Hopped on twitter this morning to see a tweet from 'West Yorskhire Radio', celebrating their first day on air. Have you heard of them? No, I hadn't either up until today.
I'm fascinated by this new spate of 'Super-Local' stations popping up across England. I've written about a couple of them in our weekly newsletter and we've chatted to people like Simon Rowe from Radio West Norfolk, the folks at KL1 and Wayne Cubitt from Rother Radio. All have the plan in place and the enthusiasm and energy definitey needed to try something new like this.
I say 'new' because, even though the concept of local radio isn't new, the way these are being rolled out is.
Consolidation has been the driving force behind this new generation of radio stations. With Bauer, Global and Communicorp buying the little guys and whacking them all under various umbresslas (Heart, Capital, Hits etc), there was only going to be one outcome. Those who were kicked to touch either went away, never to be heard from again...or...they catch their breath and re-invent themselves.
Do you remember the Alan Partridge TV show, broadcasting from North Norfolk Digital...and we all thought it was hilarious?? Turns out, he was onto something and the joke was everyone else!
Can these stations survive on DAB or online? West Yorkshire Radio is only online and through the app/smart speaker. Will that be enough?
Well, look at it this way. Smart speakers are everywhere now. What difference does it make to a listener how they hear their audio output? If your smart speaker can play a Spotify playlist or a radio station...what's the difference? It all comes out of the one device. An actual radio isn't needed anymore. In fact...in a few years time, the 'radio' itself could become a delightful relic from the past.
Radio is adapting.
What do you reckon...will you be listening?
#radio #yorkshire #smartspeaker #spotify
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