JK and Joel will
be leaving later this year. New Key 103 boss Gus Mackenzie, said:
"Key 103 is renowned for finding and developing the best talent on
radio and once again Radio One has come knocking at our door. We're
proud that Manchester and Key 103 has been the launch pad for great
talents as diverse as Chris Evans, Scott Mills, Steve Penk and now JK
and Joel. It's flattering that our skill in developing talent is
recognised again and we wish the boys well." Gus has exciting plans
for a new breakfast show and details will be released at a later
date. In the meantime, JK and Joel's departure could open the door
for a new batch of homegrown talent
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New signs for Kiss weekend line up
==================================
Two of today's hottest recording artists have signed up to Kiss 100
to lead its new weekend line-up for 2004. UK born New York
genre-hopping DJ Mark Ronson hosts a Saturday night hip-hop show
mixing it with his signature blend of r&b, funk and rock, while
British Asian producer Rishi Rich mixes influences from around the
world on a new Friday night show which positions itself where 'East
meets West.'.
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New Editor Appointed at BBC Radio York
======================================
Award-winning journalist, Matt Youdale (43) has been named as the new
managing editor of BBC Radio York.
Matt has been acting editor since November 2002 and takes over the
post from Barrie Stephenson who is now running the BBC's digital
storytelling project.
Mr Youdale said:
"I am delighted to be working in such a beautiful part of the world,
and with such a talented group of people. This is an exciting time to
be at BBC Radio York, as the station is 21 years old this year and we
are planning some special celebrations."
(the waffler enjoyed this station recently and hopes that this man will not
ride roughshod and change all the programmes on air)
Monday, January 19, 2004
Radio Kuwait has started broadcasting its Arabic programming in digital mode
towards Europe. The DRM broadcasts are scheduled at 0930-1305 UTC on 13620
kHz, and 1315-1730 UTC on 9880 kHz. Further details are available on the DRM
schedule page, which is maintained independently of Radio Netherlands by
Klaus Schneider.
# posted by Andy Sennitt @ 10:28 UTC
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A link to the Dutch AT (FCC) site for an overview for raids in the
Netherlands:
http://www.agentschaptelecom.nl/informatie/publicaties/etherflits/etherflits_hme.html
As you will see raids all over the time here in The Netherlands...... There
even is a special action for getting all the pirates off air called
"etherflits"
(Michel <pd1aiw_@a...>alt.radio.pirate)
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Agreement reached on future use of Lopik
Here in the Netherlands, an agreement has been reached between the local
councils of IJsselstein, Lopik and Montfoort, the Ministry of Economic
Affairs, the Province of Utrecht and transmitter operator Nozema which
should bring an end to interference suffered by nearby homes from the
mediumwave transmitters at Lopik. The key points are as follows:
1. The total permitted power output will be reduced from the current 240 kW
(2 x 120 kW) to 100 kW, with a reserve of 40 kW.
2. The mast at the northern end of the site closest to IJsselstein will be
dismantled within 12 months from the signing of the agreement.
3. Transmissions on the higher mediumwave frequencies such as 1008 and 1395
kHz, which require more power to cover the same area, will no longer be
made, even as backups.
4. In the long term, the transmitter site could be moved to a platform on
the Markermeer polder. However, this won't be necessary if mediumwave goes
digital.
The plan means that the transmitter power of Arrow Classic Rock on 675 kHz
will be reduced from the present 120 kW to 100 kW, but the big loser is
Quality Radio bv, which holds six mediumwave licences including the one for
1395 kHz currently leased to Radio 10 Gold. "We have not even been
informed,
let alone consulted," said a Quality Radio spokesman.
The licence for 1395 kHz officially permits the use of up to 120 kW from
Lopik, but a lower power transmitter at Trintelhaven is currently used,
significantly reducing the coverage area. According to Quality Radio, it
appears to be wrongly assumed by a number of parties, such as the
municipality of IJsselstein and the province of Utrecht, that the current
situation is satisfactory. It means that Arrow Classic Rock, which was
involved in the consultations although it officially doesn't have a
terrestrial licence, gets to use Lopik, leaving Quality Radio - which has a
valid licence for 1395 kHz - empty handed.
Quality Radio says it will block the signing of the agreement as long as all
the possibilities for 1395 AM from Lopik have not been investigated fully.
The broadcaster says that in principle it's prepared to keep the power level
as low as possible to ensure that the nuisance to nearby homes is restricted
to an acceptable level.
Update 1720 UTC: Arrow Classic Rock has issued a statement refuting
suggestions on some media Web sites that the power reduction to 100 kW means
it will have less than 100% coverage of the country. In fact, the reduction
in signal strength is unlikely to be noticed by anyone within the Dutch
borders, though some listeners further away might notice a small difference.
http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/
14th January 2004
Too good to miss hence the early entry of this - thanks to
the digital spy site for this! The waffler will shortly be
releasing his own compositon for orchestral rendition and it will be entirely
silent, make him a fortune and bore the entire nation no doubt!
BBC Radio 3's emergency backup systems are to be switched
off to allow the station to broadcast a live rendition of John Cage's seminal
work, 4'33".
The systems would usually kick in when silence is detected. As Cage's work is
silent, it is necessary to disengage the backups to avoid the piece being
interrupted by filler music.
The broadcast will take place live as part of the BBC Symphony Orchestra's
Composer Weekend at The Barbican on Friday, January 16. BBC Four will
broadcast the piece again an hour later.
12 January
2004
Waffler
On Sunday I decided to record Letter From
America for my archive and when tuning in before I heard a light squelchy
interference sound in the background on R4. I managed to tune this out.
In the kitchen I found the culprit was a very powerful local pirate Freeze
FM. I did not realise that Alistair was 95. He described his fall
on the 16th of October and thanked his listeners for sending him emails and
letters. Lets hope Alistair continues to broadcast for many more
years.
I noticed that Broadcasting House was hosted by Fi Glover,
ex BBC Five live and GLR. It was admirably presented and apparently she
has taken over as the regular presenter. It gives her the opportunity to
do some interviewing as well as presentation
Return to Top
Just seen the Simon Dee programme that went out at Xmas. Not
the best presented programme and the foul language we were warned about before
hand was not necessary. The main focal point of the show seemed to be a
conversation filmed between Simon Dee, Professor Laurie Taylor, Sir John
Mortimer, Imogen Edwards Jones, Bonnie Greer, George Walden, Terry Hanabury,
Bryan Izzard and Mark Bronowski. I think the list of names is correct,
took it off screen at a very low recording speed and it was a bit juddery!.
Good thought that they used the Big Lil theme and had had some jingles written
in which introduced the various parts of the programme. Weird though using Big
L jingles when Simon was on Radio Caroline!
Peter Young played a track from the Big L double music cd and gave it a plug
on his Jazz FM Sunday Show. He even mentioned that it was good but not
necessarily soul or jazz music. Bless you PZ you are a great broadcaster and
anorak to boot!
Rob Out the Radio Veronica DJ from the 60s onwards died over Xmas, I have just
read about this on the Radio Netherlands Media review email. This will only
mean something to the real radio anoraks. I developed a passion for listening
to Dutch radio when I discovered Veronica in 1964 when tuning into Radio
Caroline. I could not believe how good the reception was in the UK until I
went to visit my grandparents at Holland On Sea. It was more powerful than the
BBC down there at the time. I think the pirates highlighted a chink in the
BBC's armour because not all stations were that strong then - so the pirates
brightened up the dial.
I was in John Lewis in Oxford Street last week and was
standing by the digital radios on display. I managed to test the
Roberts, Evoke and Goodmans. The Goodmans had the biggest aerial.
A lot of customers switched the radios on and because the aerials were not
straight or full extended the sets let out the irritating "burbling"
sound instead of radio programmes. It must turn a lot of people off
buying these radios. The shops should put a sign near them, or arrange
for a proper aerial to be connected to them so people can hear how good they
are. I found that the Evoke 1 had the most sensitive reception in
spite of the smaller aerial and mono speaker (it does of course output to an
amplifier or headphone in stereo.
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Thanks to site visitor John K for this email in response to a remark I made
on the 6th January 2004:
Radio York
I have to say I agree with your comments about Yorkshire radio stations.
Having lived in London until recently I wondered what could replace LBC (up to
year 2000). Radio York's content certainly did with good phone-ins and
sensible news coverage. I hope they are getting over their identity crisis not
knowing whether they were Radio York or BBC North Yorkshire!
I was surprised a BBC station could have replaced the listenability of LBC as
I never found BBC London of any interest. They could learn a lot from their
northern colleagues.
Many shops on the coast seem to have Yorkshire Coast Radio playing which has
the all too typical content like Capital Radio in London and Minster FM,
though I do not believe they are part of one of the conglomerates.
Regards,
John K
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Selected news from others
Advent International, the global private equity investor, is
investing in
one of Holland's leading private, commercial radio stations - Radio 538.
Radio 538 is one of Holland's best-known brands and a market leader for the
10-50 year old age group, attracting over 3 million listeners a week. It has
an 11% audience share in the 10 year + age group. The station's morning chat
show, hosted by national DJ star Edwin Evers, is the most popular in the
country. 538 has recently been awarded a new licence allowing it
unrestricted national coverage, on a single frequency (102 FM), until
September 2011.
Built on the vision of one of Holland's best-known media entrepreneurs, Lex
Harding, a pool of exceptional programming talent, an award-winning media
sales force and a strong brand-building marketing programme, 538 has
delivered consistent audience and advertising revenue growth since its
inception 10 years ago. Lex Harding remains a member of 538's supervisory
board and will continue to be involved in shaping the station's future and
direction. He will be joined by Travis Baxter, a highly experienced
international radio executive and consultant who has worked with, among
others, Atlantic 252 and the BBC. Baxter, who will have a non-executive
role, also sits on the council of the British Radio Academy.
With the new funding provided by Advent, Radio 538 plans to build on the
quality of its programming in order to increase its market share of both
listeners and advertising revenue. Radio advertising in Holland is expected
to continue gaining share, as in the past few years, from other media. The
538 brand is supported by a number of successful marketing activities, best
known of which is the station's Queen's Day open air event, which this year
attracted over 150,000 people. The annual accounts ended June 2003 show
538's revenues to be just over 36 million euros. After the deal Advent
International will have a shareholding of 90% of the equity, and Lex Harding
will have a 10% stake...
Radio 538 is Advent's fourth European radio investment. Other investments
include the EU30m buyout of Danubius, Hungary's leading commercial station,
from GWR Group; RadioZet, a leading Polish commercial station, through a
joint venture with Lagardère, the French media group; and Radio Kolor, a
leading Polish independent FM station.
[Moderator note: Radio 538 is on FM plus mediumwave 891 kHz.]
Return to Top
Reading's Blast 1386 AM has signed up the CMJ New Music
Report Radio
Show.
Emirates has signed a deal to sponsor Australia Day on 102.2 JAZZFM
to promote Gatwick Airport as its gateway to Australia.
On 26th January each show from breakfast to Dinner Jazz will be
supported by an Emirates destination - Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane &
Perth - and the airline will offer listeners to each show the chance
to win a pair of flights to each of the cities with a final
opportunity to win an upgrade to business class. The activity will be
supported online via jazzfm.com.
NEW YORK FESTIVALS RADIO AWARDS CD
A total of 34 Gold WorldMedals in radio programming were presented at
this year's premier international awards for radio programming, and this
CD carries clips from each of the programmes, together with comments
from their producers. Hear clips from the UN award-winning CBC
documentary "Afghanistan: The Sky Cries Blood"; Australian
Broadcasting's riveting report "Investigative Journalism"; Ben
Manila
Productions of San Francisco's entertaining "House of Blues" , and
many
more.
On a second disc are all the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in Radio
Advertising, including the much lauded "Men of Genius" campaign from
DDB
Chicago.
All the winners at the premier international awards for radio, the New
York Festivals, are available for just $35 plus shipping. Order your
copy now. Click here to order a double audio CD of the 2003 New York
Festivals International Radio Awards under the Merchandise section of
www.newyorkfestivals.com
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Limerick's Live 95FM, has kicked off the new year with a new
breakfast presenter.
Mark Whelan (31) who previously presented the evening show takes over
the breakfast show this week with Catriona Tierney. Mark has been
with Limerick's Live 95fm for the last two years and previously
presented the breakfast show on Atlantic 252.
Smash Hits Chart 04-01-04
=========================
The Smash Hits Chart can be heard on 40 radio stations across the UK
- each Sunday, from 16.00 through 19.00. The show launched in January
last year - hosted by Mark Goodier and distributed by Emap. View the
latest chart listings here. This week's chart has 11 Climbers, 13
Fallers, 7 New Entries, 6 Re-Entries and 3 No Changers.
http://ukradio.com/news/articles/01B0F62ACB694AB085BB6C7D751DA22E.asp
Return to Top
After 20 years, Barbara Sturgeon will be hanging up her
headphones
and bidding a fond farewell to BBC Radio Kent at the end of January.
One of the most distinctive voices in the county is moving on to
pursue other interests both inside and outside the world of
broadcasting.
Apart from a two year stint at BBC Radio 2, Barbara has been a regular
companion for Kent's radio listeners since joining BBC Radio Medway
in 1983. Her reports from the trouble-spots of Northern Ireland and
Teabreak features were followed by Drivetime and the Sunday request
show.
Return to Top
6th January 2004
Waffler
Radio
Welcome to 2004. This is quite a
large update with a myriad of different thoughts from myself. I hope you like
the simplified presentation of the diary and if you are a newcomer to this
site - welcome and thanks for spending your time and money visiting us.
On Sunday 4th January I heard
Alistair Cooke's Letter From America. He ended the excellent report by wishing
everyone a "bearable" new year. This seems to be a more
realistic greeting other than the usual Happy New Year. Alistair also
made reference to his age - I believe he said he was 88. I did not know that
one of his hobbies was golf, and he mentioned that he had a club with a
titanium tip for Christmas. I must remember to archive a recording of this
long running programme but hope that this excellent series and speaker
continue for many more years.
I
plan to spend less time surfing and emailing this year and concentrate on more
articles and features on this and the sound
and vision site.
I am tempted to re-launch my magazine newsletter but this is would
involve a lot of work and time. I
would welcome some
sponsorship for the site or web space so that I can house both elements of
sound, pictures and text on one
site. Please
contact me via our email of wirewaffle@hotmail.com if you feel that you can
assist in this direction. Nobody every
complains about the
advert pop ups which are on Fortune City or O.catch.com. If you do not know that
there are programs to stop
these pop up
adverts, please look at the links section of this site and you will find
details of the one I use when I surf. You need to push
control and click on
a link in the event that you want to see a pop up box like on ebay or amazon.
I
have recently sampled radio in the city of York. Minster FM sounds like
any London commercial station but is very professional and has local
adverts and a
mixture of oldies. The real nugget in the radio scene there is Radio York.
The BBC local station has a wide range of programmes in
addition to the
standard local news programmes in the morning and evening.all Yorkshire radio
seems to lack authentic Yorkshire
dialect. I
remember this when I was last in Scarborough in the 1980s. Now the reason that
so many stations are run by big
commercial companies
in London may explain the bias to straight talk minus local dialect.
Frank
Wappit (i think that is the correct spelling, on Radio York does have a
lovely local dialect and plays music similar to Keith
Skues but probably
more standards. Elli was interviewing Jon Briggs about his classical
career and Jon sported a Yorkshire
accent.
We
stayed close to the city walls and reception in our room was poor. The
modern bed frame was a tonic - being made of metal it
acted as a frame
aerial and lifted the level of FM signals, and enabled the incredible
levels of electrical interference on the
ground floor room to
be decreased substantially. I will put some samples of programmes on the sound
and vision site and include
some in my Wireless
Waves programme which should be released by the end of February 2004. Be sure to
visit the site before
then because the
latest programme contains a review of the best things I have heard on the radio
in 2003.
I also managed to
get some distant stations. BBC Leeds and Cleveland also came in. I
noted Tony Black burn on Real Radio, quite
hissy reception, on
Saturday. Viking Fm was also audible on one occasion.
Congratulations
to Keith Skues for getting a well deserved MBE from the Queen. Maybe
Lizzie listens in to his evening show on
BBC local radio. Is
the Queen or Prince Phillip radio listeners?
Recent arrivals here book wise
have been the Passport to World Band Radio, suitably crumpled by our beloved
Royal Mail! I also have Fi Glover's Travels With My Radio. Reviews
will follow
The splendid Radio Listeners Guide for 2004 has arrived with the news that a
Television Guide has also been launched. I will be reviewing the radio
guide and the TV one in due course.
Return to Top
Music,
DVDs etc
Yesterday in Ealing Broadway I
visited the Oxfam music shop. I must say how excellent this store is for
picking up both old and newer recordings and helping a splendid charity. There
is also a specialist book shop a few doors down as well. They are both
quite near to the lovely Walpole Park. I spotted a cd titled "Happy
Organs, Wild Guitars & Piano Shuffles" on Ace CDCHD 386. It
contains a track most radio anoraks will know from the sixties offshore era
called "The Happy Organ". The artist is Dave "Baby"
Cortez and is mainly piano and organs instrumentals. I remember Peter
Young on his excellent Jazz FM programme singing the praises of this artist.
I rather like Piano Shuffle and Fiesta on this cd as well. It is a
pity that radio stations rarely used theme tunes for programmes any more.
The above reminds me that a
gentleman at our local swimming pool hums what he says is the Desert Island
Discs theme tune whilst showering. It bears not relation to the tune but it
does go to prove that people like and remember themes to programmes.
My local second hand record store had the
"Best of David Bowie" on two DVDs for £8.95. I thought it was
a bargain and contains some great versions of all of his hits and some other
material as well. It is worth looking our for, I also saw it in a big
town Virgin store for £11.95.
If you have a multi-region dvd, in the absence
of a UK release, go to Amazon for Kenny Everett the Best of the Naughty Bits.
I ordered one from New Zealand and it arrived just before Xmas. It has all of
the Thames extracts and Captain Kremmen cartoons. I still have to view
this in full.
Return
to Top
Selected News from others
Keith Skues, a former Radio One DJ who now broadcasts a
popular late-night
show on BBC Radio Norfolk [and other BBC Eastern counties stations], has been
made an MBE.
The presenter and producer, who lives in Horning with his collection of
250,000 records, has been honoured for his services to broadcasting and
charity fund-raising.
Mr Skues, described by fellow broadcaster John Peel as "the jewel in the
crown of East Anglian radio", said today he was amazed to have received
the
honour.
"I was very surprised but delighted," he told the Evening News.
"I got a
letter saying I had been shortlisted about two months ago, but I had heard
nothing since then. I thought with all these rugby players to fit in they
had perhaps forgotten.
"There are a lot of people behind the scenes in broadcasting who deserve
praise as well, not just those in the public eye, or in my case the public
ear."
Mr Skues hit the airwaves as a pirate radio pioneer in the 1960s.
The author of the definitive book on British offshore radio, Pop Went the
Pirates, he first broadcast with the British Forces Network in Germany and
was also heard in Kuwait, Kenya and Aden. On returning to Britain after
National Service, he joined Radio Caroline South in September 1964.
He had already acquired the nickname "Cardboard Shoes" and developed
a
number of catch-phrases including: "Mrs Lady," "Speaking of ..,
which we
weren't", and when signing off after reading a news bulletin: "On
the news,
Keith Skues".
He said goodbye to pirate radio in August 1967 when he joined the BBC. He
appeared on both Radio One and Radio Two before moving on to commercial
radio with Radio Hallam in Sheffield.
He took over the late-night programme slot on BBC Radio in the Eastern
Counties, including Radio Norfolk, in April 1995.
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk
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to Top
Media Network weblog Moyles 'agreed to
breakfast show on his terms'
15:00 GMT, Monday 5th January 2004 -- by Neil
Wilkes
The self-proclaimed saviour of Radio 1, DJ Chris Moyles, has
said that he agreed to take over the station's breakfast show on the condition
that he could do things his way.
Speaking to The Sun ahead of his first show this morning, Moyles
explained that he didn't want censors breathing down his neck all of the time.
“I said that I’d only take the job if I wasn’t going to be restricted in
any way," said Moyles. “There has to be a lot of trust. I’m aware of
the responsibility but I’m not going to be told what I can’t say or what I
can’t do.
“I got told off for talking about sex once and I was told I couldn’t talk
about any of the other DJs on Radio 1. There have been a few things that have
got me into trouble in the past but all that has stopped now and they have
told me to pretty much do what I want.”
One of Moyles's biggest competitiors will be Johnny Vaughan, who is replacing
Chris Tarrant at the helm of Capital's breakfast show.
“I can’t wait for the challenge of taking on Johnny," Moyles added.
“We’re the No1 pop show and it’s the most important show in the country.
We’ll easily eat him for breakfast.” 6 Jan 04
Ireland's RTÉ Radio will cease providing a half-hour
service on short wave from January 1.
The move comes as part of a plan to "re-align" its distribution
platforms, both domestically and internationally. This will see RTÉ move away
from short wave in favour of satellite distribution. To this end, RTÉ has
reconfigured its output on WRN, available on satellite, to provide two hours
of programming a day. The organisation will also contact people who emailed
responses to an RTÉ survey regarding its short-wave service in Africa, to
offer them the chance to apply for a WorldSpace radio receiver that will be
provided to those "in particularly isolated circumstances."
In a press release, the organisation said:
"There is a great deal of affection for analogue transmission among many
short wave listeners and those who took up the invitation to mail us on the
service pointed out the independence of such a service and, most of all, the
value of contact with home. RTÉ 's output and editorial independence will not
be mediated by WRN, or in any of its transmission platforms; RTÉ 's belief is
that satellite, and particularly WorldSpace transmissions, is the best and
most efficient means of reaching those who wish to hear Ireland's Public
Service Broadcaster around the world."
Return to Top
THE
WORLD FAMOUS WIRELESS WAFFLE RADIO DAIRY
RECENT
UPDATES ON THIS SITE:
Hans Knot's January report is available now hansk.htm
filed on 17th February 2004
A new section started called miscellaneous
radio sections misc.htm
added 21st February 2004
NEW LINKS
WORTH A LOOK:
http://www.ellams.force9.co.uk/palm.htm
for a link to some really useful mini disc titling software for palm and sony
minidiscs
minidisc.htm
has a review about recording from the radio to mini disc and a review of the
mini disc program above
http://www.activesignals.com/
great site with details of active frequencies including utility stations and
also a very good links section including sites with sound files of different
modes and sounds.
THE
DIARY
Dates
in diary refer to the date the item was uploaded to this site - we regret that
we cannot always guarantee weekly updates some news will be covered in
retrospect as time permits. Your input by email is always welcome
28th February 2004
Waffler
A week in which I have been upgrading my personal organiser. I wish to thank
Paul Ellams for supplying me with an update to his excellent program for mini
disc titling which is designed for sony mini discs with infra red facilities.
You can download this and other splendid programmes at
http://www.ellams.force9.co.uk/palm.htm. One of my favourite games he has made
for the palm organsier is air hockey. As some site visitors may know I am in my
early fifties and never have played games before on a pc but find that the palm
gives me the opportunity to try out simpler games and enjoy them on the fly. I
wish somebody would do a program for radio listeners also though.
I have recently acquired a double BBC cd from my local Barnados charity shop. It
is a dramatisation starring Brian Glover first broadcast in 1997 on BBC Radio 1.
It was when they referred to Radio 1 as 1 FM. Remember the sheer novelty of
having Radio 1 on FM all the time! It is a pity that they were not on this in
the sixties. Mind you in the Seventies and onwards on occasions BBC Radio
London, and no doubt some BBC locals put them out on FM. The early BBC local
radio was in mono and not stereo. That brings me to mentioning now that this has
turned full circle with most of the BBC stations being fully computerised with
hardly any access to turntables or cd player.
Return
to Top
My wife has noticed some messages on the void on Channel 4 teletext about the
sad state of local commercial and public radio in the UK. They are from younger
people who do not feel catered for. I also note that Ofcom are canvassing for
views on community radio; is it possible that we will find teenagers and
youngsters applying for community licences?
The Today programme on Radio 4 is still at the cutting edge of journalism - the
latest being Claire Short.
The people at BBC Essex are doing a splendid transmission on all their AM
frequencies for us anoraks. Keith Skues is on it, as will Dave Cash. I wonder if
they will continue to put out the stations regular broadcasts on FM? It is
grossly unfair that Essex are given three am frequencies when BBC London had to
give up some years ago to Sunrise Radio. Sunrise is an excellent station but the
transmitter they have gives them a super reception area, and I have heard it in
Lyon in France before at good strength in the late night early morning.
