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08/02/2005
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ENGLAND
BBC LOCAL RADIO:
BBC RADIO BERKSHIRE started
broadcasting on 26th January 1991 serving Reading and the Royal County of
Berkshire. It was firstly an opt-out service for BBC Radio Oxford,
but soon got its independence. The station can be heard across the County
on four FM frequencies: 104.1 from Hannington, 104.4 from Reading, 95.4 from
Windsor and 94.6 from Henley, offering the services of some considerably well known names such as
ex-Swap Shop presenter Maggie Philbin, ex-Radio 2 presenter Bill
Rennells, ex-BBC1 continuity announcer David Allen, and 60s music
legend Joe Brown. www.bbc.co.uk/england/radioberkshire/
BBC THAMES VALLEY FM / BBC THAMES
VALLEY: Launched as a new service on 9th April 1996 during a series of
cutbacks where some single BBC stations were merged - in this case, BBC Radio
Oxford and BBC
Radio Berkshire were merged. This particular BBC station had quite a
lively music policy in its time, making it stand out in the reputation world of
BBC local radio. It operated on FM frequencies of 95.2, 104.1 and
104.4. The merger lasted until 13th February 2000 when the two stations
reverted to their original format, (following the BBC English Regions South East
Review, although much common programming remained until September 2003. BBC Thames Valley presenters
included Martin
Kelner, Phil Kennedy
and Bob Harris. www.bbc.co.uk/england/thamesvalley/
COMMERCIAL: LOCAL
(ILR)
RADIO 210 /
2-TEN FM (RADIO KENNET / THAMES VALLEY
BROADCASTING) :
Pre-1976, this radio station originated as Radio Kennet, taking it's title
from the river that runs through the area. However, Thames Valley Broadcasting Ltd is
still the operating company, though not the on-air title of what firstly became Radio 210, the name referring to
the AM frequency on which it broadcast. Originally
broadcasting the same programming on both FM & AM, the station dates back to
pre-FM times - 210m Medium Wave corresponding to 1431kHz. Here we playfully glance back at the station's launch 8th March 1976, now
licenced until 31st December 2008 following the augmentation into the NOW
Reading DAB Digital Radio multiplex, owned by its parent company GWR
Radio Group. Three frequencies spread the station
across county boundaries: 102.9 from Hannington, 103.4 from Henley and the
original 97.0 transmitter in the centre of Reading. The station serves
Reading, North Hampshire), Newbury & Andover.
Radio 210
and Bournemouth's 2CR were part of a group called 'Consolidated Radio
Holdings'. To start, 1431AM was used solely as a split service during
Saturday afternoons for the Sports slot. 1990 saw both stations, the
former known then as 2-Ten FM, became part of the GWR
Radio Group. At the time, TM Century produced jingles were used and
the AM service was named Classic Gold, a name which GWR
had already used on its other AM services.
Major
changes were made to the FM service with the revolving door spinning outwards
for Dave Nelson and Brian Pithers. Jeff Brown took on both
shows and in came a "better music mix" on Saturday and Sunday
evenings. A torrent of abusive phone calls from irate listeners followed -
they were not at all happy with the programme changes! Eddie Shaw was
another presenter to go at around this time - but off he went to Lincs FM where
he remains to this day. A little known fact is that Radio
210 was once the home of David Hamilton, Steve
Wright, Mike Read & Bob Harris!
(Why on earth don't many people know that I wonder...Ed).
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(RADIO KENNET / THAMES VALLEY
BROADCASTING) RADIO 210 / 210 CLASSIC GOLD
RADIO / CLASSIC GOLD 1431 / 1485: Pre-1976, this radio station originated as
Radio Kennet, taking it's title
from the river that runs through the area.
However, Thames Valley Broadcasting Ltd is still the operating company,
though not the on-air title of what firstly became Radio 210, the name referring to
the AM frequency on which it broadcast. Originally
broadcasting the same programming on
both FM & AM, the station dates back to pre-FM times - 210m Medium Wave
corresponding to 1431kHz.
