 |
UK RADIO A Brief History - Part 3 Commercial Expansion By Mike Smith |
 |
 |
To Home
Page |
To UK RADIO - A Brief History - Part One |  |
|
To
Radio Stations &
Memorabilia |
To UK RADIO - A Brief History - Part Two | |
UK
Radio: A Brief History - Part 3.
Commercial Expansion.
Although the BBC local radio stations had proved to be a success for community radio, there was still a demand from listeners for a form of commercial radio independent from the BBC, represented most strongly by the commercial radio lobby. A change of government occurred in 1970 which saw the passing of Harold Wilson's Labour administration to Edward Heath's Conservative government in 1970 (Edward Heath's government was in power from 1970 until 1974). this Conservative government looked upon the introduction of commercial radio much more favourably. In March 1971 a white paper, 'An Alternative Service Of Radio Broadcasting' was published. The Sound Broadcasting Bill followed, becoming the Sound Broadcasting Act in 1972. This new act transformed the ITA into the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) giving it the additional responsibility for sound broadcasting in the UK. The radio only licence was abolished in February 1971, from then on it was necessary to have only a television licence, which would fund both BBC television and radio.
The commercial radio lobby, and possibly the potential listeners, would be disappointed with the government's plans for commercial radio. The potential operators had hoped for a national pop station that would be cheap to run, generate large audiences and therefore make large sums of money from advertising. What they got was as far removed from that scenario as anyone could have possibly imagined. Instead of a station that would have the owners drowning in oceans of easy money, what they got was a system in which they would almost drown in oceans of government and IBA bureaucracy!
It would be a very highly regulated system with tight programming requirements and extremely high technical standards. The IBA was given a plan to introduce nineteen local stations in eighteen areas and began advertising the initial franchises in 1972 anticipating that the first stations would be on air by 1973 and development would continue until 1976. The IBA plan did not refer to commercial radio, instead it was given the title Independent Local Radio (ILR). The new stations would be required to provide a public service radio funded by advertising, rather than the non-stop pop and 'DJs' that the offshore stations had provided eight years earlier. The stations would have a remit to appeal to all sections of the potential audience - they would be expected to be all things to all people - a resource that anyone could tune in to and find something of interest or pleasure. - So not a difficult task at all then!
Some wavelengths had to be re-organised to accommodate new local BBC and ILR medium wave transmitters, for example Radio Four lost 206m (1457kHz) and 261m (1151 kHz) and Radio Three had to hand over 194 metres (1546 kHz).
BBC local radio initially started life serving small, or tightly defined areas but gradually evolved into more regional or county-wide stations serving larger areas with bigger transmitters. ILR was to start life as BBC local radio had done, as a number of small services serving a main city and its surrounding area often with smaller transmitters than BBC local radio currently used. One particular exception to this rule was the London area which would have two ILR stations, rather than one, and serve the whole of the Greater London area and much of the Home Counties with a wide-ranging signal.
Commercial Expansion.
Although the BBC local radio stations had proved to be a success for community radio, there was still a demand from listeners for a form of commercial radio independent from the BBC, represented most strongly by the commercial radio lobby. A change of government occurred in 1970 which saw the passing of Harold Wilson's Labour administration to Edward Heath's Conservative government in 1970 (Edward Heath's government was in power from 1970 until 1974). this Conservative government looked upon the introduction of commercial radio much more favourably. In March 1971 a white paper, 'An Alternative Service Of Radio Broadcasting' was published. The Sound Broadcasting Bill followed, becoming the Sound Broadcasting Act in 1972. This new act transformed the ITA into the IBA (Independent Broadcasting Authority) giving it the additional responsibility for sound broadcasting in the UK. The radio only licence was abolished in February 1971, from then on it was necessary to have only a television licence, which would fund both BBC television and radio.
The commercial radio lobby, and possibly the potential listeners, would be disappointed with the government's plans for commercial radio. The potential operators had hoped for a national pop station that would be cheap to run, generate large audiences and therefore make large sums of money from advertising. What they got was as far removed from that scenario as anyone could have possibly imagined. Instead of a station that would have the owners drowning in oceans of easy money, what they got was a system in which they would almost drown in oceans of government and IBA bureaucracy!
It would be a very highly regulated system with tight programming requirements and extremely high technical standards. The IBA was given a plan to introduce nineteen local stations in eighteen areas and began advertising the initial franchises in 1972 anticipating that the first stations would be on air by 1973 and development would continue until 1976. The IBA plan did not refer to commercial radio, instead it was given the title Independent Local Radio (ILR). The new stations would be required to provide a public service radio funded by advertising, rather than the non-stop pop and 'DJs' that the offshore stations had provided eight years earlier. The stations would have a remit to appeal to all sections of the potential audience - they would be expected to be all things to all people - a resource that anyone could tune in to and find something of interest or pleasure. - So not a difficult task at all then!
Some wavelengths had to be re-organised to accommodate new local BBC and ILR medium wave transmitters, for example Radio Four lost 206m (1457kHz) and 261m (1151 kHz) and Radio Three had to hand over 194 metres (1546 kHz).
BBC local radio initially started life serving small, or tightly defined areas but gradually evolved into more regional or county-wide stations serving larger areas with bigger transmitters. ILR was to start life as BBC local radio had done, as a number of small services serving a main city and its surrounding area often with smaller transmitters than BBC local radio currently used. One particular exception to this rule was the London area which would have two ILR stations, rather than one, and serve the whole of the Greater London area and much of the Home Counties with a wide-ranging signal.
London Broadcasting
The two franchises for London were a
London News and Information service and a London General Entertainment
service.
 An early LBC logo |
The first contractor on air was London
Broadcasting Co. (LBC), which had been awarded the 'London News and
Information' franchise. London Broadcasting launched on October
8th
1973 at 6am on 417m (719 kHz) medium wave and 97.3 MHz VHF
stereo.
The first voices heard on air were David Jessell and the experienced
Australian journalist Ken Guy. The station was based at Gough
Square, near the heart of journalism in Fleet Street, and would also
provide a news service to the ILR stations that followed. The news service that LBC would provide to the rest of the Independent Local Radio network was called Independent Radio News (IRN), the radio equivalent of independent television's ITN service. |
The IRN news service would be funded by
the other ILR stations paying subscriptions based on their audience
size, turnover and profits, and played an important role in radio
journalism and certainly forced BBC radio to rethink methods of radio
news gathering, technology and presentation styles.
| A week after LBC came on air Capital Radio, brainchild of Richard (Lord) Attenborough, launched on 16th October 1973 on 539 m (557 kHz) medium wave and 95.8 MHz VHF stereo. Capital had won the London General Entertainment franchise and provided a mix of music led programmes fronted by some famous DJ's such as Dave Cash and Kenny Everett, who presented some marvellously fun programmes on Capital. The station had a remit to appeal to the widest possible audience, of course, and included specialist music programmes, radio plays and soap operas, classical music, community features and news documentaries. |
 An early Capital logo
|
 London Underground's Lots Road power station, showing the AM aerial slung between the chimneys. Photo by Philip Rayner & supplied by Roger Sharp. |
The two new ILR stations earned
themselves an early nickname of 'Radio Clothesline' in the press, which
was entirely unfair as it was through no fault of their own that the
IBA
had been unable to obtain planning permission sufficiently quickly to
erect the necessary masts for the two stations' medium wave
transmitters at a suitable site. The IBA had to hastily install
low power transmitters and 'T aerial' between two chimneys on the, now
demolished, Lots Road power station belonging to London Transport. Two temporary medium wave frequencies of
539m (557Khz at 0.5 kW) for Capital and 417m (719Khz at 0.25 kW) for
London Broadcasting were used, rather than the allocated 194m (1546kHz)
and 261m (1151kHz). This was no doubt due to the fact that the
signals from the temporary Lots Road facility at these higher
frequencies would have been severely attenuated, thereby limiting
coverage:
When the IBA finally built the new directional radio transmission masts at Saffron Green, to the north of London, the following year, Capital Radio on 194 meters (1546 kHz) used 97.5 kilowatts in the direction of the centre of London, while LBC on 261m (1151 kHz) used 23.5 kilowatts. At this time pirate station Radio Veronica had been broadcasting from the North Sea on 557 KHz, so listeners to Veronica were not at all pleased when Capital Radio arrived on the same channel, effectively ending the reception of Veronica around the capital. Radio Veronica did cause some interference and could often be heard in the background of Capital Radio's programmes. |
[It is interesting to note that these two
temporary channels are now used by current radio stations in the
capital, BBC Radio Four uses 417m (720 kHz), originally from Lots Road,
but more recently from Crystal Palace once the Lots Road power station
was decommissioned. Community station Spectrum uses 539m (558 kHz)
also from Crystal palace and can often be heard easily on a
normal
transistor radio as far away as Birmingham - Capital Radio possibly
enjoyed similar reception in those early days!]