It is good to see now how many digital radios are available for sale in the
shops. Think back to the days when we were all scrambling for the first few that
came out. I look forward to the prices tumbling so that I can buy a few more to
enable me to hear them elsewhere in the house without the need to move the only
one around. A friend of mine has received the retro Bush Radio for his 50th and
I look forward to seeing it very soon.
I am sorry that I have not got to do any updates
recently to the sound and vision site but rest assured I will be doing some next
month.
Return
to Top
News from other sources.
Essex County Cricket Club has signed a deal with Classic Gold Breeze
to make the station its Official Radio Station for the 2004 County
season.
Cardiff University's Xpress Radio is back live on 107.2 FM radio from
the end of February.
Run by students for students, Xpress Radio hosts an exciting and
unique blend of shows providing music, chat, drama and competitions.
Also set to return is the station's popular soap opera Woodville Rd
following the lives of 6 students as they deal with the task of
surviving university and each other! (the waffler would appreciate a few
recordings of this for his archives - mainly speech inserts and around 10 to
fifteen minutes if anyone can help)
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to Top
PURE Digital - a division of Imagination Technologies (LSE:IMG) -
announces the Legato mini hi-fi system with DAB digital radio.
Legato breaks new ground in performance and integration with
crystal-clear DAB digital radio, as well as great FM, CD and
MP3-playback, high-power audio output and ReVu(tm), which enables
Pause and Rewind of DAB broadcasts.
Legato will debut in summer 2004 and is expected to retail for -
£349.99 inc. VAT.
Elegantly constructed with compact sculptured casework, finished in
real cherry-wood veneer with a brushed aluminium fascia, Legato
features a large graphical display. Context-sensitive buttons provide
an easy-to-use interface with intuitive access to Legato's
comprehensive range of advanced functions. The cool-blue display also
has multiple clock modes and can show the scrolling-text information
broadcast alongside DAB audio.
ReVu(tm) enables the pausing of live DAB radio, and listeners can even
rewind radio to review a favourite moment. Users can take a break
from the radio and come back to the same place, or go back to
something they missed - all at the touch of a button.
Legato's DAB and FM performance is derived from the PURE DRX-702ES -
two-times Hi-Fi Tuner of the Year (Hi-Fi News and What Hi-Fi Sound &
Vision 2003). There is space for 99 DAB and 99 FM presets and the FM
function stores RDS station names to allow DAB-like tuning, bringing
FM usability up to date.
A timer combined with optical output allows users to record favourite
radio programs to minidisk or CD-R (external) for later listening.
Legato features CD-R and CD-RW compatibility for MP3 and audio discs
with support for CD Text, MP3 ID3 tags and 99-track play-lists (M3U).
Legato's dedicated audio processor, power supply and amplifiers have
all been optimised over hundreds of hours of listening by PURE
engineers to deliver clear smooth sound. Legato features PURE's DPAC
II(tm) technology for a more natural sound from DAB digital radio as
well as bass and treble tone controls to adjust all of Legato's audio
playback. Aux input lets users connect other devices and take
advantage of Legato's great sound.
Legato delivers 22W RMS per channel via deceptively powerful speakers.
These incorporate twin, custom-designed, full-range 3" driver units
with phase correction plugs and high-power neodymium magnets. The
driver units sit in ultra-compact cabinets that have been reflex
ported for improved bass response.
Legato's DAB output boasts optimised DPAC-II technology (Digital
Psycho-Acoustic Compensation-II). Developed by PURE Digital, DPAC-II
produces a significantly more natural sound than other digital radio
tuners
Legato's record timer lets users record favourite radio shows to a
separate recording device. They can set regular daily, weekday-only
or weekend-only record times to never miss a favourite programme, or
set 'one-off' record times. For timed recording users need a recorder
with an optical input that supports sync-record, such as a MiniDisc
or CD-R recorder.
Auxiliary input allows connection of alternative line-level devices
(e.g. MiniDisc). Optical output is available for connection to a
digital amplifier or recorder. Line level output enables connection
to an analogue amplifier or recorder. A headphone socket features on
Legato's front panel for easy access. A USB connector enables
download of software upgrades from an internet-connected PC, enabling
Legato to support future firmware updates.
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to Top
NEWS RELEASE
Radio petition rejected by Court
EMBARGOED UNTIL 12 NOON, 24th February 2004
The Petition of Doleance challenging the Communications Commission's issue
of the long wave broadcast licence was rejected by the High Court in
Douglas this morning. Announcing his decision, Acting Deemster Roger Kaye QC
said: " there is no conceivable ground on which this court can or should
interfere with the decision reached by the Commission to grant the licence
to IMIB."
The sole petitioner, a Mr L.N. Cussons made various claims, suggesting that
the Communications Commission had acted unlawfully when it issued a Full
Broadcast Licence to Isle of Man International Broadcasting plc. He also
alleged that planning permission for the studios has not been sought and
that IMIB's directors were not fit and proper persons. After documents
proving the existence of planning permission were presented to the court and
hearing that full checks had been made by the Ciommunications Commission
prior to awarding the licence, the Deemster decided that Mr Cussons had
failed to prove any of his claims and dismissed his petition.
The Petitioner had told the Court that he did not object to the proposed
programmes but was simply concerned that the noise of generators might keep
him awake at night, despite assertions and a detailed report by experts that
the noise audible on the coast will be much lower than the background noise
on even the quietest night.
"Our proposals have been delayed for several years, at great cost to our
investors, about half of whom live on the Isle of Man," said IMIB founder
Paul Rusling after the hearing. "Despite a lengthy planning inquiry and two
High Court hearings, all the claims of danger, noise and nuisance have been
dismissed.
"With this legal obstacle cleared we can now complete our funding
arrangements and plan for the launch of the radio station. The economic
climate now is much more favourable than it was two years ago, so the delays
caused by the objections, while very frustrating and expensive, may well
have helped us. We have had a lot of interest from investors in recent
months, possibly due to the large upturn in radio advertising in the UK. We
can now look forward to the launch of the radio station towards the end of
this year, or perhaps early next "
( E N D S )
24th February 2004
-
Further Information: Rodney Collins, Senior Press & PR Coordinator
Email ric@l... Tel 01
851 704495
Paul Rusling. Chief Executive
Email par@l... Tel 818151
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BBC Radio Five Live will launch its biggest ever marketing campaign this
weekend.
The theme will be "Speaks Your Mind," with the campaign running across
BBC television, radio and BBCi services from Saturday. A poster campaign across
the UK will also be a component.
Veteran DJ Tony Blackburn is to be dropped from Jazz FM's evening schedule next
month.
Former Radio 1 presenter Clive Warren will take over the late-night show -
pre-recorded by Blackburn each day - from March 1st. The decision comes as the
station looks to introduce more live programming into its schedule.
Blackburn will continue to host his network-wide Saturday night show.
Return
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Mayday, mayday ... turn off Radio 4 immediately
Martin Wainwright
Thursday February 26, 2004
The Guardian
Ships in distress have always welcomed the power of prayer but the situation off
Britain's North Sea coast yesterday took things a bit too far.
Coastguards found themselves tuned inescapably into the BBC's Thought for the
Day - along with Farming Today, Book of the Week and other soothing material -
when a clumsy crewman on a cargo ship jammed the emergency frequency with Radio
4 for five hours.
Nudging a handset button to "on" without noticing, the freighter
Victress served up the whole of yesterday's Today programme as well as features
on Sierra Leone and an underground bunker in the north London suburb of Dollis
Hill. To make matters worse, the ship's watch - whose desultory chitchat could
also be heard on the frequency - were apparently not listening themselves:
appeals to them to switch the set off, put out by Radio 4 at the coastguard's
request, were ignored.
"This sort of thing has happened occasionally before, but never for this
long," said Colin Tomlinson, district operations manager for Great Yarmouth
coastguard, who finally had to launch a lifeboat to intervene. The RNLI crew
from Wells-next-the-Sea tracked the radio signals to the Victress, 10 miles off
Norfolk, arriving just as a reading of Gabriel García Márquez's autobiography
was getting into its stride.
"The signal was being carried on four of our aerials, effectively blocking
any other emergency call," said Mr Tomlinson, whose only slight relief came
when the programme's shipping forecast was helpfully broadcast at 5.36am.
"The problem started shortly after 5am and went on until just after 9.50am
when the lifeboat found the vessel and alerted the crew."
· The first five minutes of Radio 4's The World at One and BBC TV's One O'Clock
News were replaced with music and continuity bulletins yesterday after a fire
alarm evacuated the newsroom at Television Centre in White City, London.
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'Shock Jock' slams Janet backlash
Howard Stern repeated parts of the offending interview on Thursday
US radio "shock jock" Howard Stern has blamed the suspension of his
show on a conservative backlash following Janet Jackson's Super Bowl
appearance.
Stern has been dropped by six stations owned by the Clear Channel company, which
says he broadcast explicit sexual remarks and racial slurs on Tuesday.
But he told listeners on Thursday he was "under attack" and regulators
had been "after me since 1992".
"Then Janet whipped out her boob and it's all over," he said.
It was vulgar, offensive and insulting to anyone with a sense of common
decency
Clear Channel Radio president John Hogan on Howard Stern
Stern's show was suspended after an interview with Rick Salomon, who was filmed
having sex with hotel heiress Paris Hilton.
"[Clear Channel] are being forced to say that I did something wrong,"
Stern said.
Radio stations in New York, Pittsburgh, San Diego, Florida and Kentucky were
among those affected.
But Clear Channel Radio president John Hogan in a statement: "It was
vulgar, offensive and insulting to anyone with a sense of common
decency."
Graphic material
Stern, whose show is also syndicated across the US by Infinity Broadcasting,
reacted to the ban by repeating highlights from the interview on his programme
on Thursday.
The action against Stern came a day after Clear Channel sacked Florida radio
host "Bubba the Love Sponge".
Federal regulators accused him of airing sexually graphic material on Tampa's
WXTB-FM and three other Florida stations.
Clear Channel is facing a fine of $755,000 (£403,000) for indecency on the
Bubba show.
Fines
Meanwhile, US broadcasting executives apologised for indecent radio programming
at a hearing of the Congress House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the
Internet on Thursday.
The Subcommittee has voted to press ahead with new laws that will increase fines
for broadcasting indecent material to $275,000 (£147,000) per violation.
Some members of Congress are also backing an amendment that would see
broadcasters having their licence revoked after three violations.
But broadcasters made no suggestion that they would pay fines for broadcasting
indecent material.
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Mike Brand:
Beginning this coming weekend ( 20-21/02/04 ), Radio Tel-Aviv 102FM will
introduce a new weekend format by the name of " Clear weekend on 102FM
Radio Tel-Aviv ".The format is a result in cooperation between Radio
Tel-Aviv and the environmental group " Tzalul" ( clear ). The weekend
will consist of reports on the environment, the sea, and will broadcast non-stop
music, without commercials or news.
At first, the new format will last a month, and then it's success / failure will
be reviewed .
Radio Tel-Aviv's chairwoman Yahaloma Levi announced that " the switch to
the Clear Weekend , will increase cooperation and deepen the communication
between the station and it's listeners.
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In my opinion, this is Radio Tel-Aviv's answer to 99FM's " Commercial free
weekend " which have been taking place for weeks now.
99FM have replaced all commercials by road safety messages. 99FM never broadcast
news bulletins - even during the week.
Radio Tel-Aviv and 99FM mainly broadcast to the same audience, with Radio
Tel-Aviv broadcasting to a slightly older age group.
But with two stations now broadcasting commercial free over the weekend, this
can only lead to more stations to follow suit .
According to the judge that sentenced the " Arutz 7 ten " , Yaacov
Katz will serve his six month community service in a charity organisation called
Ezer Mitzion ( Help from Zion, a religious charity organisation ). Shlomit
Melamed, will serve her three month
community, at the Shaare Zedek hospital in Jerusalem.
The guilty Arutz 7 staff, have appealed against the sentences, which are not
only community service, but heavy fines as well. Because of this, the community
service will be postponed, until their appeal has been heard. The fines have
already been paid
( over 800,00 shekels - $180,000 ), and if their appeal is accepted, the fines
will be returned to them.
I ( MB ) think that one of the reasons the Arutz 7 ship was sold so fast, was to
cover the expected fines, if found guilty. But they were not expected to be
fined so much.
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Sunday, February 22, 2004
(A report on Media Network, Radio Netherlands,
http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/ )
In the run-up to its 40th birthday this Easter, former offshore broadcaster
Radio Caroline - now a satellite station - has relaunched its Website with a
new design, and special features to mark the anniversary. But rather than
looking back, those behind Radio Caroline are looking forward.
The station's founder, Ronan O'Rahilly writes: "Caroline is like a big
family and anyone can join. If this Website inspires you I hope you will
join us and help return the Old Lady to the prominence she deserves. Many
people have laughed at me over my Loving Awareness ideals, but that's OK.
The fact that Caroline still survives at all, and is seemingly
indestructible, proves to my satisfaction that L.A. exists. "
Radio Caroline General Manager Peter Moore says: "Caroline can return to
the
prominence she once enjoyed and, with new technology that did not exist in
the sixties, she can achieve even greater prominence than before. In our
fortieth year, this is the challenge. We need more public awareness and we
need fresh platforms to broadcast on. This will not be easy, since the radio
industry closes ranks against independent stations. However, Caroline has a
distinguished history of kicking down locked doors."
The news page gives details of special events planned to mark the
anniversary, which include a BBC television documentary. An Restricted
Service Licence broadcast by Radio Caroline on mediumwave is also being
planned for later this year.
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February 19th 2004
Waffler:
It is amazing recently how much news there has been on updates
- please do not be disappointed if later in the year my entries thin down.
I do have quite a busy time but try to find as much time to dedicate to my hobby
of radio and updating this site.
Good to hear Richard Allinson this morning (19th) sitting in
for Mr Wogan on Radio 2. He always plays some superb rock and oldies when
he does the show. This morning the excellent "Drivers Seat" by Sniff
and the Tears was on followed by Rose of Cimmarron by Poco. Richard
said that apparently there were reports that John Peel used to get up to Rose of
Cimmaron then get back into bed until the guitar solo was over!
I am pleased to say that I have sent my response to the BBC
Charter Review team - full details of how you can send your personal views to
them for consideration are in news from other sources this is the email you
receive back confirming receipt:
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to the Review of the BBC's
Royal Charter. Your response has been received and will be considered as part of
the Review process.
BBC Charter Review Team
Dept for Culture, Media & Sport
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I have had a minor accident with my wok and burnt myself on
the arm. I am not too badly injured thank goodness but my arm is badly marked.
This makes me realise that I have not heard a health phone in on the radio
recently. Do any site visitors know of any such shows?
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I listened in to Jon Gaunt on BBC London on Wednesday morning. I haven't
listened to his phone in for a long time, very good it is as well. He gets very
involved in all of the calls and has quite a high pitched voice on air! I have
seen him doing on screen promotions on the London Live programme with the lovely
Emily from time to time . They do tell viewers what subject Jon is doing the
following morning which must be useful in getting callers. Overall the way that
the BBC London TV and radio interact and promote each other is very good indeed
- gives one a feeling of being part of the London scene - as indeed the Waffler
currently is and has been for 50 years +. Jon was talking to listeners also
about Peter Frampton asking where was he now, apparently one of the BBC London
presenters were having him in to the studio soon. Jon unkindly remarked he
thought he had died but then balanced that remark by saying there were lots of
super groups from the seventies who had faded into the background.
I forgot to mention that in an article in the Evening Standard they mentioned
that Mike Read, then in I'm a Celebrity get me out of here, is working on a film
about offshore radio called Radio Call. This film idea seems to have been around
for a while, will it ever come to fruition? I would also like to see a computer
game based on offshore radio come on to the market but that is pie in the sky.
Mind you in the news from other sources this time you will see that BBC Essex is
setting up a pirate radio station in April for 28 days!
A good update to new frequencies - 11 pages long is available from the World
Radio TV Handbook at www.wrth.com - it is in pdf format and is accessed via a
scrolling text message that is an update (in red on my pc)
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News from other sources
Emap is to trial Kerrang! Radio in Manchester in preparation for the
next generation of radio licences.
Kerrang! Radio will begin broadcasting on 97.6 FM in Manchester on
February 18th and will be on air for a month playing music from
across all classic and contemporary rock genres featuring artistes
championed by Kerrang! magazine.
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The Canadian market for DAB (Digital Audio Broadcast) is poised to
take off and will be helped by CBC Radio Canada's, the national
public service broadcaster, program of upgrading its DAB broadcast
infrastructure.
CBC has chosen RadioScape's innovative Professional DAB Broadcast
System for the first multiplex in this upgrade rollout which will be
located in Vancouver.
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Ofcom has announced proposals for the creation of community radio in
the UK. This will be a third tier of radio, adding to the rich mix of
services already provided by the BBC and commercial radio sectors.
Community radio already exists in countries such as France,
Australia, and Ireland. It offers local communities new opportunities
to communicate and engage with one another, including offering
members of the public the chance to take part in making programmes.
Services are small in scale, operated on a not-for-profit basis, and
can have a positive impact on their communities.
Ofcom is seeking views on a number of key issues, including:
* Frequency availability - most cities and conurbations are likely
to have frequencies for at least one or two community services
initially. Community radio stations should typically use frequencies
that are not viable for commercial services, to allow both sectors to
develop in tandem.
* Licensing process - applicants from anywhere in the UK should be
able to apply for a licence. There should be a standard timetable
each year, with an annual window of 12 weeks during which
applications can be submitted.
* Impact on commercial radio - Ofcom will be required to take into
account the impact of community radio services on commercial radio.
Commercial radio stations will be able to comment on applications,
and explain any adverse impact. Ofcom could also set a general limit
on the share of community stations' income from advertising and
sponsorship.
* Regulation of licensees - a requirement for community radio
stations to report annually on their progress
The Government is also consulting on a draft Community Radio Order.
This Order will set the framework for Ofcom's regulation of the
sector. This is available from the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport's website at:
http://www.culture.gov.uk
It is expected that the draft Community Radio Order will become law in
late spring or early summer 2004. This consultation does not prejudge
the outcome of that Order and any changes made by Parliament will be
reflected in Ofcom's procedures accordingly.
The full consultation document on The Licensing of Community Radio is
available on Ofcom's website at:
www.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/
The closing date for responses is 20 April 2004.
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The Capital Gold Network has appointed Grant Brookes as Brand
Development Manager.
Brookes joins Capital Gold from Capital Radio's Commercial Team where
he was responsible for selling and developing new business
opportunities. During his 2½ years in the commercial team, Grant was
instrumental in developing relationships with key clients which have
stayed loyal to the Capital Radio Group's portfolio of brands.
The role of Brand Development Manager is a new position created to
develop business partnerships and brand extensions as the Capital
Gold Network business evolves. The Capital Gold Legends CD's and the
Capital Gold Legend Awards are examples of the strength of the brand
and its potential. Grant's role is to harness this strength and
develop equally strong media and marketing partnerships and
opportunities moving forward. Reporting to Managing Director Lyn
Long, Grant will work across the Capital Gold Network, working
closely with the regional commercial and marketing teams, with his
main focus on London based 1548 Capital Gold.
For many years now brands have been expanding out of their
traditional areas and exploring new ways to touch their customers'
lives. French Connection has always led the pack and this season is
no different.
Since the launch of digital radio, hundreds of new stations have
popped up. But none of them are doing anything different. The same
songs are played by the same DJs with the same jingles.
This was a perfect opportunity for French Connection to take the brand
to another level, and really shake up the world of radio.
Launching on April 1st 2004, FCUK FM will be heard on digital
satellite radio and online at fcuk.com. Broadcasting 24 hours a day
internationally, the radio station is being supported by a global
advertising campaign in press, outdoor and television.
Listeners to BBC Local Radio will now be able to 'read' all the
latest news, sport, travel and weather headlines - thanks to a new
high-tech scrolling text service.
The service went live on Thursday, February 12th and is being rolled
out across all BBC Local Radio stations currently available on DAB
(Digital Audio Broadcasting). The content for the new service will be
sourced from BBCi and continually refreshed 24-hours a day.
(i haven't seen this yet in London will report on this soon - waffler)
The new Lotus Elise 111R is offering the Blaupunkt Woodstock DAB53
digital radio with CD-R/W and MP3 player as an upgrade as part of its
Touring Pack of options.
Lotus is the latest in a growing list of car manufacturers to offer
DAB digital radio as an upgrade. DAB will be available on Vauxhall's
New Astra; TVR already has DAB as an option on four of its models;
and Ford offers a DAB upgrade on all its UK range.
(bit too bulky for the Waffler's mountain bike unfortunately!)
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1001928,00.html
February 15, 2004
BBC threatened with break-up
Robert Winnett and David Leppard
THE BBC could be dismantled and its editorial independence curbed in the wake of
the row over Iraq, according to leaked government papers.
The Whitehall documents, drawn up by senior civil servants, suggest that the BBC
could be split into separate entities for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland”. The papers signal a policy which corporation executives fear would
end its 80-year existence as a national institution.
The break-up plans form part of a wider review of the BBC’s future and come at
one of the most vulnerable moments in its history after the resignations last
month of its chairman and director-general.
The internal documents also reveal that the government is considering a wider
role for Ofcom, its new media watchdog, with greater controls over BBC services
and output. The governors could be stripped of their job of overseeing the BBC’s
impartiality and accuracy with the task handed to the quango.
Other ideas, which are likely to form the basis for a green paper on the BBC’s
new charter, include: o Taking the governors outside the BBCto make them more
independent. o Increasing parliamentary scrutiny with an annual review of the
BBC’s performance. o Sharing a portion of its £2.6 billion a year licence fee
revenue among other broadcasters. o Closing new services that fail to fulfil the
corporation’s role as a public service broadcaster.
Although the 30 pages of drafts, headed BBC Charter Review, appear to be at an
early stage, the disclosure of the documents will be embarrassing.
Critics will claim that the government is gearing up to exploit the fall-out
from the Hutton inquiry in which the BBC was savaged for the quality of its
journalism and management.
In the most contentious section entitled The BBC’s Constitution the papers say
there could be more scope for national and regional autonomy to reduce perceived
metropolitan bias. But then officials ask:How far is it essential for the BBC to
be organised on a UK-wide basis?
Is there a case for separate entities for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern
Ireland, or at least a more federated approach than now?” The disclosure will
alarm Lord Birt, former director-general of the BBC and one of Tony Blair’s
closest advisers. He described any such move as one which would eventually turn
the BBC into a weak, federal institution.
In his autobiography he said this would mean the BBC being broken up with an
English Broadcasting Corporation . . . and its status as the world’s most
successful cultural institution much diminished.
Any such move could mark an end of UK-wide news bulletins and nationwide
scheduling. Each regional and national station would commission and broadcast
its own shows.
The document raises the prospect of the post-Hutton BBC having its radio and
television networks divided up, further undermining its national status.
In a section on regulation and governance it also questions whether to shift the
balance of editorial controls, for example through a wider Ofcom enforcement
role.
There could be new controls on quality, fair trading and cross-promotion and an
extension of Ofcom’s remit to oversee the impartiality and accuracy of the BBC’s
output.Is there some way of measuring compliance?the papers ask.Would it be
right to do so? Ofcom was set up under the latest Communications Act as a single
regulator of the entire broadcasting and communications industry. However, the
quango has been criticised for being too close to government.
Another radical idea is to take the governors outside the BBC to enhance their
status as independent regulatorsand change the credentials required and way they
are appointed.
The move follows criticism of the governors when they robustly defended Andrew
Gilligan, the BBC journalist, against government criticism without first
checking the truth of his reports.
The documents question whether the BBC should retain its royal charter status
guaranteeing its independence. Despite ministers having publicly insisted the
structure will not change, the papers ask:Reconstitute BBC as statutory body?
Give it NDPB (quango) status? Should it (the charter review) leave the BBC with
an effective power of veto as at present? An alternative, say the documents,
could see it being regulated and accountable to parliament via an annual review
of its performance. BBC governors and executives could also face full scrutiny
from the public accounts committee.
The papers question whether new services such as the digital channel BBC3 should
continue: “Do new services continue to fill (public service broadcasting)
criteria? (If not they should be closed).”
Some of the BBC’s licence fee money could be handed to independent
broadcasters to help pay for their public service commitments such as news and
education. The papers indicate ministers wish to make BBC programmes more
upmarket and educational. They suggest it could be run as an “arts council for
the air . . . wholly or mainly devoted to areas where commercial broadcasters
are unlikely to provide the required level of service, irrespective of audience
share”.
The documents say a clearer definition of the BBC’s public service obligations
might be needed so that its performance could be more easily assessed.
