Radio Plymouth - Ofcom Licensing

RADIO PLYMOUTH
With a breakfast show on BBC local radio that is also light on music, a new station has a clear
market opportunity to get the day off to a better start for Plymouth’s listeners and then to hold onto
the audience with more clearly-defined programmes, professionally presented.
There was a perception that other stations, with their anonymous presentation, have an amorphous
mass of output. You rarely know where one programme ends and the other begins.
There was clear evidence of demand for a station that provided more local and accurate information
than is currently available. Plymouth Sound’s news and information content was perceived to be
“short and sweet” but lacking in detail and, often in programmes, is no more than a presenter
reading something out of the local paper.
Participants believed that much is going on in Plymouth that they simply don’t hear enough about on
local commercial radio. Those who had defected to Pirate FM received little Plymouth news either.
They wanted to celebrate events like Music of the Night and the British Firework Championships
and also to hear more about local sports teams. Certainly more than they heard on commercial
radio, but not as much as they would get on BBC Radio Devon. There was some feeling that
Plymouth, a city rich in sports events, if largely lacking in national success, is underserved by
broadcast media. Again, Pirate FM beats Plymouth Sound, but the geography is all wrong: “Local
sports coverage is awful, and Pirate now is very Cornish; it used to be Cornwall and West Devon,
but now there’s very little local Plymouth impact” (man, B, 34).
“At the weekend, you want half-time reports and full-time results, at least,” summed up one
respondent (male, C1, thirties).
Conclusions for Radio Plymouth
Radio Plymouth’s programmes will be presented by bright professional broadcasters that listeners
will come to know, and in some cases who they know well already.
News and information is central to our programme plans. We will employ experienced journalists
and commit to ongoing training of news and production staff.
Presenters
Some local radio presenters were considered to be “childish”, “amateur” and “anonymous”, with few
names that listeners can recall: “they are just club DJs or Radio 1 wannabes” (male, B, 34).
This is a change from the early days of Plymouth Sound, when our respondents could recall the
names of local presenters. Now they can’t – “and I was listening this morning!” Given that Plymouth
Sound achieves the highest weekly reach, satisfaction in our target audience appears to be low and
this supports our contention that some listening is by default.
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