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BUZZ FM The Spirit Of Birmingham |
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THE RHYTHM OF THE CITY - 102.4 BUZZ FM |
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BUZZ FM - A NEW NAME ARRIVES IN TOWN |
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BUZZ FM announced its impending arrival in 1989, it was to be the new name in town - the fourth radio station based in Birmingham -to complement BRMB FM, Radio WM and XTRA-AM. Unlike the IBA's ugly duckling description - "incremental station" - the name is short and sweet and loaded with potential puns. But there was one pun its directors didn't want you to think of, and that was BUZZ-off - one reason why it would operate round the clock. The, on-air target date was January, 1990, but the top priority was for the Department of Trade and Industry to approve a site. Two were under consideration and both "within a mile of New Street" in a bid to become the city's most physically accessible radio station. BUZZ FM would recruit about 20 staff from October 1989 - including presenters, engineers and sales staff.
The seeds for BUZZ FM were first sown in 1971 when music director John Henry and managing director Lindsay Reid met at BBC Radio Birmingham*. They both thought local radio could be better. After months spent quietly doing their' homework, in the event of Birmingham being offered a new station, the dream finally began turning to reality in April 1989 when they were able to formally apply. [* John Henry joined BBC Radio Birmingham when the station opened in 1970 to present the Ross and Henry show on Saturday mornings with Les Ross. John went on to work for the new Birmingham commercial station, BRMB, is 1974 as commercial and jingle producer for six months before joining Radio City to present a very successful six day per week music programme from 7pm to 10pm. After this John went on to from Hawkins and Henry's wine bar. It was the connection with Hawkins that led into the formation of Buzz FM.] 'We didn't. want to spend our time flag-waving'," said John. "The station is to serve the people of Birmingham. It is all very exciting - radio is beginning to change. Everybody would have liked it to have happened ten years ago, but maybe it wasn't the right time." Lindsay said one reason for BUZZ FM's success in being offered the licence was that it was the only applicant of the 15 to commission extensive market research - NOP surveyed 1,000 people on their behalf. We asked people what they would want more of and less of, and everything we said in our application was backed up by figures." he said. Buzz FM cost £500,000 to set up and would serve 650,000 people in its prime service area of central Birmingham, but Lindsay estimated that 1.1 to 1.2 million will be able to tune in, even though the centrally located transmitter would be very weak. Forecasts suggested that just under ten per cent of that 650,000 population needed to tune in regularly for the station to break even, but Lindsay believed 20 per cent would be listening at least once a week by the end of the first year creating a healthy safety net. "The common core is Birmingham; Birmingham, Birmingham, Birmingham," he added. "If you live in Birmingham this is the station for you because it is all about Birmingham! "Birmingham people are not interested in Redditch and vice versa. People want to know more about what is going on in their own area." Researcher and presenter Pogus Caeser said: "The music will become familiar. The charts are dominated by black music, but that is not reflected by the type of music we hear at the moment. We want to give music respect." BUZZ FM was hoping to tap the "disgruntled market" - people who currently drive along listening to cassettes in preference to the radio. The station could have up to nine minutes of advertising per hour, but the average will probably be around half that. Lindsay said general advertising rates would be about a quarter of the BRMB rate, to reflect the smaller audience. A High Street shop could have expected to pay around £5 for a 20 second prime-time evening slot, though to justify the £40-50 production cost, Lindsay said it would have to be broadcast several times. |
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THE BUZZ FM PRE-LAUNCH PROMISES and STATION FACTS |
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BUZZ FM's own remit was to provide a sophisticated music-based service, serving and informing a unified audience of multi-ethnic adults by day, providing specific programmes of special interest each evening and to accurately reflect urban contemporary life and actively foster social in volvement, co-operation and harmony. BUZZ FM promised to play easy soul, contemporary jazz, reggae, calypso and classical music using an integrate not segregate policy. There would be magazine programmes for local interests. RADA trained BUZZ FM chairman Zia Mohyeddin was the first Asian to have his name up in lights in London's West End. In 1973 John Henry produced the first Asian speaking programme in Birmingham. He trains two parrots in his spare time. Director Dame Jill Knight MP began her career broadcasting and songwriting for the British Forces Network, in Hamburg. Directors would not be paid in the first year. Among the 64 groups offering support were the Alcohol Advisory Service, Birmingham Dogs Home, Pensioners Voice and the Midlands Vietnamese Community. The budget for five full time presenters was £67,000; for five part time presenters £30,000 and for two full time researchers, £20,000. Lusaka-born presenter Kenny Rhodes once worked briefly for a pirate station in Birmingham. Two other presenters were currently working full-time for existing local radio stations. BUZZ FM wants ethnic groups to produce programmes with a wider than ethnic appeal to help build a cosmopolitan audience. The BBC World Service has been approached for magazine features. |
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BUZZ FM - THE LAUNCH |
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BUZZ FM launched on 14th May 1990 on 102.4 FM, and Breakfast Show presenter Mark Williams welcomed listeners to Buzz FM, the new 24-hour music, news and community station for Birmingham's wide and varied communities.