 Photo by Martin Watkins.
The IBA mast at Croydon showing the special mixed polarised aerials for ILR which improved reception for listeners with portable and car radios. |
Eventually, about eighteen months later,
a permanent site at Saffron Green, in North London, was ready to to go into
service using a directional
high gain four mast aerial array . The aerial system was
specially designed to be highly directional to beam the signals
Southwards over London with very little power allowed to escape to the
North to eliminate any possible interference to other ILR stations on
the same frequencies that would soon be in operation. To
illustrate the gain of the aerial system, the LBC transmitter on 1151
kHz has an output power of 5.5kW whereas the maximum e.m.r.p. -
effective monopole radiated power - (ie to the South) from the Saffron
Green masts is measured as 23.5 kW, with probably only a few hundred
Watts allowed to escape to the North. The Capital transmitter on
1546 kHz has an output of 27.5 kW producing an maximum e.m.r.p. of
97.5kW to the South, which Capital Radio
usually conveniently round up
to 100kW when quoting powers.
On the VHF FM side the IBA specified that
all the new ILR stations were to be in stereo (BBC local radio was in
mono at the time) and benefit from mixed polarisation aerials, which
improved reception on portable and car radios. BBC local
radio had previously adopted a form of mixed polarisation by
using
a 'slant' technique on some stations. The IBA specified a
more complex 'Circular' polarisation for many ILR stations.
|
| Birmingham, Glasgow And More Get
Their Own Stations |
||
|
The next station to go on air, on 31st
December 1973, was Radio Clyde in Glasgow on 261m (1151 kHz) medium
wave
from a 2kW transmitter on Dechmont Hill and 95.1 stereo VHF from a 3.4
kW transmitter on the IBA's Black Hill TV mast.
BRMB Radio in Birmingham followed on 19th February 1974 from the old ATV studio building on Aston Road North, just outside Birmingham city centre. The IBA had installed an 800 Watt transmitter at Langley Mill, to the North East of Birmingham, which produced an effective monopole radiated power (e.m.r.p.) to the South West across Birmingham from a directional, high gain four mast antenna array. This used 261m (1151 kHz) medium wave, a wavelength that had recently been relinquished by the BBC Home Service to make room for the start of commercial radio in the UK. The IBA chose the 405 line TV mast used by ATV, at Lichfield (Hints) to install the VHF transmitter. This used 94.8MHz with 2kW effective radiated power (e.r.p.) using mixed polarisation and was in stereo. The Kevin Morrison Breakfast Show launched BRMB into the thick of the 1974 Three Day Week - a period of industrial unrest for Edward Heath's government caused by wage and price controls and the subsequent miners strikes, which led to the frequent power cuts that many of us can remember. Even BRMB's transmissions failed for a short time during the first afternoon of broadcasting. Ed Doolan made his debut in British radio at BRMB (after working at Deutsche Welle in Cologne) with the afternoon programme, which he launched with the words "Let's get this baby on the road!". Fifteen more ILR stations were launched over the next two years: Piccadilly Radio in Manchester on 2nd April 1974; Metro Radio in Tyne and Wear on15th July 1974; Swansea Sound in South Wales on 30th September 1974; Radio Hallam in Sheffield and Rotherham on 1st October 1974; Radio City in Merseyside on 21st October 1974; Radio Forth in Edinburgh on 22nd January 1975; Plymouth Sound on 19th May 1975; Radio Tees on 24th June 1975; Radio Trent in Nottingham on 3rd July 1975; Pennine Radio in Bradford on 16th September 1975; Radio Victory in Portsmouth on 14th October 1975; Radio Orwell in Ipswich on 28th October 1975; Radio 210 in Reading on 8th March 1976 and Downtown Radio in Belfast on 16th March 1976. |
|
 GORDON
ASTLEY
Great 1980's style! A Beacon Radio presenter photo. |
The last ILR station to launch was Beacon
Radio, serving Wolverhampton and the Black Country, on 12th April
1976 from studios on Tettenhall Road in Wolverhampton on 303 metres
(989
kHz) medium wave from a transmitter at Sedgley & 97.2 MHz VHF from
a transmitter on Turners
Hill. Beacon Radio was an interesting experiment for the IBA since the coverage area was designed to have a partial overlap with BRMB from Birmingham and would therefore give many listeners a alternative ILR service to tune into. All other ILR stations until this time had distinctly defined and separated areas. Beacon Radio had a rather different sound to other ILR's of the time with more of an emphasis on 'rock' music and the presentation style had a somewhat 'mid-Atlantic' feel. The specialist programmes and popular phone-ins were still present however, and the station proved to be a very popular alternative. The IBA had provided a mix of areas with ILR - some major conurbations such as Glasgow, London and Birmingham, together with much smaller areas such as Ipswich, Portsmouth and Swansea. In the early days ILR was an experiment to ascertain how commercial radio could survive in different economic environments. This approach left major parts of the UK such as Oxford, Bristol, Cardiff, Leeds, Southampton and Norwich, with no ILR service. These areas would gain their own commercial radio station in the following decade - during the 1980's. |
 |
<Birmingham
ILR (BRMB) The two maps show that the ILR Wolverhampton area overlapped somewhat with the ILR Birmingham area. Wolverhampton ILR
(Beacon)>
|
 |
The maps above show the individual coverage areas of ILR Birmingham and ILR Wolverhampton. The single BBC local radio station, Radio Birmingham, covered a much wider from a more powerful transmitter area encompassing Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry. Beacon and BRMB were quite lucky in ILR terms in that they had reasonably powerful transmitters of 1 and 2 kilowatt respectively. Other smaller stations had to battle with much lower powers, just as the early BBC local stations had done. The management (namely Bill MacDonald) of Radio Hallam in Sheffield, for example, constantly complained to the IBA about their allocation of a lowly 0.2 kW transmitter at Tapton Hill (a situation that the IBA did not address until the mid 1980's). BBC Radio Sheffield benefited from a 5.2 kW transmitter at the landmark Holme Moss mast in addition to a low power (0.03 kW) fill-in relay at Tapton Hill and this made the IBA's Radio Hallam transmitter look positively miserly.
| Labour
Government Halts Commercial Radio Development |
||
| Once the initial nineteen stations,
sanctioned by the Conservative government, had come on air the
development of ILR came to a halt in
1976 with the last of the 19 stations, Beacon Radio arriving on April
12th 1976. Labour had been returned to power in 1974 under Harold
Wilson and in 1976 James Callaghan succeeded Wilson as Labour Leader and
Prime Minister. The
Labour government was not keen on commercial
organisations running radio stations and so needed a period of
reflection before sanctioning any further development of the
Independent
Local Radio system. In the mean time the BBC had opened a new television centre at Pebble Mill, Birmingham, in 1971, and was also experimenting with teletext in 1972, launching the BBC CEEFAX service in 1973. The BBC expanded the opt-out service from Radio Four in Northern Ireland by launching BBC Radio Ulster which started on January 1st 1975. In 1978 the government discussed the possibility of an Open Broadcasting Authority and the possibility of a fourth terrestrial television channel which had already been allocated space during the 1960's when UHF television bands were planned. The idea of the BBC running satellite television services was also proposed. The fourth television channel was eventually administered by the IBA which franchised the Channel Four Television corporation to operate in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and S4C to operate the Welsh language TV service in Wales. These services started in 1982, but the BBC never got to run satellite television. The Geneva Plan Back to radio: 1978 brought about a wholesale re-organisation of medium and long wave frequencies, after international agreement at Geneva in 1975. These changes were designed to make more efficient use of these frequencies to minimise congestion and interference. All mediumwave stations were re-aligned into strict 9kHz spacing, for local BBC and ILR stations this was just a case of altering frequency by one or two kilohertz, for example Capital, Forth, City and Hallam moved from 1546 to 1548 kHz while LBC, BRMB, Piccadilly and Clyde moved from 1151 to 1152 kHz. One exception was Manx Radio on the Isle of Man, which had its daytime and night time frequencies of 1295 and 1594 kHz frequencies consolidated into one frequency of 1368 kHz (219 metres) which would be used day and night. The big changes in the UK were for BBC national radio. Radio One which had been blighted with inferior signals on 247 metres (1214 kHz) moved to 275 and 285 metres (1089 and 1053 kHz) from a network of much more powerful transmitters. Radio Three lost the wonderfully smooth and widespread 647 kHz transmission from Daventry, to take its new place on the chain of old Radio One transmitters, which suffered co-channel fading in many parts of the country. The 648 kHz channel was re-allocated to the BBC World Service, and was transmitted to Europe from the Orfordness transmitting station. The BBC World Service on medium wave had been moved from the Crowborough transmitting station on 276 metres (1088 kHz) so that this channel could be re-allocated to Radio One (which, as mentioned, would now use 1089 and 1053 kHz). Radio Four therefore vacated 285 metres (1052 kHz), 330 metres (908 kHz) and 433 metres (692 kHz) and moved to LongWave 198 kHz. Radio Two left 200 kHz longwave and moved to two of the old Radio Four wavelengths - 433 & 330 metres (693 and 909 kHz).  A little flyer distributed by the BBC in preparation for the all encompassing wavelength changes in 1978. (1322 meters / 227 kHz Long Wave was never actually used by the BBC) |
|
I don't know who was more bewildered by the changes, the BBC engineers who had to perform this daunting task overnight (and who were a little late switching back on the London transmitters at Brookmans Park), or the poor listeners?