Here we playfully glance back at the station's launch 8th March 1976, now
licenced until 31st December 2008 following the augmentation into the NOW
Reading DAB Digital Radio multiplex, owned by its parent company GWR
Radio Group. Three frequencies spread the station
across county boundaries: 102.9 from Hannington, 103.4 from Henley and the
original 97.0 transmitter in the centre of Reading. The station serves
Reading, North Hampshire), Newbury & Andover.
Radio 210
and Bournemouth's 2CR were part of a group called 'Consolidated Radio
Holdings'. To start, 1431AM was used solely as a split service during
Saturday afternoons for the Sports slot. 1990 saw both stations, the
former known then as 2-Ten FM, became part of the GWR
Radio Group. At the time, TM Century produced jingles were used and
the AM service was named Classic Gold, a name which GWR
had already used on its other AM services.
Major
changes were made to the FM service with the revolving door spinning outwards
for Dave Nelson and Brian Pithers. Jeff Brown took on both
shows and in came a "better music mix" on Saturday and Sunday
evenings. A torrent of abusive phone calls from irate listeners followed -
they were not at all happy with the programme changes! Eddie Shaw was
another presenter to go at around this time - but off he went to Lincs FM where
he remains to this day. A little known fact is that Radio
210 was once the home of David Hamilton, Steve
Wright, Mike Read & Bob Harris!
(Why on earth don't many people know that I wonder...Ed)
Today, it's just another outlet for
the Classic Gold brand, owned in the majority by UBC,
but partially by GWR,
who when being forced to sell it due to ownership restrictions, put a clause in
the sale allowing them to 'buy it back when ownership rules are relaxed'.
There is minimal localised programming from studios at The
Chase, Calcot, in Reading, but the rest is all networked along with other
UK outlets. Today, 1431 operates for Reading and 1485 for Newbury. www.classicgolddigital.com.
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KICK FM: This station came
on-air following the award of a 'Small-Scale Alternative Local Licence' or
'SALLIE' by the Radio Authority on 4th November 1999 to it's then holding
company 'West Berkshire Radio Limited'. It launched for the West Berkshire
town of Newbury, and suburbs covering around 200 square miles, on 29th May 2000
with a format of soft adult contemporary music with local
news and information. It uses two frequencies to cover its target
audience - 105.6 for Newbury and Thatcham, with a low-power relay on 107.4 in
Hungerford. Programmes originate from studios at 42 Bone Lane in Newbury. Kick FM's
chairman is established Midlands television broadcaster Andy Craig. As of
April 2002, the station was run by the Milestone Group, which also ran Kestrel
FM in Basingtoke, Hampshire - both
station's majority shareholder being Tindle
Radio.
Until it launched,
locals had no alternative service, and had to rely on regional and national
stations. Kick FM targets the 25-54 year old sector of a
population of around 100,000 people, with particular emphasis on the 35-44
bracket. It focuses on using members of the community in programme
production, which includes the usual broadcast standards plus arts and
specialist music programming. The station came to air after six years of
campaigning by a local consortium, the Newbury Community Radio
Association. After just over 18 months of
broadcasting, RAJAR audience figures showed an average listening
time increase of 17%. Over the course of 2001, 21,000 people listened for
almost nine hours per week - around 30% of it's target audience. www.kickfm.co.uk
/ www.kickfm.com
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READING 107: This can be
quite complicated, so pay attention! An organisation called 'Reading
107' operated regular short-term trial broadcasts on 107.2 from 27th
November 1997 and 4th July 1998. As Reading 107 The Oracle, it
broadcast from 27th November as Oracle FM from 4th July 1999. The
name Reading 107 returned from 27th November 1999 and finally 4th July
2000, the station's last. So, with such a dominant series of trial
broadcasts, it had obviously made a credible impact and quite a level of public
awareness. Apart from Reading 107, other trials, operated with
intent to apply for the full-time licence were: Crown FM, RFM and finally
City FM in December 2000. Whilst Reading enjoyed other RSLs
by Punch FM, HRR FM, Kiddz FM, Festival FM, Killerwatts FM and match-day
broadcasts by the Rugby referees service Ref!Link, these stations were in
no way planning a bid for a full-time licence.