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JW is back on March 1st, Sally Traffic announced his
return at 17-19
last night. (thanks to Mike Terry for that information and good wishes to
Johnnie Walker))
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Pirate radio' makes a come back (confirmation of earlier note in this diary)
BBC News
Friday, 13 February, 2004, 09:29 GMT
Radio programmes are to be broadcast from a ship in the North Sea 40 years
after the first attempt to silence the pirate stations.
BBC Essex marks the 40th anniversary of offshore pirate radio at Easter by
broadcasting from a ship off Harwich.
Some of the stars from the 60s will fill guest slots.
Pirate BBC Essex will broadcast on medium wave frequencies from LV
Eighteen - a former lightship owned by the charity Pharos Trust.
DJs from the pirate radio glory days between 1964 and 1967 will recreate the
sounds of those times.
They hope to raise money to turn the vessel into a visitor and educational
attraction.
Among the presenters on the week-long radio output will be original pirate
broadcaster Dave Cash who said: "It's just wonderful to see it all happen
again.
"When we first went out on the ships there were three older guys Tony
Windsor, Paul Casarin and Earl Richmond with me and Kenny Everett and Keith
Skues.
"Now Keith and I are the older guys working with DJs from BBC Essex. It's
come full circle."
(Who was Paul Casarin? I assume its Paul Kaye (now deceased) ... Mike)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/3484851.stm
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(from a radio caroline mailing list)
This just announced on BBC Essex:
>
> From April 10th to April 16th "Pirate BBC Essex" will remember
the 60's
pirates.
>
> Broadcasting form onboard the LV18 at Harwich, Dave Cash and Keith Skues
will remember the years 1964 -1967.
>
> BBC Essex broadcasts on 103.5 and 95.3 FM, 729 and 1530AM.
>
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Voice of Russia DRM broadcasts to Europe:
the Voice of Russia is now broadcasting regularly on 12060 kHz to
West and Central Europe in DRM mode as follows:
1400-1500 Russian
1500-1600 English
1600-1700 German
1700-1800 French
The broadcasts are from the Moscow-Taldom site, DRM power 35 kW,
beamed 240 degrees. Regards.
(this will sound like a dreadful noise or interference - come on manufactureres
hurry up and sell us reasonably priced drm sets - waffler)
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Former Radio Caroline dj , Steve Satan is to front an RSL of Radio Caroline
from a boat which will be moored in Bristol City docks , the station will be
on air for four weeks and will transmit on the FM band at a frequency of
87.7 , Steve himself was a popular figure and presenter on the Radio
Caroline ship during the former pop pirates days at
sea...............according to reports that we received last night , the RSL
seemingly has the blessing of management who run the Radio Caroline which is
on Sky and Worldspace , more news on this as we get it , here at
Earthradio.................
http://www.earthradio.co.uk/radio_news.htm
Clothing label French Connection is to launch a digital radio station this
Spring, this week's Broadcast reports. The "music heavy" FCUK FM will
broadcast on Sky Digital, the FCUK.com website and in 70 stores around the
country from April 1st.
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Jackie launches 24 hour News service
====================================
Midnight on Sunday (08/02) 107.8 Radio Jackie launched a 24-hour news
service.
The former pirate station will now have reporters and news readers
providing local and national news bulletins around the clock with the
emphasis firmly on local issues. The station is promising to provide
a unique service for listeners in South West London and North Surrey.
Jackie was originally on the air as an unlicensed radio station
between 1969 and 1985 and returned to the airwaves as a licensed
station on October 19th 2003 broadcasting to an area from Croydon in
the east to Staines in the west, and from Hounslow in the north to
Leatherhead in the south from studios in the Old Post Office in
Tolworth Broadway.
The emphasis has always been on independent real local radio - a
station run by local people for local people, with charity
fund-raising and a keen interest in local issues and events.
The station already provides a live 24-hour music programme, with
presenters in the studio through the night. Now the service will be
enhanced further with local stories given the prominence they deserve
in the station's news bulletins at any time of the day or night. The
station currently has a team of three full time journalists and nine
part-time reporters. News bulletins are carried every hour and
additional reports during peak times on weekdays.
Commenting on the new 24 hour a day local news service owner Tony
Collis said:
"This development will help us steal more listeners from other
stations and give the people of South West London and north Surrey a
local radio station that is really useful and entertaining at any
time of the day or night."
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Representatives of the World DAB Forum and the Digital Radio
MondialeTM (DRMTM) consortium outlined the latest developments in
digital radio's bright future at the annual Le Radio! conference in
Paris last week. Five months ago at the consumer electronics show IFA
2003 in Berlin, the two organizations announced that they will
cooperate in fostering conditions favorable for both systems, in
markets of mutual interest.
"DRM is a market-driven system, so we are committed to strategic
alliances that increase listeners' options," said DRM Chairman Peter
Senger. The collaboration paves the way for a new genre of DRM- and
DAB-capable consumer radios, enabling listeners to receive both
digital radio services without having to worry about the underlying
transmission system. The market prospects for both systems received
another boost in Autumn 2003, when Sony committed to help expand the
markets for digital radio in Europe, pledging its active support in
the commercial sectors of both DRM and the World DAB Forum.
On Le Radio!'s Digital Day on February 3rd, DRM featured in a session
called AM/DRM: The Big Start.
DRM expert speakers included Michel Penneroux, Chairman of DRM's
Commercial Committee, Alain Delorme of DRM member TDF, Pierre Vasseur
of DRM member Thales Broadcast & Multimedia, Gilles Schneider of DRM
member RFI and Xavier Nouaille of DRM member Radio France. Joël Pons
of the coalition DRF (Digital Radio France) also spoke.
"DRM has assembled coalitions of broadcasters, network operators,
transmitter, receiver and chipset manufacturers and retailers in
markets worldwide in preparation for the commercial launch of a
variety of products this year." says Penneroux. "France is a priority
market for DRM."
Annika Nyberg, President of the WorldDAB Forum, told delegates about
new products and manufacturers expected to roll out across Europe in
2004.
"France is a key market for both DAB and DRM technologies. WorldDAB's
continued alliance with DRM and our combined presence at Le Radio!
sends a great message to digital radio broadcasters, receiver
manufacturers and - most importantly - listeners in France".
Sales of DAB digital radios jumped by 222% in 2003.
The Digital Radio Development Bureau has released figures showing
digital radio sales of 133,300 in December 2003, with the majority
coming in the kitchen portable radio sector. The figures were
compiled by GfK, independent auditors of the home electronics market.
At the end of 2003, DAB digital radios were in 435,000 UK homes, an
increase of 222% in one year.
300,000 digital radios were sold in 2003 and, at an average price
point of £100, this translates to £30 million worth of sales.
Retailers reported record breaking sales over Christmas. In Dixons
Group stores, DAB radios outsold analogue radios in the portable
sector for the first time ever, and accounted for 85% of sales by
value.
More than 50% of all Comet portable radio sales in 2003 were DAB
products, and in quarter four, DAB sales accounted for 77% of sales
by value.
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Riviera Four tune giveaway
==========================
Monaco based Riviera Radio is offering listeners the opportunity to
win some plastic surgery, or take a prize of 10,000 euro cash, His
and Hers Cartier watches, A private Yacht or Plane charter or a Brand
new Car.
The Giveaway is called : The Grand Four Tune.
Paul Kavanagh the stations Managing Director told ukRadio.com:
"Our listeners are some of the Richest people in the world; it was
hard to come up with prizes they would like, so we asked them. When
we conducted research to find prizes they would like to have, Cash,
Planes, Yachts, Cars and plastic surgery came up, so that is what we
are offering".
Listeners to the station have to listen to hear a certain four songs
in a row, when they hear them they call up to win.
Song 1 Elton John -Are you ready Song 2 Natalie Imbruglia -Torn Song 3
Robbie Williams - Angels Song 4 Eurytmics- Sweet dreams.
The station has been winning listeners with it unique mix of Fun,
Music and Local news.
Riviera Radio can be heard across the south of France and on the
internet at:
www.Rivieraradio.mc
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February 11th 2004
Waffler:
The British DX Club February edition of Communication is excellent - it contains
logs and a myriad of information about developments in all aspects of broadcast
radio including alternative. Visit their website at www.bdxc.org.uk for
information on how to join. It is a regular monthly publication well worth
getting hold of.
The Sounds of the Sixties programme on Radio 2 has a technical hitch in it and
the audio completely cut out at 9.15am on Satuday the 7th, it was a while before
the continuity cut in with a song from the Carpenters. Was it a broken tape or a
power cut? The poor BBC do not seem to be doing to well at present.
On the subject of the small superdrug radio I went to the science museum on the
weekend and saw a small clock radio for £12.99. Not sure if it has the same sw
bands as the superdrug but try this link for more details http://www.shopcreator.com/mall/productpage.cfm?store=sciencemuseum&productid=96390
I would be grateful for details and views on the operation of this set if anyone
buys one.
The news according to various sources - and lots of it:
Veteran radio and TV presenter Henry Kelly has declared himself bankrupt after
applying voluntarily to the courts. axed by Classic FM in June, applied for
bankruptcy 13 years after the Inland Revenue sued him for back tax and national
insurance.
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BBC Press Office
To kick off, Radio 1 will host its first Official WMC pre-party broadcast live
on Pete Tong's Essential Selection. This will be followed up by some more hot
live radio shows plus a series of free off-air parties, all held at Nikki's
Beach in the South Beach sunshine.
Radio DJ Peter Price has been praised by police for saving the life of a
suicidal teenager who rang his late night talkshow.
After receiving the call Price abandoned his show and kept the boy, aged 13,
talking live on air for 45 minutes before convincing him to meet up off air. The
DJ then returned him to his home in Anfield, Liverpool.
"Nothing like this has ever happened on the show before and I was really
worried," Price told the BBC. "I decided I had to find the boy and
when he told me where he was I just went. He obviously felt he could talk to me
and I knew I had to help, I just hope he is OK now."
A spokeswoman for the Merseyside Police said that the boy was now safe and well,
adding: "Pete's actions in this situation are highly commendable
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Media Guardian
Thirty-five new FM radio licences are to be squeezed out of already crowded
airwaves with 16 new stations to be created in cities ranging from Aberdeen to
Cardiff. And Ofcom, the new broadcasting regulator, is also proposing 10 new
regional licences with Wales, the north-east and south Hampshire and Bournemouth
earmarked for new stations.
It is the last major allocation of analogue spectrum in the UK before the
switchover to digital, expected sometime after 2010.
"We are getting to the point where the spectrum is becoming more and more
limited. These are the last opportunities for analogue radio," said a
spokesman for Ofcom.
Ofcom proposes to create large regional licences by amalgamating radio spectrum
in areas such as the north-east, South Wales, the south-west and south
Hampshire/Bournemouth - subject to consultation with the industry and consumer
groups.
"The opportunity for a north-east regional licence is interesting for us
because Newcastle and Teesside are major city conurbations. The same goes for
South Wales and the Solent, although the one we are not too sure about is the
south-west, with Devon and Cornwall being very different beasts," said
Gregory Watson, the GWR Group corporate development director.
He added that FM city licences such as Bournemouth, Newcastle, Teesside and
Cardiff did not have to be combined to work as they were big enough to stand by
themselves.
Ofcom is also to overhaul the licence application process - a perennial bugbear
for commercial radio players, many of whom complained that under the Radio
Authority applying for a licence was a cumbersome, long-winded and expensive
exercise that discouraged many potential applicants.
Ofcom has promised a new streamlined approach, which will reduce the amount of
information that applicants need to submit, with a "better focus on
providing the information which matters".
The regulator will offer straightforward advice on how the statutory criteria
relating to individual licences will apply, plus a clear timetable for the
licences to be offered over the year ahead. Applicants will also be offered more
information about each licence, including an assessment of its commercial
potential in the form of a market analysis.
Applicants will be invited to submit their own format - including a summary of a
station's proposed style and character - which will included in the licence
terms of the successful bid.
A spokeswoman from Emap Radio said: "We welcome the decision to streamline
the application process and we are ambitious to apply for new licences."
Ofcom will also outline a new approach to community radio, to be set out in
separate proposals later this month, aimed at giving local communities a
stronger voice.
A review of digital radio, examining the options for further and faster take-up
of all digital radio services and continued support for Restricted Services
Licences (RSLs) is also in the pipeline.
Proposed Metropolitan FM licences:
Aberdeen
Belfast
Bristol
Cardiff or Newport
Dundee and/or Perth
Edinburgh
Exeter and/or Torbay
Humberside (subject to an existing service changing frequency)
Liverpool
Manchester
Middlesbrough
Newcastle and/or Sunderland
Norwich
Plymouth
South Hampshire
Swansea Proposed non-metropolitan FM licences:
Abingdon
Barrow-in-Furness
Chorley (subject to decisions about Manchester licence(s))
Devizes and/or Andover
Halifax-into-Calderdale
Newry
Northallerton
Swindon
Thames Estuary (two frequencies)
Remaining Radio Authority FM licences up for grabs:
Ashford, Kent
Ballymena
Banbury
Blackburn
Cornwall
Durham
Kidderminster
Norwich
Torbay
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Mike Brand Reports from Israel
The new Israeli-Palestinian peace radio station that will be coming on air on
the 22nd Feb, will be calling themselves " All for peace "
This is a way of getting round using the name Kol Hashalom in Hebrew. ( Kol
Hashalom means Voice of Peace ). The owners of the station could not use the
name Voice of Peace, because Abie Nathan did not give his permission to them to
use it. He said he didn't want the name being used for political purposes.
The Hebrew word KOL can be spelt two ways in the Hebrew language. One word means
" Voice " , and the other, " All " . The new peace station
are using the word spelt for " All " , but over the air etc, they will
be calling themselves Kol Hashalom. So anyone listening, will not differentiate
between the two, and think that the VOP has returned.
Quite a stroke of genius I may say, and a very good way of getting around the
refusal of Abie Nathan to use the name. For this reason I think, there will be
no programmes in the English language, because they cannot use the name "
Voice of Peace "
They will also be an Internet site in the weeks to come . The address will be :
www.allforpeace.org.
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11th February
All of Israel's radio and TV stations stopped their regular programmes at around
about 10 am this morning, to report on the earthquake that hit the country from
North to South.
Compared to " regular " earthquakes, it was small ( 5 on the Richter
scale ) , but in my office on the 6th floor. I felt a sudden dizziness, and the
building swaying. The earthquake lasted for about 20 -30 seconds , and came in
two waves.
An earthquake of this sort, has not hit Israel for over 20 years. as far as has
been reported, there were no casualties, and very little damage.
Mike
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From The Arutz 7 daily news update :
5. APPEALS AGAINST ARUTZ-7 SENTENCES FROM BOTH DIRECTIONS
Four Arutz-7 directors and broadcasters have filed an appeal against their
conviction over three months ago of operating an unlicensed radio station. The
four are: Rabbi Zalman Melamed, Chairman of Arutz-7's Board of Directors; News
Department Head Haggai Segal; French Department Head David Shapira; and music
broadcaster Gidi Sharon.
The four maintain that their conviction was based on false and purposeful
testimony by Communications Ministry personnel, and that they "did not
violate any criminal law; they acted for a worthy goal, while preserving the
law, on the one hand, and by insisting on their sacred right to freedom of
expression, on the other."
Similarly, the companies that operated the ship from where the broadcasts
emanated have appealed against the heavy fines levied upon them.
The appeal also states that the ship "sailed for many years on 'calm
waters,' with Prime Ministers and government ministers and others visiting it
and speaking on Arutz-7's airwaves." Others of the ten convicted Arutz-7
workers are also likely to appeal in the near future.
Yesterday, the State Prosecution appealed the "lenient" sentences
handed down against four defendants: Executive-Director Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz,
Programming Director Shulamit Melamed, Engineer Ya'ir Meir, and News Editor
Haggai Segal. The Prosecution also asks for higher fines against the ship's
operating companies - which currently stand at a total of 450,000 shekels.
Four of the defendants were sentenced to 3-6 months of community service each.
The ten were also fined between 20,000 and 50,000 shekels each, in addition to
Arutz-7 corporate fines to the tune of 450,000 shekels.
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Another small step towards the reinstatement of Arutz-7 was passed this week, as
the Knesset voted on the first reading of a bill to authorize three additional
nationwide radio stations. In a 47-17 vote, the Knesset voted to authorize the
government to establish three radio stations for specific population sectors,
such as hareidim, Yesha residents, and English-speakers. Communications Minister
Ehud Olmert, in coordination with Prime Minister Sharon, proposed the
legislation.
The bill must pass at least three hurdles, from Arutz-7's standpoint: One of the
sectors must be Yesha-based; Arutz-7 or an associated body must win the tender;
and the Supreme Court must approve, or at least not reject, the law. A
Communications Ministry official said two months ago, when the bill was first
proposed, that though there is no guarantee that Arutz-7 would win a tender for
one of the stations, "We hope that Arutz-7 will win."
Israel currently has only two nationwide stations: IDF Army Radio, with two
channels, and government-operated Voice of Israel, with approximately seven.
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7/2/04
Last week, Army Radio broadcast that the Israel Broadcasting Authority radio
station 88FM was forced off the air for interfering with air traffic control at
Israel's Ben Gurion Airport.
Although 88FM DID interfere with the control tower, the problem was only found
to be with the Tel-Aviv transmitter, all other broadcasts of 88FM continued as
usual throughout the country.
Yesterday ( 07/02/04 ), the IBA news broadcast an item that the Army Radio's
traffic station - GalGalatz , transmitter was interfering with the control tower
at Ben Gurion airport. Head of Army Radio, Avi Benyuh " No such thing
happened ".
The communications Ministry stated that there was a pirate station near Haifa,
that was interfering with Northern airports, but these
broadcasts were silenced, and the Army radio station Galgalatz was not involved.
Benyuh told the online newspaper " YNET " , that the report surprised
us, and we checked it with the Communications Ministry, and were informed that
there was no base to it.
Urgent appeals were made to the IBA News Dept., asking for them to broadcast the
Army Radio's reply to the story, but these were turned down. Also appeals to the
IBA's reporter Miki Gordous, the reporter that published the story in the first
place, fell on deaf ears. Only at 21.30, after Benyuh talked to the IBA Head,
Yoni Menachem, did the story stop being broadcast.
The IBA stated that " It was a news item that came from a credible source.
All attempts to link this to the 88FM story has no base whatsoever. The IBA acts
according to the highest ethical journalistic codes."
These tit for tat stories, are said to be linked to rating figures published
over the past week or so , where each station translated the ratings to their
own advantage. The IBA has nine stations broadcasting nationally, whilst Army
Radio has two. The IBA was said to have taken the overall listening figures of
their nine stations, to the Army Radio's two.
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RSL broadcasts in February/March
Ashington 107.4 Xtreme - media training -16-20 Feb
Barnard Castle 107.2 Teesdale R - trial - 23 Feb-21 Mar
Belfast 106.2 Feile FM - St Patricks day/festival -19Feb-17Mar
Birmingham 87.7 Namdhari R - Sikh - 19 Jan-1 Feb
Birmingham 106.9 Burn FM - student bcast & trial - 27 Feb-25 Mar
Bournemouth 87.7 Nerve FM - student - B'mouth uni - 19 Jan-8 Feb
Bournemouth 106.6 Drive 106.6 - Rally Sunseeker - 23 Feb-21 Mar
Bradford 87.7 Pilgrimage FM - coverage of the Hajj - 22 Jan-4Feb
Bristol 106.6 Powerjam - community - 16 Jan-12 Feb
Bristol 87.7 R Caroline - trial - 29 Feb-27 Mar
Canterbury 106.5 Canterbury Student R - student -16 Feb-5 Mar
Cardiff 107.2 Xpress - student - 28 Feb-26 Mar
Chorley 87.7 Southlands FM - student -11-13 Feb
Coventry 87.7 RaW R Warwick - student // LPAM 1251 - 2-29 Feb
Glasgow 105.6 SubCity R - student // LPAM 1350 - 14 Feb-12 Mar
Guildford 107.3 GU2 - student // LPAM 1350 - 16 Feb-14 Mar
Huddersfield 87.9 Ultra FM - student - 12 Feb-10 Mar
Keighley 107.2 Awaz FM - muharram - 26 Feb-16 Mar
Leasowe (Wirral) 87.7 7 Waves Community R - training - 2-29 Feb
Leeds 87.9 Sargam FM - Asian youth trial - 3 Feb-1 Mar
Leicester 97.5 Utsav R - religious - 15 Feb-13 Mar
London (Bloomsbury) 87.7 Rare FM - student - 2-28 Feb
London (Hendon) 101.4 Shalom FM - Jewish - 18 Jan-14 Feb
London (Leicester Sq) 101.4 R Bafta - Bafta awards - 15 Feb
London (New Cross) 101.4 Wired R - student - 24 Feb-22 Mar
Loughborough 107.6 LCR - student // LPAM 1350 - 28 Feb-26 Mar
Manchester 106.6 R Hajj - Hajj and Eid - 25 Jan-7 Feb
Manchester 87.9 Fuse FM - student - 14 Feb-12 Mar
Minster on Sea 87.9 Swale Sound - trial - 2-28 Feb
Northallerton 87.7 NLR - trial - 10 Jan-6 Feb
Oldham 87.7 Oldham Community R - trial - 22 Feb-20 Mar
Salford (Irlam) 106.4 West Salford FM - community - 27-29 Feb
Southall 87.7 Urban Sound - community - 18 Jan-14 Feb
Southampton 87.7 Surge - student // LPAM 1287 - 16 Feb-14 Mar
Warwick 87.7 RaW R Warwick - student // LPAM 1251 - 2-15 Feb
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February 4th 2004
Waffler:
The news from other sources seems to be rampant at this moment so I thought it
was best to update early this week.
I have not been listening to the shortwaves much this week yet, I find if I have
a break I find that listening is a pure delight. Worrying though that experts
are predicting that internet by powerlines (electric) could produce so much mush
on the HF bands and make it impossible to listen to even high power short wave
like Radio Netherlands is in the UK. I confess that I do have quite a few energy
saving bulbs and they generate a nasty buzz on the weaker stations already. The
dimmer switches and bady suppressed boilers etc of this land also make their
mark on our programmes. I was listening to a recording I made in another home
when Laser 558 launched and there was the occasionally very annoying burst of
loud interference over the programme. Apparently this form of internet
using power lines is already in the USA and a few areas of the UK.
I also popped down today to Camden Town. Just looking around at the cds and
shops etc reminds me that there is a whole musical scene that is not catered for
on radio stations. In Cyberdog (which is a trendy expensive clothing shop) they
were mixing cds(yes cds not vinyl) I thought that even the young and trendy
rated vinyl over cds. I am ashamed to say that a group of rappers where
performing live outside the MTV studios and I could not make out who they were.
One thing that did strike me though was that the girls were screaming. I
remember being inside a big broadcasting centre when the Bay City Rollers
visited and the noise of the girls screaming outside was incredible.
I also realise now that a lot of the newer music even the waffler discovers is
on MTV, VH1 or occasionally on one of the dreadful emap tv channels. At least
radio stations up until now do not insist you ring up and pay to hear tracks.
They warn you on screen to ask the account payer before dialling one of their
premium service numbers. Because radio is so specialist now in its approach to
music it is difficult to listen in to all the new material. It would be great if
we could have a form of Juke Box Jury on the radio which features as many genres
of music as possible! Remember the Radio 1 in the sixties and seventies
having
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An interesting email from a site visitor - does anyone known any more about
repairs? The correspondent did not say what had happened to it but I said
contact the head office. They did have lots more in just before Xmas. A repair
would obviously cost more that a new set. Superdrug are a very good company. I
bought a steam cleaner recently and it was really useless and I got a full
refund. Do you know of any other company selling tiny sets for so little with so
much coverage?
Hi there
>thought i would write to tell you have enjoyed reading
>your site for the first time.
>I was most interested in your Tom-tec digital world
>band radio. I too had one, but unfortunately it has
>gone off and I cannot get it fixed anywhere. I have
>tried all our local Superdrug stores but they are all
>out of stock and not getting more in.
>Do you know who makes this set so that I can get in
>touch with them as I am very keen to buy another to
>replace my broken one.
>It was a great little set on sw and gave me many hours
>of enjoyment, I miss not having it
>Any advice/help you give will be appreciated.