Radio One listeners must have been happy as now they had a more powerful signal, though not VHF stereo like Radio Two or ILR!
Continental listeners to Radio Two were extremely unhappy as the longwave reception (and Terry Wogan with it) had been lost to the speech network of Radio Four, the BBC received many letters of complaint from Brits abroad demanding that Mr Wogan be re-instated. The good news was that Radio Scotland and Radio Wales were created as distinct stations on the old Radio Four Scottish and Radio Four Welsh medium wave opt-out frequencies of 810 and 882 kHz. They would be part time initially, broadcasting for only 20 hours per week, still relaying Radio Four at other times, however the groundwork had been laid for the stations to become important, respected full-time services. More good news arrived in January 1979 as Radio Two became a 24 hour station with a new programme called You The Night And The Music on air in the wee small hours.
The BBC issued a shiny little card measuring 75mm wide by 117mm tall to help confused listeners find their favourite BBC national radio stations:
 |
 |
The colour of the government would change back to blue in 1979. The Conservatives were keen to resume expansion of the ILR stations and therefore the IBA was granted a mandate to further develop the ILR network. The first of seven new stations authorised by the Home Secretary was CBC (Cardiff Broadcasting Company) which came on air on 11th April 1980 quickly followed by Mercia Sound (the twenty first ILR radio station) in Coventry and Warwickshire on 23rd May 1980. Many more ILR franchises were advertised, with most of the stations coming on air during the 1980's as the IBA attempted to fill major gaps in coverage: Leeds, Norfolk, Humberside, Devon, Cambridgeshire, Surrey, Kent, Essex, Bristol, Peterborough, Northamptonshire, Wiltshire, Leicester, Wrexham & Deeside, Gwent, Reigate & Crawley, Inverness, Southampton, Preston & Blackpool, Bury St. Edmunds, Gloucestershire, Stoke on Trent, Derby, Sussex, Tayside, Bournemouth, Ayrshire, Hereford & Worcester all got new ILR services.
An IBA map of the ILR Areas. Solid black arrows represent stations on air by 1982,
the outline arrows represent stations due to be on the air from 1983 to 1984
| At the end of 1982
the IBA viewed the development of its ILR franchises in this way: Last winter Independent Local Radio played a significant part in helping the country overcome the effects of the worst weather on record for many years. Millions of listeners tuned to their ILR station for instant, relevant, encouraging and entertaining programming. ILR gained many new listeners and once again demonstrated the value of truly local (yet professional) radio stations. It is expected that 38 Independent Local Radio stations will be on air by the end of 1982, five new stations having been added during the year broadcasting to communities in and around Inverness, Bury St. Edmunds, Swindon / West Wiltshire, Hereford/Worcester, and Preston & Blackpool. Companies have also been selected to serve a further six areas (Wrexham & Deeside, Stoke-on-Trent, Londonderry, Newport (Gwent), Guildford, and Brighton); and the franchises for another three areas (Maidstone & Medway, Humberside, and Reigate & Crawley) have been advertised. This will bring the total by 1983-84 to 47 stations, a healthy stride towards achieving the IBA's aim of bringing ILR to as much of the UK as possible, as quickly as practicable. At the end of 1982 about 60% of the population is within range of the VHF transmissions of an ILR station. Medium wave coverage, which is designed as far as possible to match VHF, may be greater, particularly at certain times of day; and the stations' marketing areas (Total Survey Areas), within which a reasonable signal may be heard, cover around 80% of the population. Despite the difficult economic circumstances throughout most of the country the IBA intends to move ahead steadily and carefully towards providing an ILR service for the 69 areas which have so far been authorised by the Home Secretary. Barnsley, included in an earlier batch of areas, is being considered as part of a general review of South Yorkshire as a whole which was requested by the Home Secretary in July 1981 when he authorised the latest list of areas. Future coverage of the Isle of Wight is also to be considered by the IBA and recommendations will be made to the Home Secretary. As new areas are considered by the Authority much thought needs to be given to the possibility of financial viability. ILR is a wholly self-financing operation. The Broadcasting Act requires the IBA to keep separate the finances of television and radio. Neither the IBA nor the programme companies receive any money from public funds or from the licence fee (which pays for the BBC's home services). Creating a new radio station from scratch can be quite an expensive operation, both for the IBA which owns the transmitters and hires most of the British Telecom lines, and for the programme company which rents the transmitters, hires some of its own lines, constructs studios and employs a staff, which is usually around 28-32 strong for about a 15-hour broadcasting day. The IBA is keen to find suitable and sensible ways to minimise costs without seriously affecting standards. Pressures occur from time to time to relax technical parameters; every avenue is explored. but the Authority is mindful that a public used to high professional standards for many years is unlikely to find anything of a lesser quality attractive enough to listen to for any length of time. Areas in which co-operation can take place are encouraged by the Authority. For example, two adjacent companies might share an outside broadcast facility. In some instances it might be realistic to share marketing effort - but the cutting edge of competition should not be blunted in the interests of what might seem to be a tidy solution. Some future areas may not have the population coverage necessary to attract advertising rates which are sufficient to support a self-financing operation. In these instances some association, either contractually or otherwise, might be prudent. For example, it might be possible to preserve a proportion of separate programming output while saving on overheads. This already occurs quite successfully in two ILR areas. The IBA places significance on the proportion of local shareholding in an ILR station. One of the strengths of ILR is that its roots are generally local. On average, across the first 34 stations, local money accounts for about 80% of the financial backing. Resources needed to launch a typical ILR station in 1982 totalled about £600,000 to £700,000. |
BRMB Radio in Birmingham issued a tuning guide to help listeners tune to 1152 kHz medium wave
and 94.8 MHz VHF stereo. The little red triangles are stickers that listeners could stick to their
radio dials to locate the position of BRMB on their radio.
|
THE
BRMB GUIDE TO GETTING THE BEST RECEPTION
Always
listen to BRMB on 94.8 MHz FM if you possibly can. With a good
quality
receiver, you'll get better fidelity, improved dynamic range of sound
and far less interference. If you listen on 261 Metres (1152 kHz)
Medium Wave, you may be able to improve your reception by placing your
radio near a window or by turning the set for minimum interference. A
good aerial and earth system can also help. And for first class stereo
VHF
reception, a good aerial is virtually essential. In any event,
tune your receiver
carefully and learn how to set the controls. The quality of modern
radio reception is well worth the little extra trouble....
especially on BRMB!
|
ILR developed quickly, and despite of
(or
it could be argued because of) the stringent regulation of the IBA, was
regarded to be both a programming success which was popular with the
audience, although many of the smaller stations were never going to be
licences to print money.