Mark's brief was to play fresh music without relying on the Top 40 to reflect the flavour of a station based in the city's Jewellery Quarter. Musical director John Henry said Buzz FM would be catering particularly for young people, who he described as the "future of Birmingham.". First of all I want to make it clear we are a Birmingham station. We are not catering for the West Midlands conurbation. And we are trying to lift the image of the city. "We are not talking about what Birmingham is - but what it will be." He hoped Buzz FM would become radio for the 1990s with emphasis on Birmingham's role as a city of the 90s. Minority music tastes, often ignored by national radio, would be given airtime on the new station. Jazz fans will be able to hear six hours uninterrupted music seven nights a week, without presenters. State-of-the-art equipment at the new radio station meant the music could be played non-stop without someone being there to cue the CDs. Asian music would be featured for an hour a night with Birmingham's Asian population being asked to choose what they want to hear. Mr Henry said: "We are serving a cosmopolitan population. We plan to blend cultural styles." Presenters on the station included former pirate radio host Mikey B and Lady Buzz, alias Nicky Jay. Canadian breakfast host Mark Williams was poached from a radio station in Vancouver. Former BRMB journalist Howard Bennett was in charge of the station's hourly news output, with the emphasis on Birmingham news. [Above information from The Birmingham Post and Evening Mail] |
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BUZZ FM - PROGRAMMES |
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| 7.00
am - BUZZ ON: The Big City Radio Breakfast Show with Mark Williams and
the Buzz Morning Team. It's a lively morning magazine with pacey music
reflecting local tastes rather then Top 40 fodder. There's
International and local news every hour, with traffic and travel
updates, and the promotion of the day's events In Brum. 10.00 am - BUZZ TRACKS: A two-hour selection of music ranging through a broad spectrum of styles not catered for by other radio stations. 12 Noon - GOOD DAY: The lunchtime update with DJ Mikey B looks at local and topical stories, news & consumer information, local events, gossip and guests. 3.00pm - BUZZ TRACKS: Same format as 10.00am. 4.00pm - BUZZ CRUISE: Richie Rollins hosts the drive home show with rush-hour music and reviews of theater, films, TV and radio. City events are previewed, and there's hourly news, traffic reports and city news. 7.00pm - BUZZ PARTY: Local hero Freaky D offers Hip Hop, House, Reggae, Balearic, Garage, Ragamuffin, Lover& Rock, Disco Mix International Imports and 'Hot Black Music News'. 9.00pm - EASTERN BUZZ: Presenters Assis and Daidi offer news and info primarily for Asians. The show will be presented in Punjabi Urdu, Gujarati, Hindi, and English. Buzz bosses see the show as the authoritative ethnic platform for the City. 10.00pm - BUZZ CITY: Alan Gooden looks at late night Brum with live outside broadcasts from city venues and the Buzz Bar welcoming start who have performed In Birmingham during the Many special slots for other ethnic groups such as the Irish and Greek communities 1.00 am - BUZZ JAZZ. Contemporary jazz and soul without interruption from presenters. |
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THE BUZZ FM TRANSMITTER |
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| The IBA allocated the new
incremental Birmingham licence holder, BUZZ FM, a very feeble
transmitter on a frequency that could suffer from some interference in
some parts. The transmitter was located on the roof of Metropolitan House, a tall office block at Five Ways in Edgbaston. The power allocated was a meager 40 Watts using a simple vertical dipole type aerial arrangement. This did not compare well with the 10,000 Watts or more used by BRMB and BBC Radio WM. The frequency chosen by the IBA was 102.4 MHz which, due to the low transmitter power, could suffer from interference from other local stations, such as Severn Sound in Gloucestershire, at the fringes. Portable and car radio listening could get rather 'scratchy' sometimes. With a good directional external FM aerial Buzz could be heard outside Birmingham in parts of Warwickshire, however.  A map produced by the RadioMobile plotting program which estimates the area of good or acceptable reception in green. The yellow area is where reception should be possible, but may suffer from interference. |
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It is interesting to note that when a new licensee took over from Buzz FM on January 1st 1995 (Choice FM) that the authorities specified a new frequency of 102.2 MHz and a much higher power output of 500 Watts, later increased to 1000 Watts in 2004 (which was after the licence had been sold on to Galaxy 102.2). |
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BUZZ PROBLEMS |
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| Buzz
was a station that seemed beset with problems. Within a year the
station was in big trouble, missing audience and revenue targets and
losing money. David Maker, well known for his work at North
west ILR station Red Rose Radio and later as an Independent Radio