>Thank you and keep up good work with your site, have
>it included in my favourites now
>Best regards
>Edward
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I belong to the LBC yahoo email group and have recently discovered that they
have 30 years of LBC available to members - it is in a very low quality format
but quite good enought for a listen. Elsewhere it is a 3 hour programme a
special version of Steve Allen thought the night and too large for the waffler
to download on dial up internet. If any site visitor can supply it on mini disk,
cd, better quality mp3 or cassette please email wirewaffle@hotmail.com I am sure
I can find something of equal interest to swap. The programme is very
interesting and the fact that Howard Hughes is presenting it with his
distinctive deep voice makes it even more exciting. It also included bloopers
made on air at LBC but that is not on the version I have.
I find it very encouraging to find that all the time news of new radio stations
are coming in and occasionally there are some great programmes to listen to. It
is time that the commercial organisers forgot about the profit and concentrated
on producing music programmes with variety. Also the public broadcasters should
forget about the politics
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News from others:
Media Guardian:
The BBC's acting chairman, Lord Ryder, yesterday reassured employees that he
will stand up for the corporation's independence amid concerns about his "grovelling"
apology in the wake of the Hutton report.
Lord Ryder tried to defuse the row over his unreserved apology, which many at
the BBC believe was the result of a behind-the-scenes intervention from Downing
Street, by saying in the staff newspaper that the corporation's governors would
support "brave, investigative" reporting.
But the BBC was already facing accusations of cowardice yesterday for cutting a
section of a Radio 4 comedy script. BBC bosses considered scrapping this
Thursday's edition of Absolute Power, starring Stephen Fry and John Bird as
partners in the unscrupulous public relations firm Prentiss McCabe, but decided
only to drop a line that suggested Tony Blair was a liar.
Bird accused the BBC of "panic" in an interview for PM on Radio 4. He
said: "I think it makes the BBC look extremely foolish. If that's what's
happening in the comedy department, what's going on in news and current affairs?
The fact that even a fictional character can no longer say things that impugn
the integrity of the prime minister seems to me rather feeble."
In the original script, Fry said: "There's nothing Prentiss McCabe can
teach this prime minister about deception, manipulation and lying. Except how to
do it properly." The BBC cut the word "lying". It also said Fry
had been unavailable to revoice the phrase, so the word "manipulation"
was dropped to make the line "sound right".
The writer, Mark Tavener, told the Guardian: "I regret the fact that the
line is coming out, I think it's because of a misunderstanding about what the
scene is about. I'm not happy, although arguments about in dividual words and
lines are the stuff of BBC life."
In an article in Ariel, the BBC house journal, Lord Ryder said the BBC would not
be cowed by the Hutton report, although he stressed that editorial processes had
to be "rigorous". He paid tribute to the acting director general, Mark
Byford, and added: "Brave, independent and rigorous journalism will be
maintained under Mark's leadership. This includes investigative reporting set
within a robust editorial framework. The board will never interfere with this
work. Nor shall I allow any external body to interfere with the BBC's crucial
independence."
There is much resentment at the BBC of the Hutton report. The Today programme
editor, Kevin Marsh, has consulted lawyers about action against Lord Hutton's
assertion that his editorial processes were "defective", even though
he was not called to give evidence. Sources at Today said the advice was
"not promising".
The National Union of Journalists announced a day of protest at the enforced
resignation of the former director general Greg Dyke, on Thursday.
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Monday, February 02, 2004
The new 600 kW mediumwave transmitter installed in Arta, southern
Djibouti by the US Broadcasting Board of Governors has started
transmissions. It carries Radio Sawa in Arabic, at 1600-0400 UTC on 1431
kHz, beamed to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen from a three tower
directional antenna system. The agreement signed on 18 June 2002 also
provided for the construction of a 5 kW FM relay transmitter in Arta for
Radio-Télévision Djibouti.
Radio Seagull hopes to start mediumwave in April
Dutch commercial broadcaster Radio Seagull is hoping to begin its mediumwave
service on 1602 kHz in April, but from the Friesian coastal town of
Harlingen rather than the provincial capital, Leeuwaarden. Harlingen is
where Radio Seagull's studios are located. Programme Director Sietse
Brouwer, in an interview with public broadcaster VPRO, explained that in
order to finance the operation, Radio Seagull wants to run a Dutch-language
tourist station called Radio Waddenzee on the frequency in the summer
months. Radio Waddenzee, aimed at the waterspots enthusiasts who flock to
the area every summer, would broadcast at 0500-1700 UTC daily between 1 May
and 1 October. Brouwer told the VPRO "We're idealistic, but we're not
crazy." Income from advertising on Radio Waddenzee would finance the
running
costs of Radio Seagull for the rest of the year. Radio Seagull has requested
permission from the Dutch Radiocommunications Agency to move the location of
its transmitter, as the signal from a 1 kW transmitter in Leeuwaarden would
not be sufficient to cover the tourist area around the West Frisian islands.
Radio Seagull, whose regular programming is in English, has also started
broadcasting to the UK every evening at 1900-0500 UTC on the Sky Digital
platform as of 1 February. Programming on this service is different from
Radio Seagull's Internet feed.
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VOA to close 10 language services, cut two others
The Voice of America has announced that it is to end regular programmes in
Bulgarian, Estonian, Czech, Hungarian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish,
Romanian, Slovak and Slovenian, along with many broadcast feeds to affiliate
stations in Central and Southeastern Europe. The closures will take effect
on Friday 27 February 2004.
VOA's Ukrainian radio service will be reduced from two hours to one hour a
day from 1 March 2004. In addition, VOA Ukrainian will retool its
programming and expand its multimedia capabilities. Together with an
improved Ukrainian language "Window on America" TV programme, the
service
will provide full multimedia coverage of November's presidential elections
both in the US and the Ukraine.
VOA's Armenian language broadcast staff will be reduced to two positions. A
review of the service is underway to determine how best to use its remaining
resources to maximize its impact in the target region.
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From Mike Brand our contact in Israel:
Hi All,
The " Israeli left wing / Palestinian " peace station ( who wants to
call themselves the Voice Of Peace ) will be coming on the air on Sunday 22nd
FEB. According to the man in charge, the frequency will be 99.9FM ( Duh ! 100FM
The Voice of Peace ? ).
If this DOES happen, I know someone at Radius, the legal local commercial radio
station that broadcasts on 100FM, that won't be very happy about that at all.
I know they want to call themselves the VOP, as someone called a relative of my
girlfriend, requesting an interview with her. She presented herself to her , as
" from the Voice of Peace, that will be returning to the air on the 22nd
Feb . If they DO come on the air as the VOP, I know that some people will take
them to court over the name.
Should be interesting times ahead .....
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It happens to legal stations too ......
From the English edition of the Hebrew paper Maariv
Radio station closed for disrupting control tower
The Ministry of Communication closed down radio station FM88 after its
broadcasts disrupted control tower activity at Ben Gurion Airport. The station
will remain closed until the issue is resolved. The Broadcasting Authority said
that at this time efforts are underway to find a technological solution to the
problem.
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Former TV watchdog Patricia Hodgson has joined the board of Classic FM parent
GWR. Ms Hodgson, who missed out on one of the top jobs at new communications
regulator Ofcom, is also a member of the committee on standards in public life,
which scrutinises the behaviour of MPs and government officials.
RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Limited), is to launch a range of new
developments and initiatives from audiometer testing to improving digital radio
measurement for 2004. RAJAR has earmarked £500,000 for the testing of second
generation Arbitron and Radiocontrol audiometers. These tests are scheduled to
start in July 2004, the earliest both developers could provide their respective
devices to RAJAR. It is anticipated that the tests will last just a few months
with the results being known before the end of 2004. RAJAR is taking steps to
ensure that these tests are conducted against the highest possible degree of
independence and transparency.
RAJAR is also investigating a number of alternative devices which display
potential but have yet to reach the production stages of the established
brands.
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Media Guardian:
The BBC sports chief who brought Match of the Day back to the corporation has
emerged as the surprise choice of former director general Greg Dyke to succeed
him.
And in an equally surprising development, the latest name to be mentioned in
government and broadcasting circles is former Vodafone chairman Sir Christopher
Gent.
The BBC head of sport, Peter Salmon, who worked hand in hand with Mr Dyke to
restore the corporation's reputation following a demoralising drain of live
sport to BSkyB in the 1990s, was the former director general's personal choice
to take over from him in the top job.
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BBC gardening dopes fail to weed out cannabis caller (from the media guardian_
Claire Cozens
Tuesday February 3, 2004
In the usual run of things, a friendly invitation to "kick off your wellies
and relax for an hour" is about as racy as BBC Radio Scotland's Beechgrove
potting Shed gardening programme gets.
So it was with some surprise that the show's presenters this week found
themselves at the centre of the controversy surrounding the reclassification of
cannabis, after inadvertently offering a caller advice on how best to grow the
herb.
Fans of the show were shocked when they heard Frieda Morrison and John McColl
spend more than three minutes earnestly explaining to a caller which compost to
use and how to water his "Northern Lights" - a very strong marijuana.
McColl even offered advice on how to use a propagator and take cuttings from the
plant.
But all was explained today when the pair revealed they thought they were
talking about a variety of cabbage.
"You know we are a very happening programme and want to be at the cutting
edge of any grass," quipped Morrison.
"We thought the caller had said cabbages and if you look it up on the
internet there is a variety called the Northern Lights. So this is where the
confusion started and all the way through the interview we were talking about
cabbages. Why anyone would want to grow cabbages in a propagator and take
cuttings we're not sure yet.
"It is a very busy programme and we made a honest mistake."
But the pair are not the first to be caught out. Among the questions that have
been submitted to the Gardener's Question Time panel was one from an inmate of
Leyhill Open Prison, Gloucestershire, about the effect on plants of day length
and light levels in artificial conditions.
It was not until after the recording that the prison governor pointed out that
the inmate was serving a sentence for growing large quantities of cannabis in a
barn.
Cannabis was last week downgraded from Class B to Class C, although police in
Scotland have said they will still arrest users.
· To contact the MediaGuardian
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January 29th 2004
Waffler:
A great deal of comment and news - probably better to cut
and paste todays update into your word processor and read off line!
A sad day for the pillars of public broadcasting as Greg Dyke
resigns a day after Gavyn Davies the Chairman of the Board of Governors.
Never before has the reason for public broadcasting been so obvious to me. In
spite of Hutton and even the Daily Express over the Kilroy Silk affair trying to
trash the BBC; we still need impartial news, drama and other genres of
non-commercial radio and television. Yes there is a
wealth of commercial radio and television out there; some of it is dire.
Without the competition and pioneering of the BBC the standards would eventually
be lowered even more. The BBC still do good music radio on Radio 2
and 6 Music but this would have been done offshore or elsewhere as admirably
without the intervention authority over time. The BBC should survive;
imagine now a fight for the BBC not free radio? The facts of the issue are
reported from the BBC site in news from other sources below. See also my
comments in the diary entry on the 23rd January.
According to Hans Knot in his report on this site Worldspace
are not encrypting their own channels on older sets just new ones sold. So far
all the worldspace channels which were not encrypted before Xmas are still fine
here. A new channel to me has appeared on the Afristar satellite which has
its footprint on the UK. World Zone is on with back to back world
music. They even play Bob Marley. This morning a track about legalising
marijuana was aired. I really would like to hear Radio Caroline but prefer not
to pay for the privilege - after all it is music radio! Worldspace charge
anything from £60 to listen to Caroline and NPR to goodness knows what. I
cannot see them continuing as a viable operation in the UK we only pay for the
BBC and normally view radio as something which should be free to air. This
operation was launched to provide affordable satellite radio to poor parts or
the world and is dipping its foot into the commercial world in a very arrogant
and insulting fashion. Having sold sets costing £100 they now think we will
want to pay to hear things we used to get for free. I am listening now to
Orbit Rock which is excellent but I also have a good collection of music of my
own so could easily revert to that instead of listening free to air. Also if I
go outside or knock over the dish which is best sited on the floor pointing
south wards - I lost the signal. In conclusion a really clever invention a radio
which receives radio off a small dish about the size of an old double-cd
box. This could be used by more broadcasters for world domination - four
satellites in orbit and very little electricity and massive
coverage? They will soon launch a new aerial for reception in a car.
I have just added Ron Brown from Easy Radio London to my hall
of fame listing on this site. I could not find him in the Whos Who of Radio and
the web directed me to Friends Reunited where there are hundreds of
them! If you know anything more about this broadcaster, or are him
please can you email the site to update me, thanks in advance.
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News from others
BBC director general Dyke stands down
From the BBC Site
|
|
Director general Greg Dyke hasquit as the BBC's crisis deepens in the
wake of Lord Hutton's damning verdict.
Mr Dyke's decision to step down follows BBC chairman Gavyn Davies'
resignation on Wednesday, shortly after the law lord's report was
published.
An emotional Mr Dyke told reporters he hoped their departures meant
"a line can be drawn under this whole episode".
The pair quit after the most serious claims in Andrew Gilligan's
BBC's reports were branded "unfounded".
Downing Street says it still believes the BBC should apologise for
broadcasting a "false allegation".
Lord Hutton's report cleared the government of "sexing up"
its Iraq weapons dossier with unreliable intelligence.
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The resignations follow former Downing Street media chief Alastair
Campbell's claim that Mr Davies and Mr Dyke had made things worse by
continuing essentially to stand by the story.
'Defending independence'
Leaving after four years in his post, Mr Dyke said his position had
been compromised by Lord Hutton's criticisms of BBC management.
"My sole aim has been to defend the BBC's editorial independence
and act in the public interest."
He said the resignations of himself and Mr Davies, as well as his
apology for the mistakes in reporter Andrew Gilligan's broadcasts about
the weapons dossier, gave the "opportunity for a new start".
 |
I
|
The most important thing about the corporation was its audiences, he
argued.
"The preservation of the BBC per se is irrelevant unless we have
the trust of the public out there," he said.
Mr Dyke said it would be for the governors to decide how to respond
to Downing Street's demands for an apology.
And clutching e-mails from staff urging him to stay, Mr Dyke said he
was proud of his time at the BBC.
Mr Dyke's deputy, Mark Byford, has been appointed as acting
director-general until a successor is chosen.
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'Bald conclusions'
The departure of both the BBC chairman and director general leaves
the corporation rudderless at a time when calls have been growing for
the BBC to come under outside regulation.
Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has said the Hutton report will be
taken into account in the 2006 review of the BBC's charter.
In his resignation statement, Mr Davies said that as the man at the
top he had to take responsibility.
But he questioned whether Lord Hutton's "bald conclusions" on
the dossier's production could be reconciled with the balance of the
inquiry's evidence.
And he asked whether enough weight was given to Dr Kelly's taped
conversation with Newsnight's Susan Watts.
Following the publication of Lord Hutton's findings, Mr Dyke said the
corporation apologised for key things Mr Gilligan got wrong in his
broadcasts.
But he added that Dr Kelly was a credible witness whose views the
public had a right to know.
However, the prime minister's spokesman said Mr Dyke's apology on
Wednesday did "not amount to a considered statement".
"We still believe the BBC should apologise for broadcasting a
false allegation which was unfounded," he said.
Ex-BBC chairman Sir Christopher Bland warned earlier on Thursday
against mass resignations and called for a period of reflection at the
corporation.
In his long-awaited report, Lord Hutton said he believed Dr Kelly had
killed himself after being named as the suspected source of the BBC's
controversial weapons dossier story.
The prime minister said the report showed the real lie was that he
had lied to Parliament or deliberately misled the public by falsifying
intelligence.
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Dr Kelly's has family urged the government to learn from their
tragedy.
Opinion poll
Conservative leader Michael Howard said there was a stark contrast
between Dr Kelly and "the cabal of ministers and advisers ... who
were so obsessed by the war with the BBC that they gave scant attention
to his welfare".
Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy called for an independent inquiry,
saying: "We are still no closer to determining whether this country
went to war on a false prospectus."
An NOP poll commissioned by the London Evening Standard suggests that
more people believe it was unfair than fair for the BBC to receive most
of the blame for the Kelly affair in the Hutton report.
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Non BBC news from other sources
From Mike Brand our contact in Israel:
It happens to legal stations too ......
From the English edition of the Hebrew paper Maariv
Radio station closed for disrupting control tower
The Ministry of Communication closed down radio station FM88 after its
broadcasts disrupted control tower activity at Ben Gurion Airport. The station
will remain closed until the issue is resolved. The Broadcasting Authority said
that at this time efforts are underway to find a technological solution to the
problem.
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Former TV watchdog Patricia Hodgson has joined the board of Classic FM parent
GWR. Ms Hodgson, who missed out on one of the top jobs at new communications
regulator Ofcom, is also a member of the committee on standards in public life,
which scrutinises the behaviour of MPs and government officials.
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RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Limited), is to launch a range of new
developments and initiatives from audiometer testing to improving digital radio
measurement for 2004. RAJAR has earmarked £500,000 for the testing of second
generation Arbitron and Radiocontrol audiometers. These tests are scheduled to
start in July 2004, the earliest both developers could provide their respective
devices to RAJAR. It is anticipated that the tests will last just a few months
with the results being known before the end of 2004. RAJAR is taking steps to
ensure that these tests are conducted against the highest possible degree of
independence and transparency.
RAJAR is also investigating a number of alternative devices which display
potential but have yet to reach the production stages of the established
brands.
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As ever our friends at UK radio have sent some interesting
news stories - the ones that appeal to the waffler are below
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A director of one of the UK's leading blind charities has set
in
motion plans that could lead to the setting up of Britain's first
dedicated national radio service for blind and partially sighted
listeners.
Nick Ward, of St Dunstan's, is calling on interested parties to help
him form a steering group to explore the possibility of using digital
satellite broadcasting via BskyB, which already broadcasts to 6.8
million households.
Britain lags behind several other major countries such as the USA and
Australia which have already set up bespoke national and even local
24-hour radio stations for blind people.
"A permanent national radio service for the blind here will enrich
their lives in ways that are not currently being served by any
mainstream broadcaster," said Ward.
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Hitachi is the first of the major Japanese brands to adopt the
RadioScape DAB module concept, which has been used to bring the
world's first microsystem with DAB, the AXM68D, to the UK market.
The RadioScape RS200 module makes DAB radios as easy to make as FM
ones by fully integrating Band III DAB, FM and RDS into a single
module that only requires buttons, power, output, case, display and
antenna to be added.
"The RS200 is based on Texas Instruments' advanced baseband technology
in the form of the DRE200, which is one of the world's best selling
receiver chips for the Eureka 147 DAB standard," said Peter Johnson,
Product Marketing Manager at Hitachi.
Capital Radio Digital is to launch its Sussex based DAB
digital radio
multiplex serving Brighton and other parts of the coastal area of
West and East Sussex.
This licence was awarded last January and will broadcast on VHF band
III frequency block 11B (centre frequency: 218.640 MHz).
The launch of digital in this area and for Capital's Southern FM and
Capital Gold means that Capital Radio's Capital FM Network now has
all but one of its stations broadcasting on Digital. Capital Radio
PLC now owns 51 digital licences.Return
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Latest GfK listening figures released
=====================================
The latest radio listening figures from GfK Media have been released,
covering the period September 15th to December 14th 2003.
GfK Media uses electronic metering using the Radiocontrol measuring
device developed by the Telecontrol Group, a GfK subsidiary.
In most countries, radio audience figures are still measured using the
interview method, either by telephone or by filling in a diary.
Radiocontrol measures radio and television audience behaviour by
means of audio comparison, whereby the tone sample recorded by the
participant is compared with the tone samples of all radio stations
surveyed. The measuring device is incorporated into a wristwatch.
The electronic system for measuring listening habits was launched in
Switzerland and has been used there since 2001. In addition AC
Nielsen Media International acquired a licence to use the
Radiocontrol technology in 16 countries in the Asia Pacific Region.
The results for the UK show - that the self-styled saviour of BBC
Radio One Chris Moyles has a lot of saving to do as the station has
recorded its lowest weekly reach for 2003. Radio One had a weekly
reach of 11.8 million adults in the period from September 15th to
December 14th , which is the lowest since the Survey began publishing
results in May.
In fact, Radio One had been steadily growing its weekly reach in 2003
- from 12.5 million (March 10-May 25) to 13 million (June 23-Sept
14). From that peak, however, it slipped month by month to hit rock
bottom with the latest figure - which is 1.2 million below the year's
high point.
Moyles who replaced Sara Cox on breakfast in January claims he "could
absolutely kick anybody's arse on breakfast, ever".
He is going to have his job cut out overhauling Terry Wogan because in
contrast to Radio One, Radio Two picked up 300,000 more listeners in
a month with the latest GfK results, totalling 15.3 million.
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BBC Hereford & Worcester is celebrating its 15th birthday
on
Valentine's Day and as part of the station's celebrations, it is
running a competition called Why I Love BBC Hereford & Worcester.
Listeners are invited to phone in with their reasons for loving the
station.
The radio station is also celebrating by broadcasting from 15
different locations around Hereford and Worcester in the 15 days
leading up to Saturday 14 February.
Last year the parent company of local radio stations Swansea Sound
and The Wave was awarded the new Digital Radio licence for the
Swansea and South West Wales area. On January 31st the company will
switch on three new transmitters that will bring a whole new
listening experience to people across South West Wales from the Vale
of Glamorgan to Pembrokeshire.
Programme Director at The Wave and Swansea Sound, Andy Griffiths,
said the timing of the big digital 'switch on' marks a significant
milestone in the station's history. "This is Swansea Sound's 30th
year of broadcasting. It seems fitting then that the station that
launched Wales' first ever local radio service should be marking its
anniversary by looking to the future in this way.
From January 31st we will be broadcasting our existing services of
'Swansea Sound' and 'The Wave' on this new platform. Both stations
will also still be available as they are now on normal radios too.
The huge benefits of crystal clear digital sound quality in particular
will benefit listeners to 'heritage station' Swansea Sound, which is
currently only available on Medium Wave" said Andy Griffiths.
"Swansea Sound has been an integral part of the fabric of South West
Wales for the past 30 years and is committed to serving the local
community and people of the region in future through this new
medium".
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The other big BBC success in the Broadcast Survey is Radio Five Live
(9.44 million), which added 350,000 listeners since the previous
month's results.
Amongst the national commercial stations, talkSPORT (6.6 million)
consolidated its lead with more than a million listeners than Classic
FM (5.5 million) and almost 3 million more than Virgin (3.7 million).
Full details available at:
http://ukradio.com/news/articles/4F59C2A0FB314D7089867034EBB3606B.asp
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Andrew Jeffries has been appointed as programme director for Emap's
Kerrang! 105.2 which launches in the West Midlands later this year.
Andrew, previously a senior programmer at both Capital and Chrysalis,
will be relocating to the West Midlands from Australia to take up the
post.
Kerrang! 105.2 will be the second radio station he has helped to
launch in less than two years. His most recent role was as programme
director for Australian-based Nova 937 - the first new radio station
to launch in Perth for 22 years.
Born and bred in New Zealand, Andrew's career has criss-crossed the
equator with a host of senior roles in the UK, Australia and New
Zealand.
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THE
WORLD FAMOUS WIRELESS WAFFLE RADIO DAIRY
RECENT
UPDATES ON THIS SITE:
Hans Knot's April report is available
now hansk.htm
filed on 1st April 2004
Recommended Radio Stations updated 9th
March 2004 stat.htm
We have eventually updated the sound and
vision site, sorry for the delay folks - does anyone have web space to spare to
enable me to put both sound and vision in one place?
There is an update with pictures of what
BBC Broadcasting House will look like when finished http://homepage.ntlworld.com/waffler/dia.htm
Featured recommended link - visit links.htm
for many more - we update as we find them
I found a good new web site about radio
television and other matters which brief explanations of technical matters and a
brief history of pirate offshore radio
http://web.onetel.net.uk/~uncletony/index.htm
give uncle Tony a try soon!
THE
DIARY
Dates
in diary refer to the date the item was uploaded to this site - we regret that
we cannot always guarantee weekly updates some news will be covered in
retrospect as time permits. Your input by email is always welcome
Pirate BBC Essex will be celebrating forty years of
offshore radio in Britain by broadcasting from a boat from 10th to 17th
April.
7th April 2004
Waffler:
I am bursting with enthusiasm as we draw nearer to Easter and
the BBC Pirate BBC Essex programmes. I just hope people do not switch tvs and
pcs on or else in our area of London it will be covered in mush! Such is the
delight of am radio - mind you it is on the internet and on fm in the evenings -
my nearest output is Three Counties Radio which is not our local by any means.
I have noticed two new channels on Worldspace recently UPOP and SYSTEM. UPOP
appears to be world pop music and SYSTEM dance music/
I have also noted two new channels on london dab drg complex. Heat and The Mix.
The Heat is back to back music from the 80s to the current chart - and needs to
have some form of information about the music it plays on the streaming text -
it is low bit rate mono but sounds fine. The Mix has presenters on, or at least
did at teatime when I compiled this report.