In programming terms ILR still had to be all things to all people and most stations met this challenge and gained large and loyal audiences. The 1970's and 1980's, and perhaps the first year or two of the 1990's, was the period when your local ILR station provided the fun at breakfast and was with you on the 'school run', it was the housewife's choice during the day, provided the news, travel, music and the 'chemist rota' in the afternoon and was the specialist music lover's friend in the early evening with programmes of classical, folk, jazz, big band, rock or new-wave being aired. One of the most popular formats on many ILR stations in the '70's and '80's was the night time "phone-in" when controversial presenters had some interesting and often heated discussions with listeners. Names such as James Whale on Radio Aire in Leeds, Andy Lloyd on Mercia Sound in Coventry, Nick Meanwell on BRMB, Simon Potter on Hereward Radio in Cambridgeshire and Alan Beswick on Red Rose Radio in Lancashire immediately spring to mind. ILR was extremely entertaining, and there were many other examples too!
Mercia Sound in Coventry, Warwickshire and South West Leicestershire was an enormous success in the 1980's. The station provided high quality and varied programmes with a first rate news output provided by an excellent team of journalists. The audiences were very high and Mercia Sound made a profit of £250,000 in its first year on air, and became a model for the perfect way to launch a new ILR station. Great radio professionals at Mercia included the late John Warwick, Gordon Astley, Andy Lloyd, Jim Lee (now with Radio Four), Stuart Linnell, Tony Gillham (now with BBC Devon), Mark Keen, Dave Jamieson and Annie Othen (now with BBC Coventry and Warwickshire).
Radio West in Bristol launched with big plans, big names and expensive studios in 1981 which, together with fierce competition from BBC Radio Bristol, proved the undoing of the station. Revenue fell short of predictions and programmes were cut back within two years, the station close-down being at 7pm. By 1984 there had been a slight turn-around and programmes were restored to a 1am close-down, Andy Westgate being a popular evening presenter. Radio West would soon have to seek permission from the IBA to absorbed by neighbouring station Wiltshire Radio (WR), the joint station being renamed GWR. A name that ten years later would change the face of ILR forever with many more take-overs and the ending of truly local, quality full-time output from many Independent Local Radio stations.
Wales' second ILR station, the troubled CBC, would also merge with failing neighbour Gwent Broadcasting (a.k.a. GB Radio) in 1986 to form the joint station renamed Red Dragon Radio. Under the direction of the renowned radio mogul David Maker, Red Dragon Radio became a much more successful venture. Apart from these 'wobbles' the 1980's were generally good days for ILR, programmes were eclectic and were generally of a high standard, most stations enjoyed loyal audiences and kept their heads above water financially, even while the share of the general advertising 'cake' remained stubbornly small in comparison with television advertising revenues.
MORE about Failures, Mergers & Takeovers HERE
Other Media Developments
The 1980's also saw the launch Channel Four in November 1982 and BBC Breakfast Time and TVam in January 1983. Rupert Murdoch bought Satellite TV in 1983 and re-launched it as SKY-TV in 1984. In 1985 BSB was awarded a licence to provide five D-MAC satellite channels, while the DTI took the popular South West London pirate station Radio Jackie off the air after 16 years of broadcasting community programmes. CNN International launched and the BBC expanded into daytime television. MTV Europe arrived in 1987, and in 1988 ITV went 24 hour. In 1989 SKY-TV launched as four channel package on the ASTRA satellite in PAL.
By 1989 it was government policy to make better use of the radio spectrum and all existing stations had to make arrangements to provide different services on AM (medium wave) and FM (v.h.f.), this gave rise to a wave of new 'GOLD' ILR stations playing oldies and classic hits. (Read More about split frequencies HERE) The first of the new separate services was County Sound Gold (later named First Gold Radio) provided by County Sound from Guildford. Others followed such as GEM AM from Radio Trent in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, Capital Gold in London, Brunel Radio in Swindon & Wiltshire provided by GWR Radio, XTRA AM in the Midlands provided by BRMB and Mercia Sound, which had now merged to form the Midlands Radio group, and Ocean Sound split into The Gold AM, Ocean Sound and Power FM. LBC in London offered a new LBC Talkback service on 1152 AM and LBC Crown FM on 97.3. The only ILR station outside London to offer a talk service on AM was Radio City, with a station called City Talk 1548, unfortunately it was unsuccessful and later changed format to become Radio City Gold.
In 1989 and 1990 more new ILR stations were licenced but, in accordance with the new policy, on FM only: FOX FM launched in Oxfordshire; Orchard FM in Somerset; Horizon Radio in Milton Keynes; Radio Borders from Hawick and South West Sound from Dumfries. These were the last ILR stations to be awarded licences by the IBA.
In programming terms ILR still had to be all things to all people and most stations met this challenge and gained large and loyal audiences. The 1970's and 1980's, and perhaps the first year or two of the 1990's, was the period when your local ILR station provided the fun at breakfast and was with you on the 'school run', it was the housewife's choice during the day, provided the news, travel, music and the 'chemist rota' in the afternoon and was the specialist music lover's friend in the early evening with programmes of classical, folk, jazz, big band, rock or new-wave being aired. One of the most popular formats on many ILR stations in the '70's and '80's was the night time "phone-in" when controversial presenters had some interesting and often heated discussions with listeners. Names such as James Whale on Radio Aire in Leeds, Andy Lloyd on Mercia Sound in Coventry, Nick Meanwell on BRMB, Simon Potter on Hereward Radio in Cambridgeshire and Alan Beswick on Red Rose Radio in Lancashire immediately spring to mind. ILR was extremely entertaining, and there were many other examples too!
Mercia Sound in Coventry, Warwickshire and South West Leicestershire was an enormous success in the 1980's. The station provided high quality and varied programmes with a first rate news output provided by an excellent team of journalists. The audiences were very high and Mercia Sound made a profit of £250,000 in its first year on air, and became a model for the perfect way to launch a new ILR station. Great radio professionals at Mercia included the late John Warwick, Gordon Astley, Andy Lloyd, Jim Lee (now with Radio Four), Stuart Linnell, Tony Gillham (now with BBC Devon), Mark Keen, Dave Jamieson and Annie Othen (now with BBC Coventry and Warwickshire).
 |
Some stations did not follow the Mercia
Sound launch model, so there were a few failures too; Centre Radio
in
Leicester launched an ambitious community style station in 1981 that
subsequently proved financially un-viable. The combination of a
poor business plan and the
huge competition from BBC Radio Leicester, the very first BBC local
station which commanded a substantial audience, proved to be the
station's downfall. Centre Radio was forced to cease trading in
October 1983 after only two years on air. The IBA allowed the
very
successful neighbouring station, Radio Trent, to provide a more
mainstream sounding service called Leicester Sound the following year
in
order that Leicester was not to be without and ILR station.
HEAR THE AUDIO - Centre Radio Ceases Trading and Closes Down Photo showing popular presenter Guy Morris on the air on ILR station Leicester Sound |
Radio West in Bristol launched with big plans, big names and expensive studios in 1981 which, together with fierce competition from BBC Radio Bristol, proved the undoing of the station. Revenue fell short of predictions and programmes were cut back within two years, the station close-down being at 7pm. By 1984 there had been a slight turn-around and programmes were restored to a 1am close-down, Andy Westgate being a popular evening presenter. Radio West would soon have to seek permission from the IBA to absorbed by neighbouring station Wiltshire Radio (WR), the joint station being renamed GWR. A name that ten years later would change the face of ILR forever with many more take-overs and the ending of truly local, quality full-time output from many Independent Local Radio stations.
Wales' second ILR station, the troubled CBC, would also merge with failing neighbour Gwent Broadcasting (a.k.a. GB Radio) in 1986 to form the joint station renamed Red Dragon Radio. Under the direction of the renowned radio mogul David Maker, Red Dragon Radio became a much more successful venture. Apart from these 'wobbles' the 1980's were generally good days for ILR, programmes were eclectic and were generally of a high standard, most stations enjoyed loyal audiences and kept their heads above water financially, even while the share of the general advertising 'cake' remained stubbornly small in comparison with television advertising revenues.
MORE about Failures, Mergers & Takeovers HERE
 Red Dragon Radio information panel from
the IBA Year Book 1987
|
||
ILR & IBA ENGINEERING: FREQUENCY CHANGES - AND POWER INCREASES
|
WHAT WAS HAPPENING
IN BBC RADIO?