On 7th July 2001, the Radio
Authority invited applications for a new local radio licence for Reading by the
closing date of 11th September 2001. There were five applications received
by this date from 106.9 Crown FM (Reading Broadcast Ltd) (2 RSLs
locally), Juice Reading (Reading FM Ltd - backed by Forever
Broadcasting,
operators of the same brands in Liverpool and Brighton) (No local RSLs), Reading 107
(Oracle
Broadcasting Ltd) (7 local RSLs) and RFM (Reading Community Radio Ltd) (1
local RSL) - created from a split from Reading 107 in 1997 and New
City FM (Reading Broadcasting Co. Ltd), the last RSL
issued prior to the advertising of the full-time licence.
On 18th April 2002, the Radio
Authority (RA) announced it had decided to award an 8-year licence to New City FM
and did so on 14th March 2002. The licence was designed to service Reading
and the immediate surrounding area. New City FM was a group made up
of Surrey & Berkshire Newspapers, part of Guardian Media Group
(GMG), local
company The Goodhead Group plc, owned by businessman and chairman of Reading
Football Club John Madejski, and the Milestone Group which
owned Newbury's Kick
FM, Basingstoke's Kestrel FM and 2-Ten FM's former Managing
Director, Tony Grundy's 'Communicate Now' consultancy. The RA concluded that the
business plan put forward by New City FM was a strong one, acknowledging
the links between local media and other radio stations. New City offered
a music based service for the 25-54 age group - a blend of music from
the 70s to today. Speech is set at no less than 20% of weekday
programming. News bulletins of local origin run for two to four minutes
from 6am to 9pm including a longer 15 minute weekday bulletin 'Reading
Tonight' News and sports bulletins are co-ordinated with the
Reading Evening Post, also part of GMG.
The licence bid received support from local businesses, listeners and pillars of
the community during its December 2000 broadcast.
The station name at launch was
declared as 107 City FM but the Radio Authority referred to the possible
confusion and other difficulties that might be experienced with the
long-established Liverpool commercial radio station Radio City, which, in
its time, has also been called City FM. Reading applied for City
status, and although its bid was unsuccessful, this is not thought to be a
reason why the RA turned down the name. New City FM management
proposed several alternatives but the only name acceptable to the RA was Reading
107 - unfortunately, the name of another of the applicants which had
significantly carried out the most trial broadcasts and had previously achieved
the largest amount of awareness in the area.
Today, housed in the home of Reading FC, The Madjeski Stadium, the
station came on air on at 8:00am on 22nd October 2002. Its broadcast
radius includes the suburbs of Marlow and Wallingford in the North, Maidenhead
and Camberley in the South and East, and Henley, Twyford, Wokingham, Crowthorpe
and Tadley. Reading 107 is situated to the East of and overlapping
the broadcast broadcast area of the other recently launched station, Newbury's Kick
FM. The M4 motorway crosses straight through Reading 107's
broadcast area and directly to the south of Reading itself. The M3 passes just outside the southern reaches of
its
outer radius, to the south of Tadley & Camberley. Classing itself as
being exclusively for Reading, music selection described in station publicity ranges
'from Wet Wet Wet to
Oasis, Texas to Chicago and The Beatles to The Bangles'. And in a dig
towards London stations, easily accessible in Reading, it claims 'Oxford Road before Oxford
Street', and 'More Kings
Road than Kings Cross'. As you might expect, there's regular commentary on
Reading FC football matches, both home & away. www.reading107fm.com
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STAR FM 101.6, STAR FM 106.6,
106.6 STAR FM, STAR 106.6: Serving Slough, Maidenhead and Windsor in
Berkshire, this is part of what has now become a network of Star branded
stations. This was the first of them to launch, on 21st May 1993. Broadcasting
from studios at The Observatory Shopping Centre, Slough, it
was originally owned by UKRD. Cornwall's Pirate
FM was set up by Infinity Radio and UK Radio Developments on 22nd
August 1990 to invest in it. Pirate FM Ltd and what was then UK
Radio Holdings Ltd, subsequently merged to form UKRD
and this led to acquiring shares in STAR FM in Slough as well as Wey
Valley Radio. They later took full control of the station and entered
the bidding for a station of the same name for Guildford (The Eagle) -
and won the licence previously held by Allied Radio. They negotiated to
buy out the remainder of the licence from Allied and the Guildford franchise
launched in September 1995.