I really have to congratulate our friends on the radio london site for arranging
the most superb get together for Radio Caroline's birthday on the 28th March if
you visit their site you will be able to see all of the pictures. The waffler
was not there, but it is incredible to see how everyone has survived. So good
that Johnny Walker could make it -and there is a lovely picture of his wife and
their dog there as well. Do visit the page and enjoy http://www.radiolondon.co.uk/caroline/caroline40/reun40index.html.
It makes me feel quite young when I see how some of my sixties idols have greyed
up and expanded. We all do but it is great to get together and talk about good
things past, and in the cas of radio always present!
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From other sources
> Friday, 2 April 2004
>
> Radio Caroline will broadcast a special programme on 9290kHz in the 31
metre
> short wave band between 10:00 and 12:00 BST on Easter Sunday.
>
> Coinciding with Caroline's 40th birthday, the transmission will act as a
> window on Caroline's current satellite programming for short wave listeners
> who are unaware of Caroline's extra-terrestrial activity.
This is an excellent idea. It would be nice if Radio Caroline could
provide a shortwave outlet for their programs on a more frequent, or
even a regular basis for "real radio" enthusiasts! It certainly has
much
more of a link with Radio Caroline's origins than do the present, rather
clinical platforms on satellite and internet. It does not matter if the
transmission is via Latvia ... it's still something interesting to tune in to
on an old-fashioned radio!
:-)
--
Walt Davidson waltd@u...
GfK Audience results released
=============================
GfK National Broadcast Media survey shows growth in Radio 1 audience
figures amongst 16-34 year olds in 2004.
The latest results of the first national survey to use electronic
measurement of radio and TV audiences has been released for the
period January 1st - February 22 2004.
The National Broadcast Survey results - announced by media research
company GfK Media GB - show that Moyles' breakfast slot has grown 10%
from an average weekly reach of 2.68 million 16-34-year-olds in
October-December 31 to 2.93 million for the period from January 1 -
February 22.
http://ukradio.com/news/articles/802811E06FED47AA813374F0AF11D746.asp
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Michael Grade appointed BBC Chairman
====================================
The Government has announced that Michael Grade has been appointed
BBC Chairman for four years from 17 May 2004.
Welcoming the appointment Richard Ryder, Acting BBC Chairman, said:
"The Board of Governors warmly welcomes the appointment of Michael
Grade. We are delighted that he will be the BBC's new Chairman and we
look forward to working closely with him. He will find a united Board
which is optimistic about the future.
The Board is conscious of the importance of the tasks it will tackle
under his leadership, including Charter Review, the appointment of
the Director-General, the Graf Review of bbc.co.uk, the first stage
of the Ofcom PSB review and the DCMS reviews of new services.
We are very grateful to the DCMS for expediting the appointment of the
new Chairman in such a short period."
Mark Byford, Acting Director-General, said:
"Michael Grade is one of the major world figures in broadcasting and
the wider creative industry, with an outstanding record of
achievement. He has a deep understanding of broadcasting, and firmly
believes in the BBC and its place at the heart of national life.
He is passionate about creativity, talent and ambition in
programmes. That is why everyone in the BBC will warmly welcome this
exciting appointment. It's great that Michael is coming back to the
BBC and he will enjoy the full support of the whole organisation."
Commenting on the appointment of Michael Grade as Chairman of the
BBC, Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell said:
"Michael is the right man at the right time. He has a passion for
broadcasting, especially public service broadcasting. He knows it
inside out. And he has the energy to lead the BBC from the front,
defending its independence and integrity from all comers.
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New Editor at BBC Radio Leicester
=================================
The BBC has announced that Kate Squire will be the new Managing
Editor at BBC Radio Leicester from 13th April 2004.
Kate is currently Editor of the BBC's Open Centres, but is looking
forward to her new position: "These are exciting times for BBC Radio
Leicester with the imminent move to new premises and the introduction
of state of the art technology. I am delighted to be working in radio
again - particularly at the beginning of such a significant period in
the station's history."
Kate has spent the greater part of her broadcasting career working for
the BBC in the East Midlands. Having grown up in Bristol, Manchester
and Edinburgh, Kate graduated from Leicester University in Economic &
Social History. In 1985, she joined the BBC as a Graduate Trainee
Studio Manager which provided her with a robust background in radio
production techniques.
The Bay get Bullish over new Signing
====================================
Comedian and broadcaster Jim Bowen, has been signed by The Bay to
co-host 2 shows a week from April 20th. He will join the station's
John Gillmore (Gilly).
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Greening joins Jazz Line Up
===========================
Radio presenter Kevin Greening is set to join the weekend line-up on
London's 102.2 JAZZFM.
Kevin will host a four-hour Sunday show from 10-2pm, providing
listeners with an insight into the weekend papers mixed with mellow
contemporary jazz and soul music.
The former co-host of BBC Radio 1's breakfast show will join JAZZFM on
Sunday 4th April. Kevin also presents a weekly programme on London's
Xfm.
Kevin will replace Nicky Horne on Sundays to allow Nicky to focus in
his weekday morning show with the station.
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Cambridgeshire - All At Sea
===========================
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire will be all at sea over Easter as they too
celebrate 40th.
"Before Easter 1964 if you wanted to hear your favourite songs on the
radio you were in for a long wait. We only had three radio stations -
four if you included Radio Luxembourg. When Radio Caroline arrived
the country suddenly became a fun place to be" according to BBC Radio
Cambridgeshire's own former Caroline presenter Ray Clark.
Ray has produced a special documentary that, rather than looking at
the history of the stations, is instead taking the view of the
people who listened to the offshore stations themselves, their
favourite presenters, and the affect that the freeing up of the
airwaves had on their lives and on "sixties" music.
The fortieth anniversary of the start of Radio Caroline is being
celebrated over Easter. The original Radio Caroline broadcast from a
former Danish ferry, the "Frederica", from off Felixstowe on the
East coast.
Ray is also returning to his "offshore roots" over Easter when he is
joining the crew of "Pirate BBC Essex" -moored in Harwich Harbour -
the BBC's special station which is honouring the memory of the pirate
stations.
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Wiltsher Celebrates 40 Years of Commercial Radio
================================================
On Wednesday - Eric Wiltsher will commemorate 40 years of commercial
radio on London's LBC.
"The Wednesday before Easter my normal slot on LBC 97.3 in London
will commemorate 40 years of commercial radio in the UK", announced
Eric Wiltsher.
Eric has already asked listeners to submit suggestions of radio
throughout the past 40 years that they would like to hear again on
the special - details on the LBC support page detailed below.
On that night listeners will also be able to enter a competition for
Bush DAB radio, the retro designed receiver in keeping with the
1960s theme, as well as a massive bundle of CDs and videos also with
an offshore connection.
More details about the show, how to send in your memories, and tune in
details are available via:
Weblink: www.mediazoo.co.uk/lbc
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Radio 2 presenter Hubert Gregg dies aged 89
===========================================
Hubert Gregg, presenter of Thanks For The Memory on BBC Radio 2 since
1972, died peacefully at his home on Monday 29 March.
Gregg was an actor, director, author, writer of words and music,
broadcaster and a stage performer.
Lesley Douglas, Controller of BBC Radio 2, said:
"Hubert Gregg was not only an extraordinary person but he was also a
unique broadcaster. As a musician he was responsible for memorable
songs such as Maybe It's Because I'm A Londoner, and in Radio 2's
Thanks For The Memory he painted pictures of a bygone era with wit
and style.
He will be greatly missed by the Radio 2 audience - young and old
alike."
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Caroline Easter Special
=======================
Radio Caroline will broadcast a special programme on 9290kHz in the
31 metre short wave band between 10:00 and 12:00 BST on Easter
Sunday.
Coinciding with Caroline's 40th birthday, the transmission will act
as a window on Caroline's current satellite programming for short
wave listeners who are unaware of Caroline's extra-terrestrial
activity. For more details on Radio Caroline visit:
Weblink: www.radiocaroline.co.uk
o Stopping the Spirit
======================
West Sussex radio station Spirit FM 96.6 & 102.3 continued
broadcasting under emergency conditions last Friday, despite being
evacuated from its studios as the City of Chichester suffered its
biggest fire for over 10 years.
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THE
WORLD FAMOUS WIRELESS WAFFLE RADIO DAIRY
RECENT
UPDATES ON THIS SITE:
Hans Knot's June report
is available now hansk.htm
31st
May 2004
Waffler
Excellent tests over the bank holiday from World Music Radio from Denmark on
5815 KHz. Plenty of new and older music with taped announcements and
jingles.
Virgin Classic Rock has been launched on the London DAB DRG multiplex. Richard
Skinner and a Leoni Graham are amongst the announcements which I suspect may be
pre-recorded and programmed in with the music. Mind you they do put up all of
the titles and artists played on the text. They also say what is playing on
Virgin Rock at the same time which is quite novel. It apparently replaced
Liquid.
For a new update of Summer 2004 programme schedules in pdf file format free of
charge go to http://www.wrth.com/ for a download. If you are lucky enough to
have an organiser like a Palm you can convert it and view it on that. I
have a Palm M130 colour organiser with 8mb of memory with original box software
and manuals and with a logitech keycase separate keyboard which makes date entry
even easier. You can view emails, word and excel documents and show your
pictures on it. It can run even more with an inexpensive SD or MMC memory card.
It is only 1 year old and in good condition, comes with software and a cradle
for charging and hot-synching with your computer. Cost only £80. Original
organiser cost me £135 and the keyboard is worth around £75 new - I only ask
£80 please email wirewaffle@hotmail.com if you are interested and head the
email "M130 sale enquiry!
Pleased also to receive
the latest copy of Communication with is the British DX Club's official monthly
journal with masses of listings and information. Visit www.bdxc.org.uk
for more information. Tell them the waffler says they are the best!
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News From Other Sources:
Mike Brand reports from Israel:
A mole has been discovered in the Israeli Ministry of Communications. The person
was warning landbased pirate radio stations of imminent raids, therefore giving
them time to dismantle the equipment and flee, before the authorities reached
them.
Suspicion was aroused, when the ministries successes in the past few months grew
less and less. An undercover operation was set up to trace and track the person
" tipping off " the stations, and after a few weeks, the person was
found, fired, and legal proceedings started against him.
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In a radical move for a small brewery, Bushy's are setting out to brew a
selection of 12 new beers under the banner of the Manx Collection.
Head brewer, Neil Convery, has already sent the first batch of three brews -
"Helmsman" "Dalby Spook" and "Mischief" off to the
bars and by all accounts
the three distinctly different beers have proved very popular.
The new beers are named with Manx historical connections in mind: featuring
the smuggling trade, the battle of Trafalgar and the odd case of a talking
mongoose....
The second batch of the collection hits the pubs in April.
The first one on the bar will be "Golden Oldie" a beer to celebrate
the
pirate radio ship Caroline, which was anchored in Ramsey bay in the early
60's. Following close behind will be Black Dog - our own 'hound from hell'
and Mutineer, featuring Bounty mutineer, Fletcher Christian.
http://www.bushys.com/news.htm
Radio Waddenzee start delayed till August
The start of the Dutch tourist station Radio Waddenzee on mediumwave 1602
kHz has been delayed until around 1st August, according to a press release
from the station. The press release says that Pan European Radio BV, the
company that runs Radio Waddenzee and Radio Seagull, has made the decision
because the cost of setting up a temporary antenna, then dismantling it and
moving it to another location, is too high. Therefore it has been decided to
wait until a permament mast can be constructed near Harlingen, but the
necessary formalities haven't yet been completed.
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(Media Network web log 30 May
Saturday 29th May 2004
NORTH-EAST: Raids silence border pirates
The north-eastern based border pirates were all off the air last night
following a raid on Alien Mountain which targeted Magic 105, Energy 106 &
Choice 107.7FM. It is thought that the other stations - such as Kiss FM
(rebranded as a Country station) & Storm 106.2FM - all went off for
precautionary reasons, as Kiss FM & Storm 106.2 were back on air this
afternoon. Tonight Magic 105 have also returned despite having most of their
equipment taken.
The border pirates are a special breed of stations that broadcast from
the more relaxed Republic into Northern Ireland, which falls under the remit
of the UK authorities who are less tolerant of unlicensed broadcasts.
( http://www.radiowaves.fm/news/index.shtml )
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28th
May 2004
Waffler
I was in Bournemouth recently and enjoyed a good range of radio stations. I must
admit I only heard a few hours of output in the entire time but am currently
going to try to find time to listen to a collection of recordings made to
mini disc. 2CR FM had Gordon Mac at breakfast time, similar pace to Chris
Evans. Fire 107.6 is a dance music station with some reasonably interesting
presenters. Hope FM was an RSL station with a religious leaning and did put out
some interesting programmes with some quite comical religious songs at times,
refreshing to hear something different and by some quite professional
presenters. Wave 105.2 was also very good, and they sponsor the air balloon
known at the Bournemouth Eye. My wife and I went 500ft up in this and viewed the
surrounding area. What a superb aerial this would make for a radio station ! I
also listened in to Isle of Wight Radio on 107 FM which came in very clearly
indeed. I think they have all improved presenter wise since I last listened
about three years ago. BBC Radio Solent also have a good show on in the evenings
with a chap called Paul Miller this plays some of the older tunes as well. It
seems most of the BBC stations bar London really do put out some good shows at
night time with older or different styles of music. I expect in thirty years
time the current dance styles of music will be played on BBC local radio for the
youngsters now who will have matured and be longing for the "old
stuff"
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News from other Sources (mainly UKRadio.com this time):
The Future Sound of Norwich
============================
Future Radio is on air with its first Restricted Service License to
Norwich. The station launched on May 3rd and runs till the 29th and
broadcasts on 105.1 fm.
Future Radio is a new community based radio station for and by the
people of Norwich, being supported by the involvement of agencies and
businesses in the area.
This new development for the city is the brainchild of The NR5
Project. The NR5 Project is an initiative founded by Dawn Codling and
Sonia Bush which helps young people from the NR5 postcode area. The
NR5 Project receives funding from the NELM Development Trust, Norwich
City and Norfolk County Councils and enjoys an especially harmonious
relationship with the local police.
The station is a truly community affair. Music programming ranges from
top chart tunes, r'n'b and dance, through jazz, classical and blues
to local bands and world music. There is also community based speech
programmes with contributions from the police, Norwich Job Centre and
arts features including film and theatre reviews and interviews.
Tom Buckham of Future radio said:
'We certainly don't see ourselves as being in competition with other
broadcasters in the area. As a not for profit project we seek to
provide a service that is very different as providers of community
programming. Most of our presenters and programme ideas came as a
result of an appeal for people to get involved'.
A further Restricted Service License is in the application stage for
later in the year.
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Whose News at Kerrang! 105.2?
=============================
New regional station - Kerrang! 105.2 which launches in the West
Midlands on 10th June has announced its news team which is to be
headed by Laurence King.
Laurence, who has been appointed as head of speech and content, joins
Kerrang! 105.2 after 10 years in the newsroom of Brighton-based
Southern FM.
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Live deal for Charity 252 Presenter
===================================
Charity 252 DJ Emma O' Driscoll's national RTE radio stint has paid
off as she has just landed her own high profile dance show on her
local radio station, Limerick's Live 95FM.
The former singer of Irish pop group SIX - Emma (22) who is from
Limerick was signed up straight after the charity reality show.
Emma will present "Emma's Saturday Night Party" on Limerick's Live
95FM, Saturdays between 6pm - 8pm. She will also do the Breakfast
Show from the 14th June for two weeks.
Emma said:
"I am really looking forward to doing my show for real on the most
listened to station in Limerick, it's where I grew up and all my
mates listen so I'll get great support"
David Tighe, Chief Executive of Limerick's Live 95FM added:
"Emma's got talent, she's fresh with a great outlook on life and the
right attitude, she has been a great advert for Limerick and I know
she'll do well!!"
Utopia back in Wearside
=======================
102.4 Utopia FM, is currently on air from 17th to the 28th May across
Wearside. The station is managed and presented by students at the
University of Sunderland from new state of the art studios in the
multi-millionpound Media Centre at the St Peters campus.
The station has more new shows than ever before and lots of great
prizes. The team from Utopia FM have returned to the airwaves with
the station's best ever results from the National Student Radio
awards, 7 nominations and 3 silver awards.
The awards were for:
* Best Off-Air Branding and Marketing'
* Best Newcomer to Radio' for MA Radio graduate, Jonathan Wood
* Best Male' for second year Media student Duncan Wallace
This was a real success for both the students concerned and for Utopia
FM as a whole.
Specialist Changes at Radio 1
=============================
BBC Radio 1 has made a series of significant changes to its line-up
of specialist shows. The changes have been designed to ensure Radio 1
is championing the most important new music genres from the UK and
around the world in prime time slots across the week.
The moves, that follow significant changes to Radio 1's daytime
line-up, will see an increased role for Zane Lowe who will now begin
his show earlier in the day.
This change has been designed to allow Zane to act as a bridge from
daytime Radio 1 into the specialist night time line-up.
In addition, throughout the week there will now be a series of genre
based nights of programming. These will include nights for rock,
urban and dance fans.
There will be new DJs hosting some shows with other more established
late night shows being brought forward as their importance to Radio 1
listeners has increased.
Zane Lowe
Zane will now have four shows from Monday to Thursday (previously
Tuesday to Thursday). The new shows will begin at 7.00pm (previously
8.00pm).
Mike Davies
Mike's punk metal show The Lock Up has now been brought forward to
9.00pm (previously 2.00am) as part of Tuesday night's rock strand.
Bobby & Nihal
The Asian beats show had been brought forward to 9.00pm (previously
3.00am) as part of Wednesday night's urban strand.
The Blue Room
Hosted by Rob Da Bank and Chris Coco, this chill out show is currently
on Saturday mornings from 5.00 to 7.00am. Its continued success and
growing audience has earned it another show on Sunday mornings at the
same time.
Annie MacManus
Thursday nights will now have a distinctive clubbing feel. Annie is a
brand new DJ coming straight from The Zane Lowe show. She is going to
present a snapshot of everything that is new and exciting in the
dance world.
Experimental
Every week day there will be a one hour show dedicated to showcasing
the new and unusual from the worlds of music, comedy and art in a
late night 3.00am slot.
Andy Parfitt, Controller of Radio 1, said of the changes:
"Radio 1's remit is to break the best new music to the widest
possible young audience. In the past year our specialist shows have
been instrumental in bringing through everyone from Keane to Franz
Ferdinand to Kanye West.
The changes we have made are designed to make our specialist schedule
the most exciting listen possible reflecting everything that is new
and important musically around the world today."
The changes to the specialist schedule will come into effect from
July 2004.
Other changes will see - Colin and Edith's daytime weekday show will
now be three hours long / Scott Mills takes over from Sara Cox on 7
June.
JK & Joel will join Radio 1 at the beginning of August. The Session
In The Nations remains on Thursday nights but begins at 7.30pm.
Trevor Nelson's Saturday show will now run from 4.00 to 7.00pm.
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Xfm looks for Dublin Licence
============================
The alternative music radio station - Xfm is applying for a new
analogue licence in Dublin.
The station has teamed up with television, radio and internet group -
UTV and Irish-owned radio consultancy Absolute Radio International
(ARI) to apply for a new Rock radio licence being advertised by the
BCI.
Xfm Dublin will build on the success of Xfm London creating an
innovative guitar led music radio station showcasing the best new
music in an authentic irreverent and exciting way.
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RAJAR gets backing for Electronic Testing
=========================================
Leading international radio groups, broadcasters and broadcast
administrators are supporting RAJAR's initiatives in conducting
further testing of new electronic audience measurement devices as
part of its evaluation of the benefits of switching to an electronic
system of measurement.
Two of the leading candidates are GfK and Arbitron who are working
closely with the joint BBC and Commercial Radio audience measurement
body following last year's tests and evaluation. The final test and
evaluation will take place in the Autumn prior to the tendering
taking place next year.
The international radio community is monitoring the testing from RAJAR
prior to making their own decisions.
Among those involved in the consultation process are broadcast
organisations in Australia, Japan and Canada, while American
advertising agencies are taking an active role as they seek to
influence eventual changes in the US.
Says Sally de la Bedoyere, managing director of RAJAR:
"Without question, our forthcoming decision on electronic audience
measurement is being watched closely by radio organisations around
the globe.
What we decide over the next 12 - 18 months is likely to have a
profound impact on the way that electronic measurement is introduced
around the world.
The UK has the most developed radio market in the world, with the
measurement of the different digital platforms considerably adding to
the complexities of the research task. But we have a shared aim - to
find a measurement system that will enable RAJAR to deliver new
services to subscribers and measure audiences on new platforms that
will be of increasing important to our customers."
RAJAR is investing £500,000 in further testing and evaluation of
Cruising the Waves
==================
The Clyde Cruising Club are launching a radio station to serve the
Bell Lawrie Scottish Series - the Scottish equivalent of Cowes Week.
The event which runs at the end of May will have its own dedicated
service broadcasting on 87.7.
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Arutz-7 Trial Is Over
======================
Mike Brand reports from Israel: - The trial of the "Arutz-7 Ten" has
come to an end, as both the prosecution and the defendants withdrew
their appeals against the original ruling. Both sides had appealed
the sentences handed down against ten Arutz-7 station managers and
broadcasters seven months ago.
The Jerusalem District Court judges expressed strong criticism of the
state and the prosecution in their handling of the case against
Arutz-7:
"It is inconceivable that the state would take out its rage against
the pirate radio stations by punishing the leaders of Arutz-7...
[which] operated throughout the years with the encouragement of the
authorities; the Knesset even legislated a law to legalize it."
The judges began by recommending that both sides withdraw their
appeals, and the defence team agreed. The prosecution then did the
same - except for the fine levied against Yaakov (Ketzaleh) Katz, the
station's executive-director, which it insisted be increased. The
judges were not happy with this position, and hinted that if the
prosecution did not withdraw its appeal totally, they would have much
to say about the entire trial against Arutz-7. The prosecution team
then consulted amongst themselves once again, and agreed to drop
their entire appeal.
The final sentences are thus as follows: Katz, Programming Director
Shulamit Melamed, Engineer Ya'ir Meir, and News Editor Haggai Segal
must serve 3-6 months of community service each, while each of the
ten defendants must pay between 20,000 and 50,000 shekels each. In
addition, Arutz-7 itself was fined a total of 450,000 shekels.
Arutz-7 radio ceased broadcasts on Oct. 20 of last year, only two
hours after a Jerusalem court convicted ten Arutz-7 directors and
staff members of broadcasting without a license.
Legislative efforts to allow Arutz-7 to resume broadcasts on a
national scale continue, albeit slowly.
Communications Minister Ehud Olmert is preparing legislation for a new
Communications Authority, under which are to be established three new
stations, including one for which Arutz-7 could compete. It does not
appear that the proposal will be ready in the near future, however;
Ministers Netanyahu and Livnat have nixed a new draft prepared by
Olmert because, they say, he inserted changes that would increase his
own authorities over and beyond that which had been previously
agreed.
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Sharp enters DAB Market
=======================
Bringing a fresh, sleek look to digital radio, Sharp is launching its
first portable Digital (DAB) radio in the slimline shape of the
FV-DB1E.
Sharp has chosen the UK for the introduction of its first DAB product
in the world due to the outstanding growth and relative maturity of
the digital radio market here compared to the rest of Europe, America
or the Far East, and excellent prospects for further expansion.
Marking itself out from the large number of 'retro'-styled DAB radios
currently available on the UK market, the FV-DB1E has a high-gloss
white or silver grille fascia, clean, ultra-modern lines and large
blue backlit LCD display.
The radio's DAB and FM tuner has 20 station presets which can be
easily selected via the buttons on the top edge of the unit, and most
other functions can be accessed from the front control panel beneath
the LCD screen. The FV-DB1E outputs 2W/ch RMS and has an optical
digital output terminal so radio can be recorded digitally to
preserve sound quality, plus a line out to allow DAB radio to be
output via a separate sound system if required.
"We've consciously given the radio a distinctive, modern design quite
different from the swathe of 'retro' wood and silver radios on sale
at the moment in order to target a slightly wider demographic than
the traditional DAB radio listener," says Daniel Wan, Sharp UK's
audio product marketing manager.
The FV-DB1E is available from leading UK consumer electronics
retailers and department stores from June.
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A song & dance for D-Day
========================
Think of the popular music of 1944 and two names come to mind. Glenn
Miller and Vera Lynn. And that's the trouble. The people who make
films and documentaries about World War Two lace the soundtrack with
a snatch of Moonlight serenade or American Patrol, topped off with a
touch of We'll meet again, and they think they've captured the sound
of the times.