In the 1980's Radio One had thrown off the shackles of 1970's BBC cutbacks and had become a solid full time station that could stand on its own two feet without sharing programmes with Radio Two. Radio One did borrow a few hours of Radio Two's FM stereo transmitters in the evenings, on Saturday afternoons, when Radio Two was covering sport on AM, and again on Sunday nights. Anne Nightingale and Paul Gambaccini in stereo - excellent! The BBC was also re-engineering the national FM transmitter network from horizontal polarisation to mixed polarisation (pioneered by local radio) to improve signals for listeners using portable radios, this involved investment in expensive and complex new aerial systems and sometimes new masts to take the extra weight of the new aerials.
In the 1980's Radio One had thrown off the shackles of 1970's BBC cutbacks and had become a solid full time station that could stand on its own two feet without sharing programmes with Radio Two. Radio One did borrow a few hours of Radio Two's FM stereo transmitters in the evenings, on Saturday afternoons, when Radio Two was covering sport on AM, and again on Sunday nights. Anne Nightingale and Paul Gambaccini in stereo - excellent! The BBC was also re-engineering the national FM transmitter network from horizontal polarisation to mixed polarisation (pioneered by local radio) to improve signals for listeners using portable radios, this involved investment in expensive and complex new aerial systems and sometimes new masts to take the extra weight of the new aerials.
Other Media Developments
The 1980's also saw the launch Channel Four in November 1982 and BBC Breakfast Time and TVam in January 1983. Rupert Murdoch bought Satellite TV in 1983 and re-launched it as SKY-TV in 1984. In 1985 BSB was awarded a licence to provide five D-MAC satellite channels, while the DTI took the popular South West London pirate station Radio Jackie off the air after 16 years of broadcasting community programmes. CNN International launched and the BBC expanded into daytime television. MTV Europe arrived in 1987, and in 1988 ITV went 24 hour. In 1989 SKY-TV launched as four channel package on the ASTRA satellite in PAL.
By 1989 it was government policy to make better use of the radio spectrum and all existing stations had to make arrangements to provide different services on AM (medium wave) and FM (v.h.f.), this gave rise to a wave of new 'GOLD' ILR stations playing oldies and classic hits. (Read More about split frequencies HERE) The first of the new separate services was County Sound Gold (later named First Gold Radio) provided by County Sound from Guildford. Others followed such as GEM AM from Radio Trent in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire, Capital Gold in London, Brunel Radio in Swindon & Wiltshire provided by GWR Radio, XTRA AM in the Midlands provided by BRMB and Mercia Sound, which had now merged to form the Midlands Radio group, and Ocean Sound split into The Gold AM, Ocean Sound and Power FM. LBC in London offered a new LBC Talkback service on 1152 AM and LBC Crown FM on 97.3. The only ILR station outside London to offer a talk service on AM was Radio City, with a station called City Talk 1548, unfortunately it was unsuccessful and later changed format to become Radio City Gold.
In 1989 and 1990 more new ILR stations were licenced but, in accordance with the new policy, on FM only: FOX FM launched in Oxfordshire; Orchard FM in Somerset; Horizon Radio in Milton Keynes; Radio Borders from Hawick and South West Sound from Dumfries. These were the last ILR stations to be awarded licences by the IBA.
In 1989 the IBA devised a new radio
scheme, and advertised for contractors to run 'Incremental' radio stations, an odd
phrase, but in essence additional radio services would be
introduced into areas already
served by an ILR station - a new development for local radio. The
new Incremental stations
would
have to offer output not already available on ILR, such as specialist
music or unique programmes for a specific section of the community.
Many of the new Incrementals went on air in 1990 and some endured mixed fortunes. Buzz FM was incremental to BRMB in Birmingham, and was to provide programmes consisting of mainly Soul music. The business plan was over ambitious and executives overpaid and matters were not helped as the station was only allowed a 40 Watt transmitter to cover a large city area (BRMB used 2000 watts). The station got taken over several times and was generally mis-managed, although Chris Carey (an operator of pirate radios in Eire) did introduce some more mainstream and exciting sounding programming and popular DJ's such as Brendan Kearney, BuzzFM eventually lost its licence in January 1995. Others suffered similar cases of "incrementalitis", FTP in Bristol failed, RWL 1368 in West Lothian failed even to get on air while East End Radio in Glasgow had its licence revoked. However Spectrum Radio, Sunrise Radio and Choice FM in London, Isle Of Wight Radio and Centre Sound in Stirling are notable for their success, and are still on the air 16 years later, a tribute to their unique and thoughtful programmes, though some have now been absorbed into larger radio groups.
Many of the new Incrementals went on air in 1990 and some endured mixed fortunes. Buzz FM was incremental to BRMB in Birmingham, and was to provide programmes consisting of mainly Soul music. The business plan was over ambitious and executives overpaid and matters were not helped as the station was only allowed a 40 Watt transmitter to cover a large city area (BRMB used 2000 watts). The station got taken over several times and was generally mis-managed, although Chris Carey (an operator of pirate radios in Eire) did introduce some more mainstream and exciting sounding programming and popular DJ's such as Brendan Kearney, BuzzFM eventually lost its licence in January 1995. Others suffered similar cases of "incrementalitis", FTP in Bristol failed, RWL 1368 in West Lothian failed even to get on air while East End Radio in Glasgow had its licence revoked. However Spectrum Radio, Sunrise Radio and Choice FM in London, Isle Of Wight Radio and Centre Sound in Stirling are notable for their success, and are still on the air 16 years later, a tribute to their unique and thoughtful programmes, though some have now been absorbed into larger radio groups.
 |
As 1990 arrived BSB launched its 5
channel D-MAC satellite package for which users were required to
purchase a special "Squarial" to receive the superior pictures.
The company, following so far behind SKY's
launch, soon failed and was merged with Rupert Murdoch's SKY TV later
that same year.
|
FAB FM - It's Stereo
| Radio One began a long awaited transfer
from AM to VHF/FM stereo broadcasting in late 1987 with the launch of
the first temporary transmitter in London on 104.8 MHz from Crystal
Palace. During 1988 a number of additional transmitters,
using temporary frequencies, were launched from main stations at
Oxford,
Sutton Coldfield, Holme Moss, Wenvoe and Black Hill. The BBC had
to wait until the band had been completely cleared of the emergency
services between 98 and 100 MHz before full power and permanent
frequencies could be implemented. The transmitter network for
Radio One FM was eventually complete by 1994. (Just in time for
the switch off of their AM transmitters on 1053 and 1089 kHz) |
 1988 logo (click to see map) |
| In
February 1990 the Greenwich Time Signal was broadcast from Greenwich for the last
time. From then on the BBC generated "The Pips" from Broadcasting
House. |
|
 Radio Five's original logo in 1990 |
In August 1990 the BBC launched RADIO FIVE, the first brand new
national radio station since Radio One launched 23 years earlier.
Radio Five used the 693 and 909 frequencies that had to be vacated by
Radio Two under the government's scheme to eliminate duplication
(simulcasting) on VHF/FM and medium wave. BBC radio Five broadcast programmes of educational and children's material that would have previously been carried between the other networks. Radio Five also produced the sports coverage that had previously been carried as 'Sport On Two' on these ex-Radio Two medium-wavelengths. |
| Radio
Five was initially not a great ratings success due to its very uneven
programme
mix. After the audience success of continuous news coverage
during
the Gulf War of 1991 on Radio Four FM frequencies (often referred to as
'SCUD FM'), the BBC re-organised Radio Five as an all news and sports
network and re-named the network "Radio Five Live". Five Live
launched in March
1994
and was an immediate success with news and sports junkies
and commands an audience of over 6 million (2004 to 2006 audience
figures). |
 An early Five Live logo |
|
In the very early part of the 90's
mainstream ILR was still in its heyday in programming terms. New
stations such as FOX FM and Orchard FM provided a wide range of
interesting and varied output and scored massive listening figures.
The Broadcasting Act of 1990 de-regulated broadcasting, dissolving the IBA and the Cable Authority, giving responsibility for all television regulation to the Independent Television Commission (ITC) which advertised the ITV franchises and some well known TV licencees, such as Thames, TSW and TVS, lost out to new names including Carlton Westcountry and Meridian. The IBA network of radio and television transmitters was sold to NTL (National Transcommunications) while The Radio Authority was also created to oversee further development of Independent Radio. The de-regulated 'lighter touch' of the Radio Authority removed many of the technical, programming and local ownership requirements from ILR. ILR station owners soon responded by dropping many 'public-servic'e elements from their output, such as specialist music and speech features, and the station mergers and company take-overs gathered pace. |
 ILR was picking up a 33% share of all
listening in spring 1990 - Click the image to see the original IBA pie
chart [This chart produced by Roger Sharp]
|
The Radio Authority advertised many new
local radio licences during the 1990's filling most of the remaining gaps in
coverage. New Regional Licences
were offered in several areas, the first in The West Midlands (Heart),
Wales and The West (Galaxy), Central Scotland (Scot FM), The North East
(Century) and The North West (Jazz FM). Later more regional
licences were advertised including; Yorkshire (Kiss 105), The East
Midlands (Radio 106), East Anglia (Vibe), The South (Wave), a second
North West licence (Century), a second West Midlands licence
(Saga). The biggest change was that the Radio Authority was to
advertise for three new national
broadcasters to operate INR1, INR2 & INR3. No longer
would Independent Radio be 'back-water radio', these new stations would
bring nationwide coverage.