See the other
entries shown below for details on the other STAR stations. This
particular STAR station went through a patch of calling itself 'Wonderful
Star FM' in its jingle package. It ran an automated overnight service
featuring the supposed android DJ 'Twinkle' said to have been produced by the
Orlando, Florida based Cyberstar Corporation. Also later created for
sister station 96.4 The Eagle was 'Talon' who went into service on 4th
January 1996. Twinkle and Talon were merely a pre-recorded linking voice,
the work of Dallas based Pamela Steele. You will note from this profile's
introductory text that a frequency change is shown. It was in May 1995 that Star
FM moved from 101.6 to the more secure 106.6 due to complaints of
interference - problems which were alleviated following the move.
Star FM was the first station in the UK to fully use the RCS Master Control
computer playout system. Amongst it's programming, there's Asian STAR which airs
weekdays from 7pm-1am, Saturdays from 6pm-10pm and Sundays from
7pm-1am.
Having bought London
stations Time 106.8 (Thamesmead) and Fusion 107.3 from Milestone
Group for £1.2m in February 2004, and Havering's Soul City FM
(rebranding them as Time FM stations), Sunrise
Radio Holdings, which already held two London analogue radio licences at the
time, plus digital radio services, bought Slough's Star 106.6 in May
2004, holding all stations within a part of the Sunrise Empire, under the
separate heading of the London Media Company. www.starfm.co.uk
(Other STAR stations
are: Star 107 (Stroud in Gloucestershire
- previously Easy FM
& 107 The Falcon), Star
107.3 (Bristol in Avon/Somerset - previously
Kute FM & 107.3 The Eagle),
Star 107.5 (Cheltenham in Gloucestershire
- previously The CAT/CAT FM),
Star 107.7 (Weston-Super-Mare in Avon/Somerset
- previously 107.7 WFM),
Star 107.9 in Cambridgeshire
formerly a Dawe Media owned station - previously
known as 107.9 The Eagle, Red Radio 107.9FM, Cambridge Red 107.9FM, Cambridge
Cafe Radio 107.9FM and Cambridge Community Radio (RSL))
and The Fens Star 107 in the Fenland area of Cambridgeshire
- formerly X-CEL FM)
HOSPITAL RADIO:
RSL:
READING:
DIGITAL:
A twelve year digital licence for Reading & Basingstoke and surrounding
areas, was advertised by the Radio Authority in 2003. The licence was
described as having a
potential audience of 600,000 people aged over 15. It is required to carry the
local BBC radio service but commercial stations were required to enter into
discussions with the licence holder for carriage. Interested parties had
until Tuesday 20th May 2003 to supply a fee of £5,000 and an application
document for the service on 12D frequency of
229.072MHz. By the closing date, just one applicant had applied. The
bid came from NOW Digital Ltd, a subsidiary of GWR
Group plc. Seven services were proposed: 2-TEN FM (GWR), Classic
Gold 1431/1485 (UBC), BBC Radio Berkshire, The Storm (GWR), SAGA
(Saga Radio), KISS and an access channel.
In July 2003, the Radio Authority
announced it had awarded the licence to the sole applicant, NOW Digital.
The service commenced in June 2004 using four transmitters at Basingstoke,
Bracknell, Hannington &
Hemdean which will reach just over 96% of the area's adult
population. Several additional services were proposed, but have yet to be
added. Student Broadcasting output from SBN Ltd - scheduled to be
carried on the Access Channel, ceased soon after the Multiplex launch, when the
student enterprise ceased trading.
STUDENT RADIO:
BLAST 1386:
Launched by students at the Reading College Kings Road campus,
Blast 1386 is a music and news station produced by students for students.
Having been awarded a Radio Authority licence, the station can be heard both
inside and outside the campus, available on any AM radio within
range. Indie and rock music is the norm with a lot of college and
university based stations, but Blast 1386 plays a wide variety of the
latest tunes and oldies in a service that runs from 7am to 7pm each days.