BBC Local Radio in the Eastern Counties are to educate listeners, as
on Sunday June 6 - the 60th anniversary of the D-Day Landings, Paul
Barnes will prove just how wrong we are.
Between 9.00 pm and midnight he'll be featuring the music and the
performers who bucked up the morale of the armed forces, and the
loved ones left at home.
Glenn Miller will figure, naturally. But so will the rival American
service outfit, Sam Donahue's Navy Band. The British had service
bands too, such as the Squadronaires from the RAF, and the unlikely
sounding Number One Balloon Centre Dance Orchestra, better known as
the Skyrockets.
Vera Lynn was "the sweetheart of the forces", but the deeper voice of
Anne Shelton promised more in terms of sexy potential, while for
thousands of soldiers, sailors and airmen Lily Ann Carol or Dinah
Shore probably spoke even more directly to them with songs like I'll
walk alone.
Singers, musicians, songwriters and comics queued up to help the war
effort, so the programme will feature wartime broadcasts from the BBC
and AFN, the American Forces Network. There are the V-Discs too,
recordings produced by the US War Department for the army, air force,
navy and coast guard. These 12 inch 78s were smuggled out of American
bases everywhere and found their way onto the black market.
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Arbitron's Personal People Meter and GfK wristwatch technology in the
late autumn following the development of their technologies since
last year's £800,000 tests. The intention is that if the tests are
successful, RAJAR's stakeholders will asked to approve the tendering
process for the introduction of an electronic monitoring system. That
will take place in 2005, with the winning candidate expected to
deliver its technology for possible use in late 2006.
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19th
May 2004
A busy time news wise - or at
least a great deal that appeals to me and feel you may be interested as well.
Forgot to mention that RTE 252 on
longwave are in the midst of a charity event in the style of Big Brother.
An all female crew of lady announcers are on air with pop music. You have to
vote for the ones to stay on and the one left is the winner. I have not
heard them all but think Eileen Reed in the afternoons is best. The signal
carries a long way but the reception is poor at times due to television and
other electrical interference. The station has been renamed "Charity
252"
Seven women for RTÉ Charity 252
radio
=====================================
Seven women celebrities are participating in a radio show for People
In Need 2004. The seven are charged with running a radio station 14
hours a day, over the week.
Sorcha Furlong, Eileen Reid, Amanda Brunker, Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh,
Fiona McShane, Emma O'Driscoll and Claire McKeon are manning,
producing and presenting a national radio station on Long Wave 252,
dubbed - RTÉ Charity 252 Radio for People In Need.
Each evening, Gerry Ryan is presenting an hour-long television
programme on the activities of the wannabe radio presenters, until
the main Telethon programme on Friday.
The seven Irish Celebs are:
* <Sorcha Furlong, who has played Orla in RTÉ soap 'Fair City' for
the last three years, is also in a band called The Divas.
* Also an actress and singer, Eileen Reid sang with The Cadets during
the era of the showbands in the 1960s, has done theatre and panto and
featured in several films including 'The Commitments'.
* Former Miss Ireland and social columnist Amanda Brunker recently
appeared in the TV series 'The Big Bow Wow'.
* Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh has presented current affairs programme 'Sin
É' on TG4 and worked as a reporter on RTÉ's coverage of the Special
Olympics last summer.
* Best known for her work on 'Off The Rails', Fiona McShane presented
'PG Plus' on RTÉ earlier this year and also writes for the Sunday
Independent.
* Emma O'Driscoll competed in the talent search programme,
'Popstars', and subsequently became a member of pop group Six.
* Claire McKeon has worked in radio for 98FM, FM104 and Century as
well as presenting a late-night chat show on RTÉ.
In true Big Brother Fashion one of the celebrities will be voted daily,
until a winner is announced on Friday when Gay Byrne and Ryan Tubridy will
host the traditional Telethon night.
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News from other sources:
Michael Grade starts BBC Chairman
job
=====================================
His appointment for a four year term was announced by the Government
last month.
Shortly after he arrived at the BBC White City building he sent an
email to all BBC staff, which he signed Michael. It reads:
"It was a thrill to walk into the building this morning, part of the
BBC team again. All I need to feel fully at home is my ID badge.
Like everyone who starts a new job - especially in a big organisation
- I must admit to moments of feeling slightly daunted; so thank you
to those I've met in my first couple of hours for the warm welcome.
One of my first priorities is to get around as much of the BBC and
meet as many of you as possible, as soon as possible, and I don't
mean just the London part of the empire. Do give me a shout if you
see me walking around, I'm the one with red socks (but no cigar these
days).
Preparing to launch our contribution to the debate about our future,
Charter Review, is something else I need to focus on immediately. I
am reassured that work is well advanced and am pleased to be joining
the team as we move to finalise the documents before publication.
We cannot take our privileged position as a 'cherished institution'
for granted; we need to make a compelling case for the BBC to be
allowed to continue as the unique, vibrant and creative organisation
we know it to be. I look forward to leading the defence of the
licence fee and the debate about our future - but I do need everyone
who works for the Corporation to play their part in helping me to get
that message across.
Once we launch our Charter documents at the end of June, I and others
will be out on the road a lot, talking to various partners - existing
and potential, members of the public and local politicians - so I
will make sure I combine those trips with visits to regional BBC
locations and talk to more of you face-to-face about this and
anything else you want to raise.
Meanwhile, the very first priority for the Board of Governors will be
to recruit a Director-General. All I can say today is that we are
determined to announce the appointment as soon as possible.
I do not underestimate the effect of the recent difficulties on staff
and I would like to thank Caroline Thomson and Stephen Dando for
carrying out a sensitive task with integrity. Those difficulties are
now behind us. But it is worth emphasising that some good came out of
the storm, namely that the independence of the BBC, when tested,
enjoys widespread and vocal public support. That is most heartening.
I commend everyone for maintaining the level of commitment throughout
all parts of the BBC. My objective is to focus the Corporation on the
future and the future for me starts today. I relish the prospect, and
I know you will all strive to make my job that much easier by
continuing to deliver the fullest public service of programmes
available anywhere in the world. I am more thrilled than I can say to
be part of the BBC's future."
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More DRM from VT Merlin
=======================
VT Merlin has launched two new weekly digital streams, bringing the
benefits of Digital Radio Mondiale (tm) - DRM (tm) to a number of its
most important international broadcast customers.
This new service 'vtdigital' features news and general programming
from broadcasters compiled into a stream, interspersed with
informative continuity announcements. Two streams are broadcast, one
on Friday and one on Saturday on 9770 kHz. They are carried from VT
Merlin's Rampisham site in the UK on digital short wave into Central
Europe in near FM quality.
Broadcasters including Radio New Zealand International, Radio
Australia, Radio Japan (NHK), Radio Taiwan International and Radio
France International have joined and are keen to experience the
benefits of the DRM system and range of services offered by VT
Merlin.
These streams complement the highly successful Sunday stream based on
religious programming, which began in February 2004.
Peter Gordon, VT Merlin's Head of Digitalisation commented:
"We are very proud to have brought some of the world's leading
international broadcasters together onto our DRM platform in an
innovative way. Their commitment to DRM is a major boost for this new
broadcast technology. We look forward to growing and expanding the
stream concept over the coming months".
Vtdigital Stream 2 Transmission Schedule
* Radio France International 14:00-14:30 Friday
* Radio Taiwan International 15:00-16:00 Friday
* NHK 16:00-17:00 Friday
* Radio New Zealand International 14:00-14:30 Saturday
* Radio Australia 14:30-15:00 Saturday
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End of an era for Foxy at hit40uk
=================================
After 11 years at the helm of the UK's most listened to chart show
hit40uk, Neil Fox will hand over the reigns to radio presenter Simon
Hirst and radio and tv presenter Katy Hill.
Foxy's last show will be on Sunday 30th May 2004 when he will count
down to his 297th number 1 single. The first ever no 1 he announced
was Take That with Pray on 17th July 1993.
Says Foxy:
'I've been hosting the top 40 for over a decade and it's amazing to
think how music has changed in that time. I've seen out Take That,
the Spice Girls, Brit Pop, the explosion of Dance music and now the
massive success of R n B. That's almost a whole generation of pop
music right there. Now is definitely the right time for me to move on
and I'm handing over to a great team. Katy was my choice, I've been a
big supporter of her since we did a show on the Brits together - I
said straight afterwards 'this girl would be perfect for hit40uk'.
Simon Hirst is a fantastic DJ he's done a brilliant job standing in
for me when I've been away - so he really know the ropes. I'm now
looking forward to listening to their first show as I lie relaxing on
a beach somewhere!'
Stylish Summer DAB Radio from Intempo
=====================================
Intempo Digital has launched two cutting edge portable radios to
expand its range of stylish DAB digital radios - the cute KT-01 in
baby pink and the sleek KTB-01 in slate grey.
The two colourful new radios with battery option come in perfect
time for a summer set to be packed full of sport and sunshine. The
radios are designed to complement all interiors and exteriors from
the trendiest picnic blankets or contemporary bedrooms to the
futuristic office desk.
The KT-01 is pretty in pink and is set to appeal to listening ladies
everywhere. With a kitsch feel to it, this beautiful radio suits
women of all ages. The KTB-01 comes in a sleek slate grey and silver
case, perfect for use in the office, dining room or potting shed.
Both DAB digital radios are simple to use and identical except for
colour. When switched on, all available DAB stations will
automatically tune in and be stored in alphanumeric order, saving
owners the hassle of manual tuning to find their favourite station.
The radios have eight preset buttons for favourite channels - four
DAB stations and four FM stations.
Both radios are mains powered and battery operated, allowing up to
twenty hours of battery life. Packed with features, the dual band
radios offer both DAB and FM in stereo sound, along with alarm clock,
sleep and snooze, and a clock that sets and updates to match British
summer or standard time automatically.
Intempo Digital radios KT-01 and KTB-01 will be available nationwide
through a number of high street retailers from May 2004 at around
£79.99.
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What Next for RAJAR?
====================
Mark Cross's mc2 has been appointed by RAJAR to carry out a major
consultative initiative across the broadcast, media and advertising
communities. It is designed to gain a consensus on how RAJAR's
measurement system should be developed in the light of the planned
move towards electronic testing.
His work begins immediately, and his initial contract is for six
months. RAJAR's wider timetable for the anticipated move to
electronic measurement could see the tendering process take place
during 2005, followed by a period for manufacturing and parallel
testing with the diaries. The use of meters could begin in late 2006
or early 2007.
Cross resigned from PHD Compass in December to launch his own
marketing and communications consultancy. His other clients include
the IPA for which he is running a separate media research project.
Says Sally de la Bedoyere, managing director of RAJAR:
"The momentum of the decision-making process is starting to build.
Arbitron and GfK are due to present their next generation hardware to
us very soon, with full tests and evaluation taking place before the
end of the year. We are trying to take an over-arching view beyond
the capabilities presented by the current methodology and technology.
This will help us to set the agenda for RAJAR over the coming years."
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IMD welcomes Exclusive Cornwall
Licence
=======================================
IMD is welcoming Ofcom's announcement that Cornwall will receive an
exclusive radio station, focussing on the immediate county as opposed
to sharing the service with Plymouth, Exeter and Torbay.
The IMD Group - youth media and marketing specialists, have partnered
with EMAP, in a bid to manage the Cornwall license. They welcomed the
news as they prepare to create a countywide youth radio station.
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Ofcom Simplifies Advertising regulation
=======================================
Ofcom is planning to transfer broadcast advertising content
regulation to a new system to be established under the umbrella of
the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
Riviera Revs Up for Monaco Grand Prix
=====================================
Riviera Radio becomes the official radio station of Historic Monaco
Grand Prix.
For the first time - Riviera Radio in Monaco was the official radio
station of the Grand Prix. The 100,000 attendees were told to listen
to the station for Info, over the weekend.
Riviera set a new record for local radio in France, by generating more
phone calls in 1 hour than any other station in history, as certified
by audiotel. It's first quarter sales were up by 100% on 2003, with
audience still growing.
In a recent promotion the station gave away the option to win - A
private Jet or Yacht charter, A Car or His and hers Cartier watches,
or 10,000 euro in cash.
The station broadcasts across the South of France to 1.2 million
people, on 106.3 and 106.5 FM or on the Internet at
Weblink: www.rivieraradio.mc
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to Top
BBC launches new Radio current
Affairs Department
=================================================
Richard Sambrook, BBC's Director of News has announced the formation
of a new Radio Current Affairs department.
The new department, which unites BBC radio's journalism of ideas and
investigation, and is now independent of TV Current Affairs, will be
headed up by Gwyneth Williams, previously Executive Editor, Radio
Current Affairs.
Radio Current Affairs and its 80-strong staff currently work on
special programmes such as Diplomatic Jigsaw and the Sony Awards'
News Programme of the Year, Crossing Continents: India, as well as
strands including Analysis, From Our Own Correspondent, The Reith
Lectures, Moneybox, In Business, Euronews and The Five Live Report.
The reorganisation means that Radio's flag-ship investigative
programme, File on 4, now rejoins Radio Current Affairs from TV
current affairs. File on 4 will retain its Manchester base. An
investigative unit will be set up there which will draw on the
journalistic skills of established and successful strands like File
on 4, The Five Live Report and Money Box Investigates.
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Student celebrate 50 years of Rock
==================================
Students and staff at South Leicestershire College are celebrating
50 years of Rock and Pop, with their community radio station which
returned on Monday May 17th.
The college's own WiggLe FM is back on air again for the fourth year,
as a community based radio station with a global audience via the
Internet.
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Castle FM completes last RSL Broadcast
======================================
Having campaigned for a full-time licence since its inception in
1999, Castle FM's third and final RSL was broadcast from high above
the city of Edinburgh from mid March to mid April of this year.
s the launch day approached, Ofcom announced that a new licence for
Edinburgh would be advertised in June - putting the city top of its
licensing list. This was good news for Castle FM, which now has a
definite timescale to work to after years of preparation and
speculation.
This RSL featured a profession line-up of well-known presenters.
Castle FM's Station Manager, Kenny Hutchison, put together an
enthusiastic team who knew the city, knew their music and were
capable of interviewing a diverse range of guests from the Director
of Education to Woody from the Bay City Rollers. Feeding off
Edinburgh's endless supply of things to do, they delivered an
entertaining and stylish format that included a formidable local,
national and international news output.Radio Kerry licence renewed
The Broadcasting Commission Ireland has signed a ten year contract
with Raidio Ciarrai Teoranta (trading as Radio Kerry) to provide a
local sound broadcasting service for County Kerry.
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Wednesday, May 19, 2004
Dutch foundation to finance radio drama in
Rwanda
A Dutch NGO is providing funding to help make the
people of Rwanda aware of the consequences of political propaganda and
manipulation via radio. The RLB/Humanitarian Tools Foundation is spending a
million euro to support a drama series to be broadcast on Radio Rwanda, and
developed with the help of a group of internationally renowned psychologists.
In parallel with the drama, a national campaign is being organised in Rwanda
on the themes of trauma counselling and tolerance. Radio played a major role
in the genocide that took place in Rwanda a decade ago.
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HCJB Australia gets planning permission for
new antennas
HCJB Australia, which broadcasts on shortwave
from Kununurra in Western Australia, has been granted planning approval for
31 new transmission towers, which will enable the station to become a truly
worldwide broadcaster. Coverage from the existing three towers is restricted
to South-East Asia and the Pacific region.
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Dutch MP's table questions on mediumwave
frequencies
Two members of the Dutch Lower House have
tabled a number of questions to Minister of Economic Affairs Laurens-Jan
Brinkhorst concerning the unsatisfactory situation with the mediumwave
frequencies in this country. Many of the licences allocated a year ago
have not yet been activated. Most of them belong to one company, Quality
Media, which cannot afford to pay the high prices charged by transmitter
operator Nozema, which has a near-monopoly in the marketplace. It's
claimed that the cost of hiring a transmitter from Nozema is twice as much
as in neighbouring countries. There are also problems getting planning
permission for the type of antennas typically required for mediumwave.
Officially, the licences which have not been activated are forfeited on 1
June 2004, and the MP's want to know the government's intentions.
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Top
World Music Radio now testing 10 kW
shortwave transmitter
Stig Hartvig Nielsen writes in the latest
WMR Newsletter:
"It is with great pleasure that we can inform you that we now -
finally - have commenced broadcasting with the new 10 kW Collins
transmitter. From shortly after 1500 UTC today May 18th 2004 World Music
Radio (WMR) is testing on 5815 kHz.
"Test transmissions on 15810 kHz have been carried out since May
9th with a power of 500 W. Letters and reception reports have been
received from Japan, USA, Greenland, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany,
Belgium, Italy, Spain and Nigeria. Thanks to everyone. Those requesting
QSL will get one soon.
"Our test transmissions consist of non-stop music and will be
irregular for the next couple of weeks. We intend to keep 5815 kHz on
the air till Wednesday morning without any breaks. Later we need - among
other things - to adjust the modulation on both transmitters.
"The transmitter site is near Karup in Western Denmark and the on
air studio (from where the test transmissions are coming live) is
located near Randers. The aerials used for both frequencies are dipoles.
"Monitoring observations on the reception quality are highly
appreciated - and it would be a help if you could compare our signal on
5815 kHz with other European stations with a similar power (for instance
Germany on 6190 kHz)."
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Top
Israel: Arutz 7 trial comes to an end
The trial of the "Arutz-7 Ten"
has come to an end, as both the prosecution and the defendants
withdrew their appeals yesterday against the original ruling. Both
sides had appealed the sentences handed down against ten Arutz-7
station managers and broadcasters seven months ago.
The Jerusalem District Court judges expressed strong criticism of the
state and the prosecution in their handling of the case against
Arutz-7: "It is inconceivable that the state would take out its
rage against the pirate radio stations by punishing the leaders of
Arutz-7... [which] operated throughout the years with the
encouragement of the authorities; the Knesset even legislated a law to
legalize it."
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to Top
12th
May 2004
Waffler
Welcome to a marathon update -necessary due to the Sony Radio Awards and Radio
listening figures. I suggest you print this out or alternatively cut and paste
it into your word processor and read later.
Did anyone notice the unintentional mistake on
line since the 3rd May? Look at the end of this to find out what it
was. I have an excuse now that I am taking antibiotics to help cure
infection after a splinter acquired on Friday whilst enlarging my
letterbox! Be sure to wear gloves when doing work with chisels etc!
Also do not use sandpaper if you cannot see what you are sanding in case your
hand slips.
Good so see that Johnnie Walker honoured in the Sony Awards for his interview
with Elton John.
I have uploaded the latest Wireless Waves to the NTL world site. It is 45
minutes long and in order to get it up on dial up I had to cut it into chunks.
This gave me the idea to do this from now on. This will mean that Wireless Waves
will become a monthly or six weekly, or even more frequent feature on the site.
It is much easier in the long run than putting real audio or mp3 clips on to a
page and have had favourable comments about the programming style. Needless to
say there is a chunk of BBC Pirate Essex, but there is the usual dose of
shortwave!
I have also been sent a good picture of the front of Broadcasting House and that
is also on the sound and vision site.
Unintentional gaffe: I put the update as 3rd
May 2003!
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From Other Sources:
SONY AWARDS 2004
SONY RADIO ACADEMY AWARDS 2004 WINNERS
======================================
The winners of the 2004 Sony Radio Academy Awards, the UK's top radio
accolades, were announced last night at London's Grosvenor House. The
Gold, Silver and Bronze winners were selected by a panel of 100
judges chosen for their particular area of expertise, drawn from
radio, the arts, entertainment and sport. This year's Award
presenters were a wonderful pot-pourri of fame, including Elton John,
Sir Clive Woodward, Katie Derham, Bernard Hill, Noddy Holder, Penny
Lancaster and Gaby Logan.
The following lists the Gold Winners for each of the categories. The
full list of winners is available on the Awards website at:
http://www.radioawards.org/winners04/win04.htm
GOLD WINNERS in event order
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PART I
The Event Award
* The State Visit of President Bush - BBC
Radio Cleveland
The Community Award
* No Buts - BBC Radio Shropshire
The Speech Award
* The Stephen Nolan Show - City Beat
The Station Sound Award
* BBC Radio Five Live - Five Live
The Competition Award
* Live With Matt and H - GWR FM Wiltshire
The Comedy Award
* I'm Sorry I Haven't a Christmas Carol - BBC Radio Entertainment for
Radio 4
The Sports Award
* The Real Alex Ferguson - Unique the production company for BBC Radio
Five Live
The Short Form Feature Award
* Stuck in the Middle - BBC Radio & Music Factual, Birmingham for Radio 4
The Information Award
* Life Matters - Forth One
The News Output Award
* Drive - BBC Radio News for Five Live
The Specialist Music Award
* Andy Kershaw- Festival In The Desert - BBC Radio 3
The Breakfast Show Of The year
* JK & Joel @ Breakfast - Key 103
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PART II
2003 Award
* Ian Robertson
The Feature Award
* The Archive Hour: Lance Corporal Baronowski's Vietnam - Loftus
Productions for BBC Radio 4
The Drama Award
* The Loneliest Road - BBC Radio Drama for Radio 3
The Promotional Campaign Of The Year
* 8 Mile - BBC Broadcast for Five Live
The Interaction Award
* The Stephen Nolan Show - City Beat
The Daily Music Show Of The Year
* Lunchtime with Ace and Invisible - 1Xtra for the BBC
The Weekly Music Show Of The Year
* Jonathan Ross - BBC Radio 2 & Off The Kerb Productions for Radio 2
The 'Music Special' Award
* For One Night Only: Bob Marley Live at the Lyceum - BBC Radio &
Music/Factual for Radio 4
The Entertainment Award
* Jono and Harriet at Breakfast - Heart 106.2
The News Story Award
* Jeremy Bowen: The Capture of Saddam Hussein - BBC Radio Five Live & Ten
Alps - for Five Live
The News Programme Of The Year
* Crossing Continents - India - BBC Radio Current Affairs for Radio 4
The Music Broadcaster Of The Year
* David Rodigan - KISS 100
The Speech Broadcaster Of The Year
* Ian Robertson - BBC Radio Sport for Five Live
The News Journalist Of The Year
* Hugh Sykes - BBC Radio News: The World at One and PM for Radio 4
The DJ Of The Year
* Christian O'Connell - XFM
The Station Programmer Of The Year
* John Simons, Group Programme Director, GMG Radio
Station Of the Year: Under 300,000
* BBC Radio Foyle
Station Of the Year: 300,000 -1 million
* BBC Radio Suffolk
Station Of The Year: 1 million plus
* Heart 106.2
Station Of The Year: Digital Terrestrial
* PrimeTime Radio
Station Of The Year: UK
* BBC Radio 4
Gold Award
* Johnnie Walker
Responses
Radio Shropshire
BBC Radio Shropshire struck Gold and Silver at this year's Sony Radio
Academy Awards.
No Buts was awarded a Gold Award in the 'Community Award' category,
and Simple Is, Simple As was awarded the Silver accolade in the
'Feature Award' category.
Simple Is, Simple As was part of the station's 'Voices' series and
tells the story of a Shropshire mother's courage in the face of
personal tragedy, and the community and family that helped her to
survive. No Buts was a week of programmes on the Mid-Morning Show
highlighting facts on smoking.
Tim Pemberton, Managing Editor, BBC Radio Shropshire, says:
"This is a real achievement to be awarded two Sony Awards. The No Buts
campaign highlighted the damaging effects of smoking through some
very powerful and emotive stories. Chris Ashley and the Mid-Morning
team did BBC Radio Shropshire proud in the way they conducted the
whole campaign and it made real impact - which was recognised by this
Gold Sony award. Simple Is, Simple As was the programme that was most
talked about in the 'Voices' series. Michael Cleere, the producer,
worked with Theresa, who talked about Woodside's strong sense of
community and how her neighbours came forward with help after the
death of her daughter."
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Tim adds:
"BBC Radio Shropshire is recognised as a station that regularly
produces high quality programmes - reflected in our most recent
audience figures."
David Holdsworth, Head of Regional and Local Programmes in the West
Midlands says:
"These awards recognise how BBC local stations like BBC Radio
Shropshire can produce great radio while getting under the skin of a
community and really making a difference to the lives of listeners."
Radio Forth
Forth One was the only Scottish station to win gold and beat off
strong competition from BBCs Radio 1, 2 and 4 to clinch the
Information Award
The Edinburgh station's programme, Life Matters, which is supported by
the Scottish Executive, was described by judges as "compelling
radio".
The Life Matters series deals with a number of wide ranging topics
each week, including areas such as drug and alcohol abuse, healthy
living, recycling and domestic abuse.