Relax - It's Classic FM
INR1 was advertised as a non-pop licence, and was awarded to Classic FM which launched on September 7th 1992 under the stewardship of Michael Bukht (TV Chef Michael Barry) who had previously brought great success to Capital Radio. Classic FM enjoyed immediate success, providing listeners with a quality programme of 'accessible' classical and orchestral music and a comprehensive news service in the 100 - 102 MHz range of the FM band. Classic FM is part of GWR, the group that owns a chain of ILR stations, and in 2003 listenership reach is over 6 million and Classic FM claims to be the largest commercial radio station in the world!
Relax - It's Classic FM
INR1 was advertised as a non-pop licence, and was awarded to Classic FM which launched on September 7th 1992 under the stewardship of Michael Bukht (TV Chef Michael Barry) who had previously brought great success to Capital Radio. Classic FM enjoyed immediate success, providing listeners with a quality programme of 'accessible' classical and orchestral music and a comprehensive news service in the 100 - 102 MHz range of the FM band. Classic FM is part of GWR, the group that owns a chain of ILR stations, and in 2003 listenership reach is over 6 million and Classic FM claims to be the largest commercial radio station in the world!
INR2 was allocated the medium wave frequencies occupied by BBC Radio Three (1215 kHz) and INR3 would use the frequencies used by BBC Radio One (1053 and 1089 kHz). The government deemed that the BBC would have to surrender these channels in the interests of spectrum efficiency as both services were available on VHF/FM.
BBC Radio Three closed the 1215 medium wave network in 1991, no real loss to classical or serious music fans, but fans of the sound of leather upon willow had to retune to 198 kHz longwave to hear Test Match Special, which had previously been carried on BBC Radio Three's medium wave transmitters on 1215 kHz (247 meters). 'TMS' was better placed on longwave rather than the Radio Three FM network.
The Richard Branson / TVam collaboration - Independent Music Radio - won the INR2 AM licence and commenced programmes on 30th April 1993 on the old BBC Radio Three frequency of 1215 kHz, with a service of Rock orientated music with the on air name Virgin 1215. Virgin Radio heavily re-engineered the transmitter network, boosting power and adding new transmitters and additional low power filler frequencies (e.g. 1197, 1233 & 1260 kHz) in an attempt to improve the well known reception problems of 1215 am. Former Radio One DJ Richard Skinner was Director of Music and music expert Tommy Vance was also heavily involved.
 |
The programming was popular amongst rock fans, but the niche marketing and the shackles of a music station being tied to AM only, ensured that the organisation was not the financial success a national music station could have been. The music policy was gradually fine tuned to become more mainstream, and the station has since changed hands, first to DJ Chris Evans and then to Scottish Media Group plc. With an FM stereo transmitter for London and new digital broadcasting technologies Virgin Radio began to find its place in the crowded radio market. |
Radio One gradually closed its network of medium wave transmitters in 1994, once the new national FM network was in place. The Radio Authority awarded the INR3 licence to TALK RADIO UK which started programmes on 14th February 1995 using the 1053 and 1089 frequencies relinquished by Radio One. Talk Radio UK had a bad launch, employing 'shock jocks' such as Caesar The Geezer, which prompted many complaints. Adjustments to the schedule were soon made and as the programming settled down the station produced many good talk programmes which could be both informative and amusing. The format was dominated by 'phone-ins' with presenters including Simon Bates, Sean Bolger, Anna Reaburn, Mike Allen, Paul Ross, Nick Abott (& Carol McGiffin), James Whale and Mike Dickin.
 Talk Sport can be heard on 1053 & 1089 together with 1107 & 1071 in some areas |
Although enjoyable, TALK RADIO, as it became known,
could never match the substantial output of BBC Radio Five and could
never make the necessary profits and was eventually taken over, in 1999,
by The Wireless Group, backed
by Rupert Murdoch, and
re-launched as TALK SPORT with former
newspaper editor Kelvin Mackenzie at the helm. The
station enjoyed a turn around in fortunes, with audience increases
and with
financial improvement became profitable. Mike Dickin and James
Whale could still be heard on the station with very interesting
programmes covering subjects
other than sport, but the main output is sports news, phone-ins and
commentaries. In 2005 The Wireless Group was sold to Ulster
Television and its portfolio of TalkSport and many other small local
stations
became part of UTV Radio. UTV Radio included The Wolf in
Wolverhampton and Talk 107 in Edinburgh - a new station which launched
in early 2006. |
INDEPENDENT LOCAL RADIO - Local Specialist Programmes Dropped - Local Output Reduced
With increased competition from new BBC and other new commercial stations, together with relaxed ownership and programming rules brought about by Government Act and overseen by the Radio Authority, ILR stations at first began to form into small local groupings due to the improved economies of scale this produced. Later as larger regional groupings gathered pace, local programming became less important, with many specialist programmes dropped and some output being shared around the network. As take-overs and mergers gathered pace several distinct large radio groups evolved, each holding a large portfolio of local licences up and down the UK. Noteworthy radio groups are; Capital Radio plc, the GWR Group plc (both of which merged in 2005 to form GCap plc), The Wireless Group (which was taken over by Ulster Television in 2005 to become UTV Radio) and EMAP. Most of the localised AM 'gold' or 'classic hits' stations disappeared and became quasi-national networked stations, such as the Capital Gold and Classic Gold networks and the 'Magic' brand. These networks tend to air a very few hours per day of locally originated programmes on the local medium wave transmitters and DAB digital radio outlet and have nationwide coverage via digital satellite.
Most of the more challenging or 'higher-brow' local programming, such as detailed news features and debate, together with specialist genres of music (eg jazz, classical, country etc) was dropped from most FM stations' schedules and more output was networked across the country, especially in the evenings and at night. Some other smaller groups have formed too, and these groups often tend to be a little more sympathetic to local programming on their groups of stations. Examples are, in particular Scottish Radio Holdings plc. (now absorbed by EMAP by 2006) but also, Radio Investments and UKRD Group ltd, CN Group and Tindle Radio ltd. (While these groups are producing much local programming in 2004, they are susceptible to merger or take-over from one of the larger concerns in an almost unregulated marketplace - as is the case with SRH).
ILR - Declining Audiences - Declining Advertising Revenue - Station Losses and Station Closures
The UK radio market is very fragmented with dozens of smaller stations (particularly low power stations with small population coverage and relatively low audiences) unable to produce enough audience and therefore advertising revenue to make a profit. This is especially problematical in a time (2006) when the share of commercial radio listenership as a whole is falling away, presumably partly due to unimaganitive and repetitive programming, and advertising revenue in general is declining.
Times are so hard amongst the small loss making stations that one radio group, UKRD, decided that it could no longer support its loss making station in south Gloucestershire. In September 2006 UKRD decided to hand back its licence to Ofcom (the regulator) for the Stroud and Dursley station "Star 107.9".
MORE BBC and INDEPENDENT RADIO TRANSMITTERS ADDED
By the mid 1990's there were no AM or FM frequencies remaining for further large scale UK-wide radio stations to be added, although there was enough space for the Radio Authority to further develop smaller scale Independent Local Radio and for the BBC to expand and improve coverage of BBC Local Radio and FM coverage in Scotland and Wales. Radio Wales, previously heard only on 882 and 657 kHz AM, gained a modest network of FM transmitters that covered much of Wales. Radio Cymru had used the Radio Four space (mainly in the sub-band between 92.4 to 94.6) on FM, so Radio Four also had a national network of transmitters installed across Wales as the BBC made use of space in the 103.6 to 104.9 sub-band.
