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DOUBLING
UP : Splitting AM and FM Broadcasting |
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| Also See: ILR SPLITS AM and FM
and XTRA AM |
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DOUBLING UP - The Splitting Of AM and FM Broadcasting In The UK In The 1980's The IBA noted this in 1986: Everything changed at Capital Radio in London on Sundays, - but then again everything stayed exactly as it was! confused? Then read on.... The Sunday service from Capital radio stayed just as it was while at the same time it was entirely different. "On Sundays you'll wish you had a spare pair of ears" was the confident slogan to mark the splitting of Capital Radio's 95.8 FM frequency from its 1548 AM (194 meters) medium wave service to provide Londoners with a choice of two sets of differing programming. Jo Sandilands, Programme Director at Capital Radio explained: "Confident though we and our slogan were on that first Sunday in May 1986, we were taking, if not a leap in the dark, then certainly a tentative step in the twilight." "Own up, how many of us who should know the difference between a kilohertz and a megahertz still tune our radio by locating the gravy stain and moving a twitch to the left of it? We did some research a couple of years ago in which a large percentage of listeners stalwartly said they were tuned to FM and listening in stereo. When we looked at the radio in question, it turned out to be a kitchen tranny on AM. Understandably they are confused: out of that radio would have come our call sign saying Capital Radio 1548 AM and 95.8 FM in stereo." THE SOUND OF THE FUTURE
Meanwhile, back on Capital AM, Londoners who already like what they are getting will tune in and still find familiar voices, hit singles blended with good oldies, competitions, listener involvement, traffic info and the news on the hour." At the time of writing Capital Radio had notched up just two Sundays. "Reaction, so far, has been good and it's irresistible to think that this experiment could become a way of life." |
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| THE SPLITTING OF OTHER
RADIO STATIONS IN THE UK - 1988 / 1989 |
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UNTIL the mid 1980's anybody visiting the UK from an American, Australian or European radio station, could not understand why we in Britain were so wasteful of the precious spectrum. Why were the national networks, BBC Local Radio and Independent Local Radio broadcast on two frequencies simultaneously? Thanks to a change in government policy in the middle 1980's, the situation changed rapidly - reportedly to the advantage of the listener. It took time time to achieve this change, initially because FM was not available on all radio sets. BBC Local Radio, which started on FM in 1967, did not really take off until it was given medium wave frequencies in the early 1970s. This affected all our judgements until the late 1980s. BBC Radio research continually showed a massive predominance of medium wave listening, which we now realise was due to the fact that Radio 1, their most popular service, was only available on medium wave. To test the situation, the IBA and the Home Office set up a two-year experiment in 1985, with selected stations asked to produce different programming simultaneously on the AM and FM frequencies. Viking Radio tried rugby league against country music. Piccadilly Radio broadcast the Halle Proms live. GWR featured specialist interest programming on FM Marcher Sound provided separate programming in Welsh. Capital Radio tried CFM a Sunday 'yuppie' service. In Leicester, the Radio Trent Group dramatically expanded its Asian programming output. For the first time, Independent Radio stations were able to target their audiences more precisely. Stations had been used to having to be all things to all people and had succeeded remarkably well; now local stations could increase output and serve listeners even better. At the Radio Trent Group in the East Midlands the Asian programme Sabras moved from five hours on two days to 16 hours across seven, purely as a result of this new opportunity. With successes such as this, it became obvious to everyone, including the Home Office, that a more efficient use of the spectrum was necessary, especially as room had to be found for the multitude of new stations planned. With that in mind, plus the concern that stations might actually lose a frequency if it was not used for alternative services, research got underway in the spring of 1988. To everybody's amazement at stations up and down the country, it was found that the majority of listening was on FM. Clearly promotional efforts had paid off and, with a great deal of confidence, it was going to be possible to provide successful programming on both FM and AM. The research technique used by the Radio Trent Group, although not statistically rigorous, was sufficiently conclusive for us to act. Using each frequency on each of our three stations over a period of five days we appealed to our listeners: 'If you are listening to this announcement, please call to help us in deciding how we move our services forward in the future.' Using six separate telephone numbers, in each case unique to the particular frequency, we received over 8,000 calls. The breakdown of listening figures to the Radio Trent Group stations is given in the table below, while the following table shows the types of services initially provided by other stations:
So, with a clear move to FM listening, what should be the next step? Which service on which frequency? And how were the decisions made? A look at Radio Trent's available audience research pointed the way:
Radio Trent, as with most ILR stations, were superb generalists - the best in fact - but in a more competitive future we would be likely to lose out as advertisers became even more sophisticated in targeting their markets. Be it jeans or thermal underwear, they would be asking whether a rock station or an easy listening station would be more cost-effective in reaching their target audience. Radio Trent Group took the simple decision in the summer of 1988 that the three FM services would stay local with a mix of high-quality music, news, information and interviews. The three AM frequencies would then be combined to give a regional service with a separate local news output, comprehensive sports coverage and chart hits from the past four decades across Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire. GEM-AM, for the East Midlands, launched on 4th October, and was an immediate success and it was hoped would gain new audiences. Trent's chart oriented FM services took on Radio 1 and GEM competed against BBC Radio 2 and BBC Local Radio even more effectively. There were initial problems of confusion and of losing listeners. Making the decision to split services meant committing the most possible, and some more, to advertising and promotion. But after several weeks the decision seemed to have paid off. The creation of entirely separate 24-hour services meant a considerable investment in studios, computers and, above all, staff. GEM needed another 15 staff, the majority of those on the programming side were trained by radio Trent. Capital expenditure amounted to £115,000 with another £75,000 spent on promotion costs. But it was in profit from Day One. The development of split frequencies seemed to fit in perfectly with the continued expansion of the Radio Trent Group: Leicester Sound in 1984, Derby in 1987, the Radio Training Unit in January 1988 and then GEM-AM in October 1988. The expansion put the group in a strong position for the future: They had to take some brave decisions, not just looking at the short term but considering the medium and long term future for the company and for our listeners. The ability to split frequencies has been the essential catalyst in making these decisions. The programme Sabras, which is where we started, went on to run for four hours a night on the Leicester AM frequency of 1260 kHz - more radio for the Asian community than any other station in Europe at the time. The group hoped that it would continue to expand, offering the essential choices in which the group believed. The 1260 kHz Leicester AM frequency later was split off from the Radio Trent Group as n entirely separate licence serving the Asian communities of Leicestershire known as SABRAS SOUND. |
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