The Forth One show was up against nominations for Radio 2's Business
News, Radio 4's Yesterday in Parliament and Radio 1's Movie News.
The judges said:
"Life Matters was a superb example of engaging, informative,
compelling radio. It is well constructed coverage of social/community
issues, excellently executed, all qualities not immediately
associated with a mainstream top 40 music/entertainment station.
"Life Matters achieves a breadth and depth from within a challenging
format resulting in good radio, practical advice and the
dissemination of vital information for the listener."
Radio Forth's programme director Nik Goodman, producer Krystle Weaver
and series director Scott Wilson picked up the award.
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Radio Suffolk
The station scooped GOLD for 'Station of the Year'
Station editor Gerald Main said, 'I was chuffed to bits when we won
News broadcaster of the Year last year, speechless when we were
nominated for Station of the Year again this year and just over the
moon that we got gold again this year. It's a tremendous achievement
and something the whole team should be proud of.
'But the only reason we keep on winning awards like this is because of
the support we get all the time from people across Suffolk.'
The station's been going from strength to strength this year. It has
picked up a Sony award, 3 Gillard Awards, and has seen listening
figures soar from 124,000 in March last year, to 129,000 the same
time this year.
GMG
GMG Radio's Group Programme Director John Simons was last night
recognised for his huge contribution to the radio industry with a
prestigious Sony Radio Academy Gold Award named the Sony Programmer
of the Year.
The award, a new category at this year's ceremony, is recognition for
his incredible success in building GMG Radio's portfolio of Real
Radio, JAZZFM and Smooth FM stations across the country.
John Simons said:
"I feel very honoured to have received this award but owe a huge
thanks to the fantastic team of programmers at our stations and to
GMG and its chief exec John Myers for allowing us the creative
freedom to make great programming."
GMG Radio Chief Executive John Myers said:
"I have always said we have the best people in radio within GMG and
this is a wonderful award that recognises his immense talent. We are
all very proud of what he has achieved."
John Simons began his career in radio as a presenter 25 years ago and
is now recognised as one of the leading experts in regional
programming having previously launched the hugely successful Century
brand of stations onto the airwaves. In 1997 he became Programme
Director of national station Talk Radio, delivering a record 2.8
million listeners - which still has not been topped! He then moved
onto London's LBC and BBC Radio 2 before joining GMG Radio in 2000.
The group's Real Radio station in Yorkshire was recognised for with a
Sony Bronze Award for its coverage of the Huddersfield House fire,
which killed eight members of the same family.
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OFCOM publishes Licensing Process
=================================
Ofcom has announced its new FM local commercial radio licensing
process.
Key points include:
STRATEGY
* Ofcom expects to be able to offer at least 30 new FM local licences for
commercial radio.
* Between June 2004 and June 2005, Ofcom will advertise one smaller
(i.e. non-metropolitan) licence each month, and one larger (i.e.
metropolitan or regional) licence every 2-3 months.
* Ofcom will advertise separate licences in Cornwall, Plymouth and
Exeter (subject to frequency clearance), rather than the proposed
South-West regional service.
* New regional licences will be advertised in North-East England, the
Solent area, and South Wales (subject to frequency clearance).
LICENSING PROCESS
* Each licence advertisement will contain information specially
tailored for that licence.
* Each licence advertisement will include clear guidance on how Ofcom
intends to apply the statutory criteria in that particular case.
* Ofcom will publish information at the time of licence advertisement
about existing commercial radio provision in the area of the new
licence.
* Advertisement notices will be published on the Ofcom website.
* Applications for commercial radio licences will be published
online.
* After a licence has been awarded, Ofcom will publish a statement
setting out the determining factors for the licence award.
Following requests from the industry and other stakeholders for a
slower pace of licensing, Ofcom has changed the phasing of licence
advertisements to allow longer intervals between the advertisement of
larger licences. Larger licences will now be advertised once every
2-3 months, rather than once a month. The new timetable for the first
six licences is now as follows:
* June 2004 - Edinburgh, Blackburn
* July 2004 - Ashford
* August 2004 - Kidderminster
* September 2004 - Belfast
* October 2004
* November 2004 - Manchester
A further three smaller licences will be added to the above list for
advertisement between September and November 2004. These areas will
be announced in June, along with a full timetable of licence
advertisements for the period December 2004 - May 2004.
CN Radio to Apply for New Licences
==================================
In the latest phase of its expansion plans, CN Radio has announced a
partnership with Nichola Atkinson & Associates (NAA) to work
exclusively on its licence applications for the forthcoming round of
new licences proposed by Ofcom.
Nichola Atkinson has produced licence applications for a great number
of aspiring radio groups since her first success in 1988 with Fox FM.
During her time at UKRD Group, she project managed all of its
successful licence applications and was fortunate enough to win 3
licences on one day.
Nichola Atkinson said;
"I have great admiration for CN Group, it's a well run and profitable
organisation that has developed strong brands in the communities it
serves. I look forward to working with a group that will continue to
make a significant commitment to local commercial radio over the
coming years."
Jon Hewson, Managing Director of CN Radio said,
"We are already working on some exciting and unique plans in a number
of the areas that Ofcom are proposing to licence. Our group has a
strong track record in running profitable radio stations by providing
enjoyable local programming for our audiences, achieving return on
investment for our advertisers and rewarding our employees for their
commitment. These qualities will be the foundations on which our
licence applications will be based."
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SMASH HITS CHART 09/05
======================
The Smash Hits Chart can be heard on 40 radio stations across the UK
- each Sunday, from 16.00 through 19.00. The show launched in January
last year - hosted by Mark Goodier and distributed by Emap. View the
latest chart listings here. This week's chart has 9 Climbers, 18
Fallers, 11 New Entries, 2 Re-Entries and 0 No Changers.
http://ukradio.com/news/articles/11A049CDCB464343BDF707A18150D9A9.asp
New Content Opportunities Outlined for DRM
==========================================
DRM experts have outlined new programming opportunities that the new
technology is able to offer broadcaster.
The new opportunities were outlined at a DRM Workshop at the Audio
Engineering Society (AES) in Berlin on Monday (10/05).
DRM is the world's only non-proprietary, universally standardized,
digital on-air system for medium-wave, short-wave and long-wave.
DRM Chairman Peter Senger of Deutsche Welle opened the workshop with
an overview of the DRM system and an update on its global
implementation. DRM's capacity for new types of content were
explained by Olaf Korte of Fraunhofer IIS, who focused on the data
news service Journaline, and Heinz-Peter Friedrich of Deutsche Welle,
who discussed multiple language programming. Martin Dietz of Coding
Technologies GmbH described DRM audio coding.
"DRM provides clear, near-FM quality sound and excellent reception,
plus it gives broadcasters the capability to enhance new or existing
audio programs with complementary text," says Peter Senger. "DRM also
enables broadcasters to wrap speech in multiple languages around a
single music stream, doubling and tripling the reach of existing
audio content."
Nearly 60 broadcasters worldwide have begun DRM transmissions,
including international, national, local, commercial and public
broadcasters. A second-generation DRM consumer receiver, MAYAH's DRM
2010, is already on the market, with the launch of a variety of DRM
products coming soon.
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Categories Announced for CBC Media Awards
=========================================
The Christian Broadcasting Council of the United Kingdom, (CBC) has
announced the categories for the CBC MEDIA AWARDS 2004.
This year the categories have changed, giving more opportunity for
broadcasters to provide entries in a wider variety of categories.
Entries to the CBC MEDIA AWARDS in the broadcasting categories must
have been produced within the United Kingdom and have been broadcast
since September 2003, but the actual transmission of the broadcast is
not restricted to this county. This allows Christian broadcasters and
ministries to enter programmes that have not been heard or seen
within the UK but have blessed viewers in India or listeners in
Zambia.
In addition to the broadcast categories for film, radio, terrestrial
television, satellite/cable TV and video, this year's CBC MEDIA
AWARDS now include the Fred Grossmith Christian Writers Awards, in
honour of the writer and past Vice President of CBC the Rev Frederick
T Grossmith who went to be with the Lord in 2002. Fred was always
keen to encourage Christian writers and scriptwriters, so CBC is
working with the Association of Christian Writers on this aspect of
the CBC MEDIA AWARDS.
All the awards are judged both for excellence of production and the
quality of their Christian content.
The closing date for entries is 15 JULY 2004 and the winners will be
announced at the Christian Broadcasting Council Awards Banquet to be
held in Stoke-on-Trent on FRI 19 NOVEMBER 2004.
Weblink: www.cbc.org.uk
Categories
* Best Christian Radio Ministry Programme - Worship, ministry and/or
music
* Best Christian Radio Speech Programme - Documentary, interview,
discussion or phone-in
* Best Christian Video 1 - Documentary/factual programme, including
interviews, discussion
* Best Christian Video 2 - Worship, ministry and/or music
* Best Terrestrial TV 1 - Documentary/factual programme, including
interviews, discussion
* Best Terrestrial TV 2 - Worship, ministry and/or music
* Best Satellite or Cable TV 1 - Documentary/factual programme, including
interviews, discussion
* Best Satellite or Cable TV 2 - Worship, ministry and/or music
* Best Christian Film. This may be a full-length drama, feature film or
set of episodes or part of a series, made for Cinema, Video or Television.
* The Fred Grossmith Christian Writers Awards -
* Christian novel or non-fiction, including those published in ebook
format.
* Poetry (up to 5 poems)
* Short Story in not more than 800 words.
* Self-Publishing
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Text for DAB Coverage
=====================
A new text service has been launched for listeners who want to know
how many DAB stations are available in their area, prior to
purchasing a DAB digital radio.
Prospective buyers and other interested listeners - just need to text
the word DAB followed by their postcode to 87220 and will receive a
text back telling you how many stations they can receive.
DAB digital radio coverage is rapidly growing and already 75% of the
population can receive national BBC stations, and 85% can receive
national commercial DAB radio.
Calls cost 25p per text plus your network's text charge.
Provided by Virgin Radio New Media
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Digital Listening continues to grow
===================================
The trend towards digital listening to radio stations continues to
grow with healthy increases in both commercial and BBC figures in the
last quarter according to RAJAR.
There were gains in weekly reach for all the BBC's new digital only
stations with BBC7 seeing an increase of 49% quarter-on-quarter to
398,000, 5 Live Sports Extra gaining 44% to 369,000, 6 Music up 21%
to 187,000 and 1Xtra up 6% to 263,000, all quarter-on-quarter.
Commercial digital radio stations also did well, with the biggest
increase coming for Emap's Heat which saw its weekly reach grow by
172% to 158,000. Another Emap digital station, Kerrang! won a 7%
gain, with a reach of 775,000.
Other winners for the commercial sector include Chrysalis station, The
Arrow, up 38% to 33,000. GWR's stable of digital offerings also did
well with national stations Core and Planet Rock both seeing
increases quarter-on-quarter up by 32% (to 129,000) and 22% (to
242,000) respectively. GWR's local digital rock station The Storm
also saw gains this quarter, up by 36% to 101,000.
Oneword, had its highest reach since it began reporting on Rajar, with
a 19% increase quarter-on-quarter, to 76,000.
Analogue favourites also broadcasting on DAB include Capital Radio's
Xfm, which claimed 119,000 digital listeners outside its London
analogue base; Emap's Kiss, which claimed 906,000 digital only
listeners outside London; and GMG's Jazz FM with 362,000 digital only
listeners.
The DRDB's (Digital Radio Development Bureau) chief executive, Ian
Dickens, says:
"With more than 500,000 DAB digital radios in circulation, and
millions tuning in to digital stations via their TV, it is clear that
we are changing the way we listen to radio in the UK. The Rajar
figures show continued growth in the popularity and awareness of new
digital radio stations.
Research shows that the chief reason for buying a DAB digital radio is
to receive new, digital only stations, and these figures certainly
bear that out."
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BCI advertises 2 new Dublin Licences
====================================
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) has placed an
advertisement in the national press seeking applications from
interested persons / parties for the provision of two sound
broadcasting services in the Dublin area.
Dublin City and County
* Alternative Rock Music Service on the FM Band
Dublin City and Part-County
* Multi-Cultural Broad Format Service on the FM Band
The closing date for receipt of applications is 5 p.m. on 9th July 2004.
New Rumours of a Luxy return
============================
Confirming rumours circulating in the UK over the past few months,
Luxembourg-based commercial broadcaster RTL Group has released a
promotional DVD which sets out its strategy for using Digital Radio
Mondiale (DRM).
One of the options under consideration is reviving the English
service, which ran until the early 90's on mediumwave 1440 kHz. A
chart showing requested usage of longwave, mediumwave and shortwave
for DRM indicates that RTL has requested a shortwave frequency
covering the UK, while mediumwave and longwave are under
consideration.
Other DRM expansion plans include a shortwave service for
transcontinental/eastern Europe, a mediumwave service for Belgium and
the Netherlands, and a fourth RTL network for France. RTL says it
expects DRM consumer receivers to be shipping in quantity by the
second half of 2005.
Information extracted from Media Network Weblog - website.
Weblink:
http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/2004_05_02_medianetwork_archive.html#108376375491801076
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Bangkok to trial DRM Broadcasts
===============================
An innovative broadcasting alliance among Digital Radio Mondiale
(DRM), the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and Harris
Corporation, Broadcast Communications Division (both DRM members), as
well as National Broadcasting Services of Thailand (NBT), will bring
DRM medium-wave/AM transmissions to Bangkok for the first time.
Thailand's Permanent Secretary Pol. Maj. Yongyuth Sarasombath will
inaugurate the month-long project in a May 10th ceremony at NBT's
Radio Thailand Studio Complex in Bangkok. DRM is the world's only
non-proprietary, universally standardized, digital on-air system for
medium-wave, short-wave and long-wave. With clear, near-FM quality
sound and excellent reception, DRM is revitalizing radio in markets
worldwide.
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Four new players emerge to bid for RAJAR Contract
=================================================
Four new serious contenders have emerged in the race to provide the
electronic audience measurement technology for RAJAR. Although RAJAR
will not name names, the newcomers are in various stages of
development and offer interesting new dimensions to the current
debate, including alternatives to the watch and portable meter. Two
of the alternatives are in an advanced stage of development.
According to Sally de le Bedoyere, managing director of RAJAR, their
declared interest will not be allowed to cause any slippage in the
timetable that, it is planned, could see the introduction of a new
measurement system in place during 2006.
The summer 2004 tests, in which RAJAR is investing a further £500,000
in addition to the £800,000 spent last year, are expected to go ahead
on schedule, assuming that both GfK and Arbitron have completed the
requested revisions to their technology on schedule.
Says de la Bedoyere:
"Currently, we are in the hands of both Arbitron and GfK. This is a
hugely important time for all of us at RAJAR. This process of testing
and evaluation has had to be thorough, and recognises the very
detailed needs that we have. The UK is the most technologically
advanced major radio market in the world, bar none. We have a very
detailed list of requirements, specifically in the measurement of
digital radio and the internet."
The four new contenders all have their technologies in different
stages of development, and some are expected to be tested by RAJAR
over the coming nine months.
It could be that one of these suddenly emerges as a fully functioning,
viable alternative to what we have before us now. Right now, we don't
know. What this enlarged review does mean is that we will end up with
the best possible solution, perhaps merging some of the best ideas
and technologies.
All of the organisations pitching to us know the importance of the UK
decision. They are being very helpful and constructive, and
understand our very precise needs. The next generation of audiometers
should represent a major leap forward and clarify many issues for us.
The organisation that gets the UK contract is logically in pole
position to be adopted as the global standard. That's why all the
leading candidates are desperately keen to throw their hats in the
ring with big budget investments."
RAJAR says that the new systems and companies being evaluated all have
broadly similar means of listening identification - either matching
inaudible codes or matching real time broadcast output. "They are all
well-known companies with strong track records and reputations," she
adds.
In the timetable for the move to electronic measurement, RAJAR expects
the tendering process to take place during 2005, followed by a period
for manufacturing and parallel testing with the diaries.
"Our issues focus on accuracy, flexibility, adaptability and
suitability. Alongside the 'fit for purpose' criteria', cost will
also be an important issue," concludes de la Bedoyere.
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British DX Club publish English Broadcast Guide
===============================================
The Summer 2004 edition of Broadcasts in English is now available
from the British DX Club. The 32-page booklet was compiled by Dave
Kenny and includes details of all known international broadcasts in
English on shortwave and mediumwave for the Summer (A04) schedule
period.
It is in time order throughout and covers all target areas.
Transmitter sites are listed where known. It includes a guide to DX
and Media Programmes plus schedules for WorldSpace and World Radio
Network for Europe.
Copies are available at the following prices (postage included):
United Kingdom - 2 pounds sterling Overseas - 6 International Reply
Coupons; 5 Euros or 5 US Dollars
UK cheques/Postal Orders should be payable to British DX Club and they
also accept Paypal payments from overseas - please e-mail for
details.
Payments in US dollars or euros are only accepted in cash.
All orders/enquiries to:
British DX Club, 126 Bargery Road, Catford, London SE6 2LR, UK
Copies of the new edition of RADIO STATIONS IN THE UK are still
available - please see BDXC web site for details.
Weblink:
www.bdxc.org.uk
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GfK listening figures released
==============================
With two days to go before RAJAR release the official radio listening
results for Q1/04 - GfK Media has published alternative figures using
electronic metering. These figures cover the period Jan 5 - Mar 21
and shows Chris Moyles has increased listening figures for the Radio
1 breakfast show by 17%.
http://ukradio.com/news/articles/7C668146139643DBA7BED4E64B0D24F9.asp
BBC Digital Review Launched
===========================
The Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell has appointed Patrick Barwise and
Tim Gardam to conduct individual reviews on the BBC's new digital
television and radio services.
Patrick Barwise, Professor of Management and Marketing at London
Business School, will lead the review of the BBC's new digital
television services, which will look at the TV channels BBC3, BBC4,
Cbeebies and CBBC.
Tim Gardam, the former Director of Television and Director of
Programmes at Channel 4, will lead the review of the BBC's new
digital radio services, 1Xtra, BBC6, BBC7, BBC Asian Network and Five
Live Sports Extra.
The reviews will begin immediately and will run concurrently. The two
reviews will have a period of public consultation, which starts today
and runs until Friday June 11. Both reviews will include market
impact assessments. Ofcom will also contribute to the review process.
The findings from the final reports will feed into the current review
of the BBC's Charter.
Jowell said:
"The BBC has wholeheartedly embraced the digital revolution. But while
licence fee payers rightly expect their major public service
broadcaster to be at the forefront of a rapidly changing broadcasting
ecology, they also expect the Government to ensure that the
Corporation fulfils its public service remit. These reviews will help
us ensure that balance is being struck.
I have every confidence that Patrick Barwise and Tim Gardam's
considerable experience will lead to reviews that are both
wide-ranging and thorough."
The BBC has submitted a report on the new digital television and radio
services to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It will be
considered as part of both reviews. The report has been published on
the DCMS website www.culture.gov.uk.
By the end of August 2004, the reviewers will submit separate full
reports to the Secretary of State, which will be published by the
DCMS.
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George Michael tops Radio poll
==============================
Pop star George Michael picked up the award for most played radio
artist on British Radio over the last two decades, as revealed at the
Radio Academy's annual 'Music Radio' conference.
The full Top 10 of most played artists
* George Michael
* Elton John
* Robbie Williams
* Kylie Minogue
* Bryan Adams
* Madonna
* Phil Collins
* Cliff Richard
* Mick Hucknall
* Paul McCartney
"This chart is an interesting snapshot of which artists have most
shaped popular culture, as the number of radio stations both
competing for our attention and playing their material has
spiralled," said John Bradford, Director, Radio Academy.
Figures have been compiled in the past for individual years, but this
is the first time the figures have been aggregated by the PPL to
cover such a period.
The data is collected from national and local radio across the
country, spanning over 600 BBC and commercial radio stations,
including BBC Radios 1 and 2, Virgin, Capital, Magic, Heart and Kiss.
It shows that despite the emergence of trends such as Brit-Pop and
dance in that time, it is still the more melodic, established artists
who have dominated radio dials. It also shows they are still male
dominated, with only two of the most played artists being women.
Despite the massive influence of the US on UK music, all but three of
the artists are British.
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Panjab Radio Vaisakhi Celebrations Biggest Yet
==============================================
Panjab Radio, in association with Western Union, joined hundreds of
thousands of Sikh devotees this April with Britain's annual Vaisakhi
celebrations. Dubbed the biggest ever Vaisakhi coverage by any media;
Panjab Radio was represented by its teams in over 15 events including
processions, outdoor festivals & large concerts in the space of just
23 days. Many of these events were directly organised by Panjab Radio
with the help of local councils & Sikh Gurdwaras.
The Vaisakhi Celebrations are very important to the Sikh community as
they mark the birth of the Sikh religion & the beginning of the New
Year. The well renowned radio station, which has been catering for
the needs of the Panjabi community for three & a half years,
broadcasted live outdoor highlights during the festive season & also
celebrated by distributing their free annual Vaisakhi Souvenir
magazine. The main target of this years campaign was to promote
Panjab Radio's commitment to the new DAB radio platform. "Although
a very busy time for my team we are already looking towards the
future & how best we can promote not just Panjab Radio but also DAB
Digital Radio. Planning for the stations 4th anniversary celebrations
which takes place on the 29th of August 2004 & attracts from up to
15,000 people has already began!!" Surjit S. Ghuman M.D. Panjab Radio
Rajeshwar Gautam, South Asian consultant for FEXCO MT, Western
Union's UK representative said, "Our tie up with Panjab Radio for the
Vaisakhi celebrations was extremely successful. We were right in the
heart of the processions celebrating the festivities and sharing our
goody bags with friends and families. Western Union believe in
bringing people together and celebrating all cultures, something
Western Union does everyday through its money transfer service.
Panjab Radio - The world's first 100% Panjabi radio station
broadcasts on DAB, - (London Three Multiplex, operated by The Digital
Radio Group, and Bradford & Huddersfield Multiplex, operated by
TWG-EMAP Digital), Sky channel 880 & www.panjabradio.co.uk.
Return to Top
Pure launches new Digital Bug
=============================
Digital Radio With Revolutionary Looks And Features is World's First
DAB Radio Available With Pause, Rewind And Record.
PURE Digital and designer Wayne Hemingway have teamed up to create a
DAB digital radio with striking looks and advanced features including
MP3 playback and ReVu(tm), which lets users pause, rewind and record
live radio.
Key features
* DAB digital radio for more stations and digital-quality
interference-free sound
* ReVu(tm) - Pause, rewind and record live radio
* Playback MP3 files (SD Card required)
* Record to SD Card or to an external MiniDisc player
* Alarm, sleep and timer record functions
* Display shows scrolling artist, song title, news, sports results and
more
* Flexible display neck
Designed to revolutionise radio listening
The Bug, available in either white and chrome or graphite-metallic and
chrome finishes, is the most fully featured DAB radio on the market
and will appeal to the young at heart of all ages. It has both award
winning British engineering pedigree from the company that
revolutionized DAB in the UK and a great design from Wayne
Hemmingway, which is sure to make it a talking point in any room.
Wayne Hemingway is the highly successful co-founder of Red or Dead
(three time British Fashion Council "Street Style Designer of the
Year" winner) and of Hemingway Design.
Says Hemingway,
"Digital radio has been a real British success story. It's an area in
which we lead the world and PURE Digital's radios have really led the
way. Now they're investing in British design to take DAB digital
radio to the next level."
The Bug will be available from launch partners on May 13th 2004
including Simplyradios.com and selected Argos, Comet, Currys, Dixons
and John Lewis stores.