BBC Radio Scotland had also enjoyed the use of the Radio Four space on FM network since the 1970's and the BBC rectified this situation by installing a network of new transmitters to bring Radio Four FM to all parts of Scotland. In addition to this, since the 1970's Scotland had benefited from a number of Gaelic part time/opt-out radio stations (Radios Nan Eileen; Aberdeen; Solway; Highland; Orkney; Shetland and Tweed) these were consolidated into a single Gaelic radio station, Radio Nan Gaedheal, with additional transmitters and frequencies added to bring coverage to most of Scotland.
'BBC Transmission', the department that built and maintained the masts and transmitters, was privatised in 1996, being sold off to Castle Transmission International and Merlin Communications. Castle would then operate the BBC's of vast network of domestic analogue radio and television transmitters and masts, while Merlin would operate the HF (short wave) facilities used for the BBC World Service. The finances generated by the sale of the BBC transmission network were used by the BBC to concentrate on the development of digital broadcasting technologies.
Chickens and Eggs
For further expansion of the radio market to take place a new broadcasting band and a new technology would have to be introduced. The BBC had been working on the 'Eureka 147' digital radio project with European broadcasting partners and this would result in the "DAB" (Digital Audio Broadcasting) standard being ratified for use by European broadcasters including the BBC and Independent radio in the UK. The DAB radio technology could squeeze in, perhaps, up to a block of ten radio stations into a space on the band that one single analogue FM station might have previously occupied. The block of stations is called a Multiplex, and the government released a small amount of space in VHF Band III (where the old black and white 405 line TV pictures had once been transmitted) between 217.5 & 230 MHz to accommodate seven of these multiplexes. While DAB brings the prospect of many additional stations and services, due to the digital compression technology used, the sound quality really is not as good as FM and certainly no where approaching the sound quality produced by a CD - despite what many misleading promotions may say. See the DAB Radio feature HERE.
The Broadcasting Act of 1996 provided for the expansion of digital broadcasting allowing for the introduction of both DAB (digital radio) and Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) which would allow the BBC and Independent Television to transmit a multitude of digital television channels in the the existing UHF television bands using DTT multiplexes. To squeeze in these additional channels between the existing five TV stations was a compromise giving a limited number channels and rather poor coverage. The first commercial contractor ON-DIGITAL/ITV DIGITAL offered a pay-to-view service which failed, being unable to compete with the well established SKY-TV that could offer many more pay channels via satellite. The ITC was quick to find a replacement for ITV Digital and in 2002 licenced FREEVIEW, a consortium of BBC, SKY and Crown Castle, to provide a range of free channels, including many radio stations such as the new BBC digital only stations including BBC THREE, BBC FOUR, CBBC, BBC NEWS 24 etc. ITV2, ITV3 and perfect reception of the fifth terrestrial TV channel - FIVE TV.
DAB
As for digital radio (DAB) , the BBC was allocated one nationwide multiplex to allow coverage of all the existing and some new national radio stations across the UK. The Radio Authority (which governed Independent Radio) was also allocated a national multiplex to allow the three existing national commercial stations, together with new ones, to be carried across the UK. In addition there would be enough space to accommodate at least one local multiplex in most areas and up to three in some places, but with a guarantee that space was reserved for the BBC Local Radio station to be carried on the local commercial multiplex.
The Radio Authority anticipated that the new local commercial multiplexes would be established by existing Independent Radio stations or groups and that any existing analogue station that established a local digital multiplex or was committed to providing one in its area, would have its analogue licence (whether AM or FM) automatically renewed at the time of expiry for a further period of ten years. This would ensure the commitment to the new digital medium that the government is so keen to promote.
The BBC was initially committed to providing 60% coverage of the UK with DAB by 1998 from a chain of transmitters, most at existing FM radio or television masts. Whereas analogue FM and AM broadcasting has to use many different frequencies to cover the country in order to avoid mutual interference, DAB uses just one single frequency for a multiplex right across the country, it is called a Single Frequency Network (SFN) and no re-tuning is required and the whole process is achieved by complex digital encoders in the transmission chain combining all the radio stations into one block which is radiated by all transmitters in the network. The signals received have to be de-coded by a special DAB radio which extracts and separates the stations and can produce the best possible output from a number of nearby transmitters. Where reception of FM or AM would be severely distorted if the radio received two transmitters on the same frequency, DAB can actually benefit from this situation, the reception being reinforced rather than degraded. So no more searching and frantically re-tuning when you go on holiday.
DAB was a classic chicken and egg situation, why should the BBC provide this enormous investment in a new network of transmitters if there was nobody listening, but without the network why would any manufacturer produce a DAB radio or, indeed, any listener buy it? From some years there was virtually no-one listening (apart from BBC engineers and managers, perhaps) as the DAB receivers that initially became available were prohibitively expensive, costing around £2000.
The Radio Authority licensed Digital One (A consortium of GWR
and
NTL) in 1998 as the national commercial DAB provider which developed a
national DAB network which by 2003 covered over 85% of the
population. This together with many local multiplexes coming on
air has stimulated the DAB market considerably. New DAB radios
have been arriving from various manufacturers since 2002 and sales have
been steadily rising during 2003.
DAB is not perfect, because the stations have to be digitally compressed (squashed) into the multiplexes, therefore in general the sound quality isn't actually anywhere near as good as a decent FM station: The more stations that are shoe-horned into a multiplex, the more the sound quality is degraded. However DAB does have the benefit of reception free from hiss and crackles associated with weak AM and FM reception BUT (and it's a big BUT) DAB suffers greatly with weak signals and rather than a mild hiss the listener is subjected to a very nasty and annoying burbling sound like boiling mud. Give DAB a strong signal via a loft or roof mounted aerial and reception is quite clear and provides the listener with a wide choice - despite sounding much worse than FM. It is a classic trade off: "Never mind the quality, just feel the width!" The DAB Page - HERE |
 Digital One Coverage Map 2003
Click map to see larger version |
The current regulator, OFCOM, considered the matter of allocating extra spectrum for use by DAB, and by the end of 2005 allocated sufficient additional space in VHF Band III to accommodate one additional new national DAB multiplex and enough new local DAB multiplexes to fill in most of the "white areas" that were initially left without local coverage. Even then it is possible that not all of the available space would be used used for public radio services and that some capacity may be used by the commercial broadcasters to carry paid for business data services as it is possible that higher profits may be made in this way - at the expense of true radio services. In fact Digital One has already pleaded with Ofcom to allow it not to carry radio services on some of its capacity and instead is carrying a 'television' service that is delivered to certain mobile phones!! Hardly the spirit of radio!
 |
The
BBC launched the first new music station for over 30 years in March
2002
with specialist music station 6music,
available via DAB and Freeview together with Digital satellite.
The other new BBC radio station launched is 2002 was BBC7, a mix of the best drama and
comedy shows, the BBC Asian Network is also available nationally via
DAB
as is Five Live Sports Xtra and 1Xtra. |
| So
that's the brief story of radio in the UK from 1920 to 2006. The
new Communications Act 2003 changed the face of radio and
broadcasting in general in the UK again from 2004 onwards. Radio,
television and information technologies came under the purview of the
new
body OFCOM (the Office of Communications) and the Act paves the way for
greater amalgamation of media groups and foreign ownership of the media
in the UK - something that
has
never been allowed previously - so as commercial independent broadcasting slips
further away what will be the fate of the BBC? |
 Tune into BBC7 on DAB for tears and laughter |
MORE ABOUT THE MASTS
and FREQUENCIES
In June 2004 the UK business interests of Crown Castle, which transmits analogue and digital television and radio, were sold for £1.1 billion to the energy group National Grid Transco. National Grid Transco operate the high tension lines that distribute electricity throughout the UK. The Crown Castle business was integrated with their own Gridcom business.
Gridcom was keen to be involved with the further development of the 'Freeview' digital TV and Radio platform, which was a joint venture between Crown Castle, The BBC, and Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB Television. The company also took control of the 750 television masts and towers, together with 3500 mobile 'phone masts adding to it's own portfolio of 1400 sites.
In 2004 the new regulator Ofcom abandoned a review of the vhf / fm spectrum that may have meant a complete re-organisation of station frequencies in order to find some spare frequencies to introduce yet more commercial radio stations. Ofcom believed that the subsequent frequency reorganisation would be too confusing for listeners and that existing commercial stations would be unjustifiably compromised as their frequencies were altered and coverage possibly affected.
