Radio Plymouth - Ofcom Licensing

RADIO PLYMOUTH
The establishment of Radio Plymouth would not only appear to contribute to all of the above, but
also to benefit from the following;
There are exciting retail expansions such as the P&O development at Charles Cross that will bring
new employment and enhance the city’s environment. It is expected to create 2000 full time and part
time jobs when it opens in the autumn of 2006, bringing 8 new major stores and 48 new shops,
cafes and restaurants into the city centre.
The opportunities
Radio Plymouth attracted a breadth of local advertisers to its two RSLs, including businesses
spontaneously getting in touch after hearing our broadcasts, or being recommended by their own
customers.
“We had a very positive response to our campaign with Radio Plymouth during
the summer. We would certainly use Radio Plymouth for future campaigns if you
are successful in gaining a full time licence”
58
Mark Ive, Exeter Airport Direct.
That is all very satisfying, but short-term advertising is not sufficient to run a full-time, profitable local
radio service. We needed to understand how attractive a radio station like Radio Plymouth would be
if placed on a permanent footing.
So we wrote to 112 local businesses that were advertising in the Plymouth Evening Herald and
other local publications in the last week of October 2005. Forty-five replied: a response rate of 40%,
a full breakdown has been supplied in a confidential appendix to Ofcom but we summarise the main
conclusions below.
By and large, most local advertisers surveyed currently use newspapers and local radio –
unsurprising as that formed the basis of our database. A small number use regional television and a
larger proportion other media such as directories.
60
50
40
% 30
20
10
0
Advertising survey budget allocations
Press
Other
Radio
Direct
Directories
ITV