Return to Top
Media network from Radio Netherlands is a good area for news etc here is there
news in brief for the week
http://medianetwork.blogspot.com/ is the web link to follow
Friday, May 07, 2004
BBC launches new Karabakh Web page
BBC Tamil launches special dawn programmes on Indian election results
Radio Liberty to be rebroadcast by Vinnitsia radio station
RTL-FM changes format, targets women
Underground radio planned for Melbourne
CRTC offers broadcasters incentives for more Canadian drama
XM Satellite Radio triples subscribers in 12 months
Saturday, May 08, 2004
Staff at Togo radio station stage "solidarity strike"
Nobody's smiling at Air America
Sunday, May 09, 2004
World Music Radio shortwave test transmissions have started
Broadcasters say FCC's profanity rules could affect live news coverage
Serbian Broadcast Council solution "soon"
FIFA unable to ban European soccer from Asian TV screens
Monday, May 10, 2004
Sky News Ireland could inject some life into RTE News
Extra RNW DRM transmissions to Brazil on 12-14 May
Paris Live Radio launches tomorrow
No BBC sackings in wake of Hutton report
Frequency Finder UK and Ireland
United Kingdom: New shortwave DRM transmissions launched
Australian government considering fourth commercial TV channel
Kenya's embattled Kiss FM radio returns to the air after jamming ceases
China is world's second largest radio broadcasting market
Radio Taiwan International feeling budgetary pressure
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
RAI closes down 81 mediumwave transmitters
World Music Radio to re-launch in a few weeks' time
Extra frequencies for Euro 2004 soccer coverage
Indian telecom regulator promises paper on Community Radio
ABC chief happy with budget outcome
Australian media regulators to merge
Cuba hits out at US plans to broadcast from aircraft
US soliciting proposals for "scatterable media"
ASTRA continues to increase market penetration
VOA launches new Urdu radio service
Wednesday, May 12, 2004
NASB elects new president
Free NK Radio forced to suspend activities
Delta Radio plan is officially dead
Australia's Shepparton transmitting station is 60 years old this week
Sirius subscriptions hit the 400,000 mark
Thursday, May 13, 2004
Songs of the Sky - BBC documentary on Northern Lights
Baghdad Blogger story to be made into a movie
Tom Mulder celebrates 35 years as a broadcaster
Quality Radio given three month extension to June 1st deadline
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RAJAR (Q1/04) Reaction
======================
The latest RAJAR survey for Q1/04 has shown the BBC has maintained
its lead ahead of Commercial radio - in terms of reach and market
share.
The BBC results show -
* Record Figures for BBC Radio Five Live and Radio 3
* Record share for Radio Five Live
* Radio 1 climbs back to 9.85 million
* Radio 3 has record reach
* BBC 7 up nearly 50%
The BBC's market share has fallen slightly on the last quarter and
year on year with 52.6%. This compares with Commercial radio's 45.5%
which has improved on last quarter and up 1% year on year. In terms
of reach the BBC reaches 32.38 million or 67% of the population,
ahead of Commercial Radio's 31.6 million or 65%.
Of all of the BBC's services, the outstanding performances this
quarter came from Radio 3 which achieved a record reach and Five Live
which took its share over the 5% mark for the first time. Of the new
digital services, BBC 7 achieved a growth of almost 50%.
Jenny Abramsky, Director of BBC Radio & Music, said:
"I am particularly pleased with Radio's performance and that Radio
Five Live has capped its tenth birthday celebrations with such
excellent results. It is still too early to look at trends for our
new digital services but it's great to see that BBC 7 has grown by
almost 50%."
Individual station results saw:
* Radio 1's audience saw improvements over the last quarter growing
by over 400,000. The saviour of the station - Chris Moyles who took
over the Breakfast show at the start of the year has an audience of
5.93 million, up 400,000 on the quarter and 100,000 on the year.The
network's audience aged 15+ is 9.85 million compared with last
quarter's 9.44 million, rising to 12 million when the 4+ age group is
included. Radio 1's share however is 7.6%, down slightly on the
quarter (7.7%) and the year (7.9%).
* Radio 2, saw its reach dip slightly to 12.90 million from 13.15
million last quarter and 13.23 million last year. Jonathan Ross
claimed his highest ever audience of 3.59 million. The station's
share of 15.3% is also down on the quarter (16%) and the year
(15.7%).
* Radio 3 saw its audience grow to a record 2.29 million compared
with last quarter 2.19 million and last year, 2.10 million. Increases
came from across the schedule but notably from live music. Share at
1.2% is down slightly on the quarter (1.4%), and up on the year
(1.1%).
* Radio 4's reach was down at 9.37 million on last quarter's 9.51
million and last year's record Iraq War figures of 10.03 million.
Share at 11% was also down on the quarter (11.5%) and the year
(11.8%). It continues to be the most listened to station in London,
taking 14.3% share in the most competitive market in the country.
* Radio Five Live which now reports a shared reach figure with its
digital service Five Live Sports Extra, increased its reach to 6.52
million, second only to its record World Cup reach and up on last
quarter's 6.15 million. Its share is at an all time record 5.1%,
beating even the World Cup share, and up on last quarter's 4.4%.
Increases come from across the schedule, both news and sport, with
the new Breakfast combination of Nicky Campbell and Shelagh Fogarty
reaching 2.62 million, up 344,000 on the quarter and 45,000 on the
year. (Year-on-year figures are not yet available for the combined
figures. Five Live's reach for this time last year was 6.42 million.
Taken separately Five Live's reach for this quarter is 6.48 million,
Sports Extra's reach is 369,000).
* The BBC's Local and Regional Radio reach of 10.65 million is up on
the quarter 10.27 million but down on last year's record figures of
11.12 million. Share at 11.1% is up on the quarter (10.9%), and down
on the year (11.5%). BBC Wales/Cymru reach was 651,000, up 71,000 on
the quarter from 580,000 and on the year from 624,000. BBC WM in
Birmingham achieved a record reach of 408,000, up 135,000 quarter on
quarter from 273,000 and by 35,000 year on year from 373,000.
* The BBC's new digital services recorded their third set of figures.
1Xtra's reach is up at 263,000, from 248,000. 6 Music is up by 21% at
187,000 from 155,000. BBC 7 is up almost 50% at 398,000 from 267,000.
Each of these networks has a share of 0.1%. The World Service's reach
is 1.32 million (1.3 million last quarter) and a share of 0.6%. The
Asian Network's reach is down at 383,000 from 453,000 and its share
is 0.3%.
The CRCA - representatives of the Commercial Radio companies say
that Commercial Radio takes record share of listening among 15 to 24's.
Highlights
* In excess of 31.6 million adults tuning in to Commercial Radio
every week and this figure rises to 38 million when you take 4 to 14
year olds into account.
* 65% of the adult population and 78% of children (4-14 years) listen
to Commercial Radio every week.
* Commercial Radio's core demographic of 15-24 year olds recorded
Quarter 1 highs for audience numbers as well as for time spent
listening. Commercial Radio's share of 66% among this age-group is an
all-time high.
* National Commercial Radio followed last quarter's unprecedented
highs with a record share that has now hit 10% - up 25% from a year
ago.
Alison Winter, Research and Communications Manager of the CRCA,
comments,
"The RAJAR data reveals good news for our advertisers with increases
among demographics such as ABC1 Adults, Housewives, Adult Women, over
55's and 15 to 24's. The increased choice of commercial radio
services, available at home, in the car and at work, means an
increase in the number of listening occasions that has seen average
hours jump by 3% from this time last year."
Of the three National stations (Analogue) - Classic FM and
talkSPORT showed improvements in reach and market share. Virgin
however, was constant in reach but saw slight falls in share.
Classic FM has provided the following feedback
More than 300,000 new listeners have tuned into Classic FM over the
last three months, with 6.544 million people listening every week.
The audience has been swelled by an increase in listening amongst
young people. More than 1.5 million people under the age of 35 now
tune into Classic FM every week, an increase of 202,000 people over
the last three months. Classic FM's total audience figure now stands
at 7,080,000, when children aged between four and 14 are included.
The growth in listeners has been driven by a strong performance in
daytime programming. On weekday mornings, Simon Bates is still
commercial radio's biggest programme, with the audience for his
breakfast show - the biggest on commercial radio - up 147,000 to
3,186,000. Interactive shows, the Classic FM Most Wanted and
Lunchtime Requests with Jane Jones have added an extra 176,000
listeners, while the audience for Relaxing Classics At Two, presented
by Nick Bailey, has swelled by 72,000 listeners.
Sony Award nominees Mark Goodier and Natalie Wheen have both increased
the audience for their weekend shows. With listening figures up
128,000 to 1,341,000 Mark has recorded his best ever figures for The
Official Classic FM Chart Show. Natalie's Saturday and Sunday
afternoon shows are up by 57,000 and 248,000 respectively.
Lesley Garrett, who joined the Sunday afternoon line-up last autumn
has increased her audience by 77,000, while Katie Derham has added
35,000 new listeners to her Saturday afternoon music show.
Listeners are now tuning in for longer, with Classic FM's market share
increasing to 4.5%. The station's total hours now stand at 49.2
million, an increase of 6% in the past three months.
In London, Classic FM continues to attract new audiences for classical
music, with listening figures up by 13% and hours up 15% on the
quarter, to a best ever figure of 12.2 million. This strong
performance pushes Classic FM's share in the London marketplace up to
5.4%. The station is comfortably ahead of pop music rivals such as
Kiss, Magic, Radio 1 and Virgin.
Roger Lewis, Managing Director and Programme Controller of Classic FM
said:
"We care passionately about classical music and we're thrilled that
our policy of playing 100% classical music all day, every day is
encouraging increasing numbers of young listeners to tune in."
Return to Top
talkSPORT response compares the results from RAJAR with recently
published GfK figures:
talkSPORT has more than three times the weekly reach than RAJAR
claims it has, according to the latest results of the GfK Broadcast
Media Survey of radio and TV audiences.
This is the fourth quarter that GfK has produced figures showing
talkSPORT to be the Number One national commercial radio station.
RAJAR reports that talkSPORT is the Number 3 national commercial radio
station in the UK, reaching 2.1 million adults a week, which is a 15%
increase over RAJAR's figure for the previous quarter (the highest
percentage increase of any other national station). And yet the GfK
figures that cover the same Q1 period show that talkSPORT is in fact
the Number One national commercial station reaching 6.3 million
adults.
The RAJAR results also credit talkSPORT with a record-breaking 21
million hours listened, giving the station its highest-ever market
share of 1.9%. Under GfK's electronic measurement system, however,
even though talkSPORT's hours total one third of RAJAR's figures, the
station has a 2.5% share of listening amongst the five national BBC
stations and three national commercial stations monitored.
Kelvin MacKenzie, Chairman of The Wireless Group which owns talkSPORT,
said:
"talkSPORT's RAJAR figures may look great to the casual observer - but
in reality they undervalue the station to a punishing extent.
Electronic measurement consistently reports that we reach three times
the number of people than RAJAR says we do - and that's why we're
going to court: to force RAJAR to use a more accurate system of
measuring audiences that doesn't short-change talkSPORT both in terms
of audience and revenues."
Comparing the two: (GfK v RAJAR)
* talkSPORT - 6.3m v 2.1m
* Classic FM - 5.6m v 6.5m
* Virgin AM & FM - 3.3m v 2.5m
Return to Top
3rd
May 2004
Waffler
I was reading the book reviewed "Concise History of Radio" during
the week and noted the Director General Ian Trethowan station in 1970 that they
now realise that people no longer sat and listened to the radio. It tended to be
listened to casually by individuals whilst carrying out some other activity in
the house. This is still true to this day. The waffler makes a point of only
turning on the radio to listen to programmes that he choses to listen to. The
idea of a radio blaring out all day and not really listening to anything, which
a lot of people do, is rather frightening
indeed.
I obtained a 6 cd readers digest
collection called "The Golden Age of Radio" from a local car boot
sale. It has lots of excellent 30s and 40s recordings on it and I will try to
review it shortly.
Hans Knot has supplied his May
report and it is now on site. Thanks as ever Hans.
I did an exclusive interview on
line recently with Roger Day and hope to have it on site soon. I have had a busy
bank holiday sorry have not got round to preparing that page yet.
Hastings Rock is back on air for another fantastic 28 day broadcast. Come on
Caroline fans read the details below and log on for some great rock music from
another broadcaster. This will be their 11th year of broadcasts.
BBC Seven tonight had Radio Active on - sounded fantastic as ever. Before
that there was an episode of Dads Army. The programme after Radio Active was Now
show from 2003 which just sounded plain silly to me!
Technical chat:
The excellent £4.99 sw, am and
fm small receiver Superdrug sold last year has resurfaced in two places.
Recently in Dixons and John Lewis as a £20 "Go" travel radio in
different colours and with a slightly different name but he same styling. It is
also available in a different format from the science museum shop. Great value
at £4.99 but you may be able to better for £20 folks. I get good recordings on
it. I did notice when Pirate BBC Essex was on though that the Next £12.99 small
radio was more sensitive on the am band than the superdrug one'
Woolworths in the UK are selling a DVD recorder for £179, normal price £359. I
bought one and found it did not have a scart socket input just two super vhs
sockets and a 3 phono video and sound input. This meant I could not record
anything on to it. Mind you it had a tv tuner built in. There lay another
problem, I needed to feed one aerial via adaptors to my video and dvd recorder.
I never bothered to do this but took it back under their excellent 28 return
guarantee. A friend has used one and got some good results. It does not have
videoplus and you have to programme each event yourself. The model he had
switched off after one even and had to be re-booted before it would record
another. He has taken his back.
Currys have got the Grundig dab receiver on sale for around £60, well worth a
look, I have not heard this set but it is quite small but in a lovely wooden
cabinets
Return to Top
From Other Sources:
Hastings Rock is back for 2004
A radio station playing the latest music from the likes of Busted, Chilli
Peppers, Linkin Park, Good Charlotte, The Strokes and The Darkness plus classic
rock from Deep Purple, Bon Jovi, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd etc...
On air to Hastings, Bexhill and the surrounding area on 107fm and worldwide on
the internet, from the 1st to 28th May, 2004.
You can contact the station for a request or dedication as follows:-
telephone: (01424) 751234
text: 07729 924 107
e-mail: dj@hastingsrock.co.uk
http://www.hastingsrock.co.uk/
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now ON AIR - Hastings Rock is back!
Well here we are back on air for this, our 11th year. Once again we have a
superb selection of music that you simply will not hear anywhere else. Apart
from our unique mix of old and new, our specialist music shows presented
weekdays at 20.00, feature everything from Blues to Rock & Roll.
Local music features heavily on the station, both in our playlist and on a
programme devoted to the local music scene which goes out on Sunday evenings. So
if you have songs you think everyone should know about, then we want to hear
from you. Your music needs to be on CD, preferably original material and of
broadcastable quality. So if you are from the Hastings, Rye, Battle or
Eastbourne area, e-mail Andy Gunton for more details.
With competitions, details of local gigs and events, and some of the best rock
music around, this is HASTINGS ROCK!.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A new sponsor for 2004
Hastings Rock has a new sponsor for 2004. They are Mad Rock Promotions,
specialising in T-shirts, posters and headphones. Choose from a selection of
over 1000 T-shirts, club shirts and hoodies from over 100 rock bands. Why not
vist their website to find out more on www.madrockpro.co.uk.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Advertise - ensure your place on the Hastings Rock schedule!
If you run a business or are involved in a local organisation, why not advertise
on Hastings Rock. Not only will you be able to promote your product, service or
event to a large and diverse audience, you will have the satisfaction of knowing
that the profits generated from advertising revenue will be helping MacMillan
cancer relief.
Visit our advertising page for rates and booking information... more
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hastings Rock website ...
You will find all the news about Hastings Rock here on these pages. They are
updated regularly, so keep visiting to stay in touch with the latest news from
your favorite radio station!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Return to Top
GMG releases trading Update
============================
Guardian Media Group Radio has issued its first divisional trading
statement, showing remarkable growth, in its radio division,
outperforming the industry as a whole.
In the financial year ended 31st March 2004 it achieved a 61%
increase in annual turnover (excluding revenue from its records and
events division GMG Radio Enterprises), seeing its revenues grow from
£13m to £21m. GMG Radio Chief Executive John Myers said:
"GMG Radio has enjoyed a very positive year, outperforming its peers
within the industry on a number of fronts. With strong support from
its parent, GMG, it is well placed to continue to grow."
GMG Radio wholly owns London's JAZZFM and four regional stations -
Real Radio in Wales, Scotland and Yorkshire and Smooth FM in the
Northwest of England. GMG Radio Enterprises manages the group's
record labels, including the prestigious Hed Kandi brand. The group
also operates 12 digital stations across the UK.
The division's individual stations all turned in exceptional revenue
performances:
* JAZZFM in London saw its turnover in the year increase by 65%
* JAZZFM in NW achieved 103% growth in turnover (prior to rebrand to
Smooth FM)
* Real Radio in Wales, the group's most established station, grew
turnover by 34%
* Real Radio in Scotland saw a 55% increase in turnover
* Real Radio in Yorkshire, the division's youngest station, drove its
turnover up by 93% year on year
GMG Radio has witnessed strong demand for airtime on its regional
stations from national brands and forecasts that this demand will
grow throughout the 2004/05 financial year. The group saw an 86% rise
in national airtime revenue during the last financial year. Locally
driven revenue continues to perform strongly and the group saw an
increase of 47% during 2003/04.
Guardian Media Group plc will publish its annual report for the group
in July 2004.
GMG Radio will be applying for up to 10 further licences when they are
advertised by Ofcom later this year.
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Xfm DJ signs for BFBS Radio 1
=============================
DJ John Kennedy, Xfm's new music guru, is set to join the British
Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) team, presenting an Indie show on
BFBS Radio 1.
John is at the forefront of new music, introducing more
ground-breaking artists on his Xfm show than any other at the station
and will bring his cutting edge style to his BFBS Radio 1 slot, 'Up
From the Underground' from May 16, which will be aired worldwide on
Sundays at 5.00 p.m.
Given the tag of a modern-day John Peel, John started DJing when he
was a student before meeting and working with Xfm founder Sammy
Jacobs at the Reading Festival. This meeting led to John being
involved with the station from its inception and he has since become
a well respected figure in new music. He currently presents X-Posure
on Xfm covering the best singles, live cuts and album tracks that the
alternative underground has to offer.
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River Catches Big Fish
======================
West Lothian's new radio station, River FM has just appointed Donny
Hughes as Station Manager.
Hughes, who has been at River FM since February as Programme
Controller and has overseen the transformation of the on-air sound of
the station, which included bringing in former talkSPORT and Real
Radio football phone-in host Bill Young, will continue to present the
daily mid-morning show from 10am -1pm.
Somethin' Else bring Soul Solution back to R2
=============================================
Independent radio production company - Somethin' else has been
re-commissioned by BBC Radio 2 to bring back two of their hugely
popular series' - Soul Solutions with Mica Paris and Norman Jay's
Funk Factory.
Kicking off on June 23rd, this will be Soul Solutions' fourth hotly
awaited series and will run for 10 weeks. UK diva and voice of soul
music Mica Paris presents an hour-long mix of the best of soul, old
and new as well as interviews with the biggest names in the business
and exclusive live recordings from the country's major soul events.
Following straight on from the end of Soul Solutions is the start of
Funk Factory's second series. From September 8th legendary DJ Norman
Jay MBE will continus to bring us the best in forgotten funk
treasures from the 60's through to today's modern classics. The 6
part series will also feature contributions from other funk greats
like Fred Wesley (James Brown's horn arranger) and the man who Knows
You Got Soul, Bobby Byrd.
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SMASH HITS CHART 18/04
======================
The Smash Hits Chart can be heard on 40 radio stations across the UK
- each Sunday, from 16.00 through 19.00. The show launched in January
last year - hosted by Mark Goodier and distributed by Emap. View the
latest chart listings here. This week's chart has 10 Climbers, 17
Fallers, 7 New Entries, 1 Re-Entries and 5 No Changers.
http://ukradio.com/news/articles/45D6B8F413834B2DBE0BA551672B3AC4.asp
WRN offers Discounted Eurobird Deal
===================================
The World radio Network unveils "10% Off" Digital Satellite Spring
Sale.
"This is a great deal for radio stations looking to get onto Sky
Digital" said Richard Jacobs, WRN's Business Development Manager, at
the launch of the London-based transmission company's Spring Sale.
WRN has unveiled its Digital Satellite Spring Sale by taking 10% off
its Eurobird digital satellite prices for any registered company
signing a full service contract for 64, 96 or 128 kb/s capacity
before 31st May 2004.
As Richard says, this makes entry onto Sky Digital even more
affordable for radio companies, "Sky Digital is a hugely important
digital radio platform in the UK because it is available in over 7
million homes so by reducing our prices for the entry level 64kb/s
and 96kb/s capacity we are making it a realistic distribution option
for any new radio station. Even stations coming to the end of their
current satellite contracts for uplink to Sky Digital can take
advantage of this great deal."
As one of the UK's leading radio transmission companies, WRN uplinks
almost one in five of the non-BBC radio stations available on Sky
Digital. These include FCUK FM, the London AM stations Club Asia and
Spectrum Radio and WRN's own international news station.
Fugitive unleashed in Liverpool
===============================
107.6 Juice FM launches (what they claim is) the biggest ever
promotion in Liverpool Radio History - the chance to grab a share of
£100,000 of cash rewards.
As the station celebrates four successful years of Juice FM, the next
promotion will be launched on its birthday.
Clive Dickens of Absolute Radio (UK), owner of the Liverpool station
told ukRadio.com:
"The fugitive was first unleashed in Australia in 2001 then on
European Radio in January 2002 at our sister station - 96FM in Cork,
we are really excited about bringing him to Liverpool this Summer, we
know the City will love it"
The Juice FM Fugitive will be on the run across Liverpool very soon,
with details on how to play to be unveiled over the next couple of
weeks
.Return
to Top
Wham ready to launch in Blaenavon
=================================
Blaenavon's community radio station WHAM! RADIO 1449 is all set to
throw the switch on Bank Holiday Monday 3rd May at Eastern Valley
Housing's Church View Annex.
Project Manager Alan Fossey told us:
"It's been hell and high water for the past few weeks but, although
there's still a huge amount of work to do, we're just about ready to
go live. I'm thrilled to have such a good team, including many who
already have broadcasting experience. I think everyone will be
surprised at how professional WHAM! will sound."
Top Radio Names go back to School
=================================
Point Blank - the London based Music College has added some big names
from the music industry to the teaching staff for their courses this
Summer.
Return
to Top
JAZZFM Live from New Orleans for Bank Holiday
==============================================
JAZZFM is set to produce a weekend of special programming across the
May Day bank holiday weekend when it broadcasts live from the 35th
Annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
During the Jazz Fest, which will feature legends such as Santana, Dr
John, Harry Connick Jr, Ray Charles, BB King and Smokey Robinson,
presenter Mike Chadwick will interview some of the world's major
music stars as well as some of the lesser-known artists who have
influenced jazz over the years.
Helen Mayhew will kick off the weekend of special programmes, titled
'The Big Easy' on Friday 30th April at 7pm with a two hour special.
Together with Mike live from Louisiana, the duo will set the scene
for the weekend - from the heritage of the city that is the home of
jazz to soaking up the atmosphere of the world's premier music
festival.
Across the three-day holiday Mike will transport listeners minds to
New Orleans with music from the festival and updates on activity
during various programmes from Sarah Ward's Saturday Dinner Jazz to
Campbell Burnap's Mainstem on Sunday. He will also host his Saturday
and Sunday night Cutting Edge programme (midnight - 2am) live from
the city.
The weekend will culminate in a three-hour jazz and blues special on
Bank Holiday Monday 3rd May (3-6pm) where Helen Mayhew will be
looking at the heritage of the festival and the playing the music
that has been at its core.
JAZZFM Programme Director Mark Walker said:
"This will be a vibrant weekend of programming which pays homage to
the jazz greats and will bring our listeners a flavour of, what is
arguably, the greatest jazz festival in the world. It also reiterates
our continued commitment to providing innovative and unique jazz
programming on our schedule."
Wednesday, April 28, 2004 (RN Media Network)
US NTIA supports position of shortwave users on BPL
The US National Telecommunications and Information Administration has released
its report on Broadband over Powerlines (BPL). The report comes out in favour of
the position adopted by the international broadcasters and the North American
Shortwave Association, representing shortwave listeners. The report says:
"HF radio is a very practical means of communicating directly with the
people of other nations because of the extensive availability of inexpensive
broadcast receivers. The BBG's global radio network, the Voice of America (VOA),
consists primarily of two powerful HF transmitter sites (located in California
and Virginia). [sic. The Greenville site is actually in North Carolina, not
Virginia].
"While the intended receivers of the VOA's transmissions generally are
abroad there are numerous broadcasting receivers owned and operated by foreign
citizens and government personnel in the United States that could be susceptible
to BPL interference because of proximity to power lines. Protecting other
administrations' broadcasting is critical because of reciprocity. The current
ITU-R B-03, Seasonal Broadcasting Schedule, shows multiple administrations
broadcasting to the United States for every timeframe within a 24-hour
period."
Thanks to Joe Buch and Rich Cuff for drawing our attention to this.
JUNE'S DIARY HAS BEEN LOST - IF YOU HAVE KEPT A COPY
PLEASE EMAIL IT TO US
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time to time. Items marked DXLD are from DX LISTENING DIGEST edited by Glenn
Hauser, wghauser@hotmail.com.
In the Year 2003 we have also started to refer to the Caroline Community News
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