Bob Goertz, Station Manager said: "Reading College believes in the importance of providing a practical means of developing all aspects of its student media curriculum. We intend therefore to broadcast an exciting and varied mix of today's contemporary music, plus yesterday's favourites, together with the best of the ethnic music scene. Our research shows that existing commercial radio stations do not provide
focused local student news or local student information, both of which are greatly in demand in this youthfully vibrant area. Reading is fast becoming a major UK clubbing destination, welcoming over 20,000 partygoers every weekend."
With pro-radio facilities, this is a valuable training ground for future
broadcasters, but the service is designed to appeal to all students with its
information on the education services offered by the College. Media
students can use the studio facilities to assist with their education on the
various aspects of broadcasting.
The station's programming kicks off with 'Morning Mayhem', with the lunchtime
'Request Fest' and the oddly applicable 'Drive Time' which takes
programming up to 7:00pm. At this point, and until 7:00am, Blast 1386
is the only UK station to take a US R&B station, Washington's Potion,
produced and provided by the US WorldSpace Corporation. Bob
continues: "This is an exclusive in the UK. We chose Potion as the service people will hear when
Blast 1386's own live programming finishes for the day. Potion is a true alternative choice, specialising in soul, urban and black music, which majors on the music content with very little DJ interruption.
Potion can be heard around the globe via digital radio satellites and now exclusively in the UK via
Blast 1386 in Reading."
Broadcasting on 1386 kHz AM (216 metres Medium Wave) it is close to the nearby Classic Gold
1431/1485 service. Educational authorities use AM because FM frequencies are in short supply in the UK.
Engineers from Blast advise listeners to twist their radios to achieve
the best reception after dark.
Fred McCrindle is the Principal and Chief Executive of Reading College, and
said: "We are extremely pleased to develop our brand new student radio station
Blast 1386. This new station provides the College with another wonderful facility to enhance the training and education of students in our media, music and music production areas. The station, which will be for most of the time operated by students, will provide an ideal forum for student voice, music and news items to be conveyed across the College locations and campuses."
As well as being available on-line
(see below), Blast 1386 is now available on
Channel 7 to patients at the Royal Berkshire Hospital on the Patientline
network. Its the idea of Station Manager Bob Goertz, who has overseen the
station's move from training facility to full time commercially licenced
station.
In June 2003, it signed a deal with
SKY NEWS RADIO for National and International News provision - the station
became the first Student radio station to make a contract with the news service
which already operates on Virgin and talkSPORT, LBC, Heart and
Galaxy stations, TWG stations
and the Digital News Network. 2004 saw the release of a fresh new
logo and website, the link of which is shown below. After significant
demand, 2004 saw the beginning of 'Night Time Blast', giving listeners the
chance to hear some new shows, some programme re-runs and music from across the
decades.
Blast
1386 believes in the importance of providing a practical means of developing all
aspects of the student Media curriculum by being the radio station for
University Campuses. Blast 1386 is one of the few live stations which allows
students to gain experience running and working in a full-time radio environment
as well as enabling them to showcase their talents to a substantial listening
audience.
With
the merger of Reading College and School of Arts and Design into Thames Valley
University, Blast 1386 reaches new heights of achievement in Student Radio.
Within the last few years, it was billed as “Not your usual Student Station!”
and now this is more
true than ever. The combination of advanced studio equipment, full-time
professional station management and 24/7 broadcasting to the University
campuses, the Royal Berkshire Hospital, and to the whole planet on the Internet,
puts Blast 1386 at the forefront of Student Radio and way ahead of just about
any other student station in the UK.
Research
shows that existing commercial radio stations do not provide focused local news
for students of all ages, together with review information, previews and gig
guides; all of which are in great demand in their extremely vibrant broadcast
area. The station aims to prevail where
it feels other existing commercial radio stations haven’t even tried.
Programming contains an exciting and varied blend of today’s contemporary
music, plus yesterday’s favourites, along with the best of the ethnic music
scene. They also
provide the student with information that other stations fail to provide.
Due to the diverse student population, Blast 1386 aim is to win the hearts and
minds of the students it serves, building a music platform that crosses all
cultural boundaries and backgrounds, to meet a genuine but presently unsatisfied
need.
For further information about the station you can e-mail: blast1386@reading-college.ac.uk
Website: www.blast1386.com
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