Instead Ofcom will continue to licence a limited number of local FM licences until the band is effectively full. They will also concentrate on very small scale, low power, licences for COMMUNITY RADIO which can more easily be accommodated into the vhf / fm band. It is thought that Ofcom will not advertise any new local radio licences after 2006.
There may additionally be a review of the Medium Wave / AM band. Maybe this will see the loss of the frequencies used by networked 'Gold' stations perhaps - as these can surely be no longer be considered as 'local licences'. We shall see. There is also speculation that if some of these local transmitter frequencies are cleared that licences for very large scale, higher power, regional AM / Medium Wave licences may be introduced as these would be more commercially viable. The possibility of introducing digital broadcasting to the Medium Wave band will also be considered.
DRM (Digital Radio Mondial) is a new system that can transmit digital radio, and would be used on the Long Waves, Medium Waves and Short Waves. These newly developed transmitters can transmit the radio station as both ordinary AM radio or the new Digital Radio Mondial service. DRM promises much higher quality than is available on an ordinary AM transmission. Ofcom will no doubt consider whether this form of digital radio could be introduced to the UK. Tests are already being carried out at certain times from the Orfordness transmitter in the UK on 1296KHz and from Luxembourg on 1440 kHz along with other sites in Europe.
In 2005 a consortium of Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group bought the other main transmissions provider NTL. NTL started life in 1955 as the Independent Television Authority which issued the regional Independent Television (ITV) franchises, regulated the broadcasters and provided the network of masts and transmitters. By act of government the ITA became the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in 1972 to oversee the introduction of commercial Independent Local Radio (ILR) into the UK. In 1990 the government dismantled the IBA, which was spilt up into; the Radio Authority to regulate (very lightly) commercial radio; the Independent Television Commission (ITC) that oversaw commercial television; and National Transcommunications Ltd (NTL) that provided the transmission facilities for commercial broadcasters. So after the buyout in 2005, NTL became ARQIVA.
2006: When the existing commercial Medium Wave (AM) licences come up for re-advertisement and renewal, Ofcom will consider applications for stations to use DRM and / or AM for broadcasting.
THE FUTURE
The BBC's current ten year charter is due for renewal in 2006 and politicians of all colours seem determined to trim down the size of the wonderful corporation, perhaps by reducing revenue from the licence fee or even scrapping the licence fee altogether. Current revenues are just over £2bn per annum (only 30 pence per day to you and me), and it would seem that there is a political will to reduce annual revenues by at least £500 million and maybe by as much as £1000 million. The BBC has never before faced such a political threat and deserves the support of from the listening and viewing public. [Save The BBC]
In June 2004 the UK business interests of Crown Castle, which transmits analogue and digital television and radio, were sold for £1.1 billion to the energy group National Grid Transco. National Grid Transco operate the high tension lines that distribute electricity throughout the UK. The Crown Castle business was integrated with their own Gridcom business.
Gridcom was keen to be involved with the further development of the 'Freeview' digital TV and Radio platform, which was a joint venture between Crown Castle, The BBC, and Rupert Murdoch's BSkyB Television. The company also took control of the 750 television masts and towers, together with 3500 mobile 'phone masts adding to it's own portfolio of 1400 sites.
In 2004 the new regulator Ofcom abandoned a review of the vhf / fm spectrum that may have meant a complete re-organisation of station frequencies in order to find some spare frequencies to introduce yet more commercial radio stations. Ofcom believed that the subsequent frequency reorganisation would be too confusing for listeners and that existing commercial stations would be unjustifiably compromised as their frequencies were altered and coverage possibly affected.
Instead Ofcom will continue to licence a limited number of local FM licences until the band is effectively full. They will also concentrate on very small scale, low power, licences for COMMUNITY RADIO which can more easily be accommodated into the vhf / fm band. It is thought that Ofcom will not advertise any new local radio licences after 2006.
There may additionally be a review of the Medium Wave / AM band. Maybe this will see the loss of the frequencies used by networked 'Gold' stations perhaps - as these can surely be no longer be considered as 'local licences'. We shall see. There is also speculation that if some of these local transmitter frequencies are cleared that licences for very large scale, higher power, regional AM / Medium Wave licences may be introduced as these would be more commercially viable. The possibility of introducing digital broadcasting to the Medium Wave band will also be considered.
DRM (Digital Radio Mondial) is a new system that can transmit digital radio, and would be used on the Long Waves, Medium Waves and Short Waves. These newly developed transmitters can transmit the radio station as both ordinary AM radio or the new Digital Radio Mondial service. DRM promises much higher quality than is available on an ordinary AM transmission. Ofcom will no doubt consider whether this form of digital radio could be introduced to the UK. Tests are already being carried out at certain times from the Orfordness transmitter in the UK on 1296KHz and from Luxembourg on 1440 kHz along with other sites in Europe.
In 2005 a consortium of Macquarie Communications Infrastructure Group bought the other main transmissions provider NTL. NTL started life in 1955 as the Independent Television Authority which issued the regional Independent Television (ITV) franchises, regulated the broadcasters and provided the network of masts and transmitters. By act of government the ITA became the Independent Broadcasting Authority (IBA) in 1972 to oversee the introduction of commercial Independent Local Radio (ILR) into the UK. In 1990 the government dismantled the IBA, which was spilt up into; the Radio Authority to regulate (very lightly) commercial radio; the Independent Television Commission (ITC) that oversaw commercial television; and National Transcommunications Ltd (NTL) that provided the transmission facilities for commercial broadcasters. So after the buyout in 2005, NTL became ARQIVA.
2006: When the existing commercial Medium Wave (AM) licences come up for re-advertisement and renewal, Ofcom will consider applications for stations to use DRM and / or AM for broadcasting.
THE FUTURE
The BBC's current ten year charter is due for renewal in 2006 and politicians of all colours seem determined to trim down the size of the wonderful corporation, perhaps by reducing revenue from the licence fee or even scrapping the licence fee altogether. Current revenues are just over £2bn per annum (only 30 pence per day to you and me), and it would seem that there is a political will to reduce annual revenues by at least £500 million and maybe by as much as £1000 million. The BBC has never before faced such a political threat and deserves the support of from the listening and viewing public. [Save The BBC]
During the 1970's and 1980's
ILR showed that, given proper regulation, even small commercial radio
stations could produce entertainment, news and documentaries of a
quality that made
even the BBC sit up and take notice. With successive changes to
broadcasting laws, programming regulation has all but
been removed from independent broadcasters so that there is no longer
any will,
or regulatory need, to produce wide-ranging quality programming.
The new
regime
under Ofcom allows for further de-regulation and consolidation of
ownership. It is expected that within a few years of Ofcom coming
into being that there will only be two or three very large 'groups'
owning the majority of interest in commercial radio and that this could
drive down quality and real choice for the listener even further.
So it is not only the radio station and radio conglomerate managers who are to blame for the falling standards in commercial radio, but also various governments for allowing the regulators (The IBA, then the Radio Authority and subsequently Ofcom), by Acts of Parliament, to licence spiralling numbers of commercial stations and gradually remove the regulations that initially demanded high quality programmes.
With some few exceptions, ILR is now allowed to be a general entertainment and repetitive 'juke box' with the minimum of information programming or listener involvement that initially made ILR such a success. In 2003/2004 some of the smaller stations, Telford FM, KLFM , The Wolf and Rutland Radio are good examples, are still trying very hard to produce an entertaining service with good local news in a virtually unregulated, fragmented and fiercely competitive market for advertising revenue and audience share. LBC in London, despite several changes of ownership (Chrysalis sold out to Global Media in 2007 for example) is still providing entertainment, talk and phone-in shows , news and information and entertainment
So it is not only the radio station and radio conglomerate managers who are to blame for the falling standards in commercial radio, but also various governments for allowing the regulators (The IBA, then the Radio Authority and subsequently Ofcom), by Acts of Parliament, to licence spiralling numbers of commercial stations and gradually remove the regulations that initially demanded high quality programmes.
With some few exceptions, ILR is now allowed to be a general entertainment and repetitive 'juke box' with the minimum of information programming or listener involvement that initially made ILR such a success. In 2003/2004 some of the smaller stations, Telford FM, KLFM , The Wolf and Rutland Radio are good examples, are still trying very hard to produce an entertaining service with good local news in a virtually unregulated, fragmented and fiercely competitive market for advertising revenue and audience share. LBC in London, despite several changes of ownership (Chrysalis sold out to Global Media in 2007 for example) is still providing entertainment, talk and phone-in shows , news and information and entertainment