Radio Plymouth - Ofcom Licensing

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RADIO PLYMOUTH The perceived relative paucity of music available on other stations is also much commented on. This response is typical: “There used to be more music, but now it seems to be more and more chitchat, which gets on my nerves” (female, B, 40). This lady was speaking about Plymouth Sound, which she turned to originally for the mix of local news with music. Others have made the switch to stations playing what they perceive to be “better music”. “I listen to Pirate. I’m at home all day, so I listen to the radio a lot, and I listen to Radio Devon which I enjoy for the talking, but on Pirate, I like the music” (female, C1, 45). This comment supports data from our main telephone survey. Many people are listening to a service from out of the county because the music is more suited to their needs – but they also want meaningful speech aimed at them and their locality. Conclusions for Radio Plymouth Radio Plymouth need not define itself by the competition, but should it wish to do so, it should look at the music policy of Pirate FM and Radio 2, rather than Plymouth Sound. Our data shows that some music should have a slightly harder edge than other services, with fewer ballads than one might hear on Radio 2 and Radio Devon. There should be more music at breakfast than existing services. We will achieve this by providing more tracks per hour at breakfast and in the evenings than other services, achieved by fewer commercials and crisper links. It is imperative that a new station achieves an optimum balance between music and speech. Music is more important than speech, and “good music” is obviously better than bad. Similarly, speech too must be good speech, not bad. People have strong opinions on what’s bad: factual, informative speech, that can still be fun, is preferable to inane chat by presenters who are trying to be something they can probably never be – national stars. Plymouth Sound’s music policy seems to be not much liked by our potential audience. Pirate FM’s music is more palatable but the speech content is not targeted at Plymouth residents and Classic Gold does not make a huge impact. By marrying a more interesting musical output with meaningful content for Plymouth, an undoubted need can be met. Will they listen? Nine out of ten respondents (88%) are very or quite likely to listen to a new radio station aimed at Plymouth in our core age range of 35 to 54 year olds. Other age bands score highly too, with one exception: young adults 15-24 at 73% (men) and 78% (women). This is still three out of four people who say they would listen, although a considerable drop from 88%. Once again, it appears that the youngest age band would be less likely to use a new service than their older neighbours. 54
Conclusions for Radio Plymouth RADIO PLYMOUTH Young people are well-served by existing services. Above the age of 25, people do listen to local commercial radio, but are not particularly satisfied. In a city of limited choice, with services that do well among the under 25s (Plymouth Sound) and over 55s (Radio Devon), the target audience is clear. But care must be taken not to be simply another service people listen to by default: just because it’s there and it’s for Plymouth. It has to meet their needs, for “better music” and “more professional presentation”. e) Focus Groups (sample: 30) Three x 10 commercial radio listeners in Plymouth, aged 25 to 54 Our three focus groups of existing local commercial radio listeners highlighted many concerns that we can define as the 3Ps – professionalism, programmes, presenters. Professionalism Reflecting Ofcom’s own research, which found that local stations were considered to be a bit amateurish, our groups were vocal about professional standards. In particular, they expressed the opinion that there is “too much mindless drivel” and “too much yapping” on some commercial stations. Especially Plymouth Sound at breakfast. Professionalism extends to commercials. Not only are they repetitive, but they are sometimes poorly written and produced. This is often a problem with local classified advertising which needs an address or difficult to remember phone number for the advertiser to realise profitable business as a result. Conclusions for Radio Plymouth The major difference between Plymouth and Cornwall is in satisfaction with existing commercial radio. Recent research conducted by the successful applicant for the Cornwall licence showed there was little stated gap in the market for a distinctly new service, with audiences in Cornwall generally happy with Pirate FM. This contrasts with the evidence in Plymouth, our focus groups suggest that many listeners in the city are choosing to tune to Pirate FM rather than their own local radio station. Radio Plymouth will address the concerns raised in our focus groups about advertising through scheduling, encouraging copy rotation for larger campaigns and by placing a nine minute limit of commercial air time. Programmes Because of the amount of chat and commercials, there’s not enough music at breakfast on Plymouth Sound. News is “too lightweight” or “not relevant” – although the travel is considered good. 55
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RADIO PLYMOUTH An application to Of
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Page 5 and 6: RADIO PLYMOUTH PAUL HUSSELL - Compa
Page 7 and 8: RADIO PLYMOUTH RICHARD BATH - Non-E
Page 9 and 10: NEIL ROMAIN - Non-Executive RADIO P
Page 11 and 12: RADIO PLYMOUTH (b) Proposed Investi
Page 13 and 14: RADIO PLYMOUTH SUNRISE GROUP UK BRO
Page 15 and 16: RADIO PLYMOUTH 2. Financial and bus
Page 17 and 18: RADIO PLYMOUTH We intend to stream
Page 19 and 20: RADIO PLYMOUTH All this combined wi
Page 21 and 22: RADIO PLYMOUTH Having looked at sev
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Page 37 and 38: MID-MORNING 10.00 - 13.00 RADIO PLY
Page 39 and 40: CUT LOOSE 15.00 - 18.00 RADIO PLYMO
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Radio Plymouth - Ofcom Licensing

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