industry's 'Mr Fixit' was brought in to try to put the station back on
its feet and cure it of "incrementalitis". Lindsay Reid was still
with the station as Technical Director while Dave Higgins was then Head
Of Music and Peter Salt was sales and marketing Director. By 1992 David Maker had gone and the station had been sold to the Radio Clyde Group, Tony Ingham was station Manager with Bob Williams as Head Of Sales. Radio Clyde obviously could not make a go of things at Buzz, the station was still losing money, and at the end of 1992 the station was once again sold on, this time to Chris Carey, known previously for his work in the pirate radio scene. Under Chris Carey Buzz FM sounded commercial and vibrant in a radio market that was rapidly becoming extremely competitive. Big names at the long established Birmingham ILR station BRMB were Brendan Kearney and Graham Torrington and they joined the Buzz FM team. Graham Torrington arriving in the summer of 1993, bringing with him the old BRMB programme Romantica - a late night programme of love songs. Under Chris Carey Lindsay Reid was Chief Engineer, Alistar Cochrane was Head Of Sales and Head Of News and Features was Sybil Fennell - well known for her longstanding work with London news station LBC. Even Chris Carey could not stem the large monetary losses at Buzz and lacking any further investment Mr Carey closed down his station in December 1993. However within two weeks Buzz FM passed into the hands of record producer Muff Murfin who got Buzz back on the air. Mr Murfin was Chairman and Managing Director, Ginny Murfin was Station Manager, Graham Torrington was made Programme Controller and Head of Sales was Janet Stevens. Mr Murfin applied to the Radio Authority for a renewal of the station's licence, which was due to expire at the end of 1994. The Radio Authority dealt Muff Murfin a blow though, and did not renew the station's licence to broadcast to Birmingham. Buzz FM continued broadcasting to the very end. The last moment came at midnight on 31st December 1994 after a day of tributes to the past five years of broadcasting. The final record played up to midnight was 'End Of The Road' by Boyz II Men. At midnight the engineers took the Buzz FM transmitter off the air and 102.4 went blank for a few seconds. A few moments later the new licencee, Choice FM Birmingham switched on their new, more powerful transmitter and went on the air on 102.2 MHz VHF / FM stereo. That was indeed the end of the road for Buzz FM. |
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BUZZ PEOPLE |
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Some of the names heard on Buzz over the years: Mark Williams - Nicky Jay - Brendan Kearney
- Graham Torrington - Freaky D - Martin Jeans -
- Chad George - Simon Harding - Charlie Neil - Charlie Jordan - Mikey B - Alan Gooden - Nic Tuff - Alan Cale - Bob Lawrence - Sybill Fennell - Richie Rollins - Daidi - Assis Muff
(John) Murfin is a music writer (he wrote the Gladiators theme and
numerous radio jingles packages), music producer and publisher.
He was a founder member of the team that launched Radio Wyvern in 1982
and acted as a consultant to Radio Wyvern for several years. Muff
took on Buzz FM in 1993 and ran the station until the end of its
licence in December 1994. He then bought Radio Harmony in
Coventry
in 1995 and relaunched the station as KIX 96, turning it into a
successful station working as part of the community, education and
charity work. He was also was founder shareholder and director of
FM 102 The Bear in Stratford upon Avon, which launched in 1996, and ran
this highly popular station in a prudent and profitable manner.
In 1997 Sunshine Radio (Ludlow) requested Muff to become director and
majority shareholder, he arranged a re-financing of the station,
designed new studios for the station and moved the operation into new
premises. In 1997 the friendly society (a cooperative) that ran
Radio Maldwyn in Wales asked Muff to turn that station into a limited
company, re-finance and re-launch. Radio Malwyn is a small scale
community style station, but produces all programmes locally and is
profitable. In 1998 Muff became a director and founding
shareholder of Mansfield 103.2 and concentrated on locally produced
programmes. In 1999 he bought Classic Gold Radio in Hereford and
Worcester from GWR moved to new studios in Worcester re-naming the
station Classic Hits and becoming director.
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BUZZ FM - THE AUDIO FILES |
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THE FUTURE |
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John Henry is moving back into radio with the opening of a new BUZZ FM station on The Canaries. The new Buzz FM will be a brand new style of music radio station, not constrained in the way that todays UK commercial radio (ILR) is by a playlist of a handful of records played over and over again. http://www.buzz888.com/index.html Nice one John! |
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EXTERNAL
LINKS
BUZZ FM Lanzarote & Fuerteventura 88.6 & 88.8 FM RADIO MALDWYN - Newtown - Mid Wales SUNSHINE 855 - Ludlow - South Shropshire MANSFIELD103.2 - Mansfield - Nottinghamshire CLASSIC HITS - Hereford and Worcester |
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