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The views expressed on this page are simply my opinion.   Feel free to let me know if you agree ... or not!

27th October 2011 Its Rajar Day... Its RAJAR day.   If you work at a station where the embargoed email arrived yesterday morning then I hope the RAJAR Gods were smiling down on you. I’ve seen quite a few good news stories this time.   There will be a lot of smiles in London’s Leicester Square today with Global Radio’s determination to role out the Heart and Capital brands proving to be great decisions.   Capital and Heart have grabbed the number 1 and 2 commercial positions in London in a battle that for a long time seemed to relegate London’s first music station to the position of “has been”.  Capital is now back at number 1: well done to the current team who have managed this at the same time as rolling out the brand nationally. In Heart-land I wanted to congratulate my old colleagues Stuart Davies, James Heming and all the others involved with Heart Kent who have overtaken Radio 2 to become the station with the most listeners in Kent.   That’s a great achievement. In England’s second city BRMB seems besieged in the same battle Capital in London was fighting a couple of years ago.   The RAJARs are down again and the station is third commercially behind Capital Birmingham and Heart.   The Orion guys haven’t done badly at their other stations but it just seems turning round BRMB is proving a bit of a test.   I’m sure they will continue working to regain the vibe of life in Birmingham that should encapsulate the cities heritage station. BBC Radio 1 and 2 are both up and according to Chris Evans this morning Ken Bruce has his biggest ever audience.   Great to see Mr Bruce getting some credence for what he does so well day in day out.   I hope they've kept him "a wee dram" for when he returns as Ken is on holiday this week. Locally I wanted to give a mention to the guys at Jack FM in Oxford.   As the first Jack FM in the UK the RAJARs had been slow to grow, but the last couple have shot up.   Whilst the majority of Jack’s day is automated you can’t help notice how hard they work to reflect what’s happening in their area in both the automated and live output.   Off the top of my head I’m aware of their recent support for Oxford United, the Royal British Legion with a giant poppy appeal and their visibility with their pub quiz nights around the area, to name but three.   It appears that all the hard work is paying off for Ian, Sue, Trevor and all the guys in their “dumpy” building on the Woodstock Road (there words not mine).   Well done guys. So now the headlines have been read its time for programmers everywhere to look at the detail.   Its this part of the job I find fascinating – the patterns – switching – spread of available audience.   RAJAR contains so much information that most people only ever skim the surface.   Its an expensive tool though, and one by which we all live or die so if you aren’t getting the most from the data its well worth getting in someone to help you.   Good luck with the analysis. And for those that pay for the discrete data I’m sure you’ve already written your prediction for next time’s result!

9th September 2011 Where’s all the revenue gone? Times are tight and the sales reps are finding it hard going.   I wonder how many station owners will be scratching their heads this month wondering just how they are going to pay the bills.   So who’s fault is it that things are so bad?   The government?   The previous government?   The bankers? No.   It’s the station management.   (Deep intake of breath at that point!) Times are tight, but the money is still there.   Businesses up and down the country still need to market their products and services, it’s just now we have to work so much harder to get our hands on the money. So when we don’t get the money from a client we need to analyse why.   What made that client decide our operation wasn’t right for them.   Ultimately its because someone else was more persuasive, or maybe no one was persuasive enough! When times are tight radio stations need to make sure their sales teams are finely tuned to the environment and, most importantly, the rest of the station backs up the front line sales infantry. Let’s not underestimate the pressure our sales reps are under.   They need support and guidance now more than ever.   Preparation is the key: spending the time planning each call, doing the research and even role playing all the potential scenarios; know the competition inside out; know your own strengths and play these up, with a robust defence of the weaknesses.   For each potential client ask the question as to what we are doing to build a good personal relationship – we all know people buy people. The sales team need good, strong support at the moment, but often the frustration of falling revenues results in the opposite approach being applied – creating a negative and depressed environment. But we must also look at the bigger picture.   The support the sales team need is far more than just for their abilities to close a client at the meeting.   We should assess what we are doing to overcome the objections that emanate before and after the meeting.   A lot of this is down to perception and I often think people vastly underestimate how much perception can undermine the sales process. For stations not based in their area visibility will always be an issue.   Business people get an impression of the effectiveness of a potential advertising outlet by how much they see that outlet themselves.   The local paper has an advantage as it is often piled high at the entrance to the local supermarket.   No one asks how many are sold, but simply by being there the impression is one of good coverage.   So is the station visible, in a positive way, day in and day out in the area?   Quite often those stations based outside their area start with good intentions, but then promotional activities fall away. What is the station doing on-air to prove its worth in the community?   Does it champion local causes, get to the heart of real local issues (not just the press releases that arrive), and truly reflect life in “this town”, here, today?   After a rep leaves a meeting a potential client will often give the station a listen and that can be the point when the objections arise.   For those stations still based in their area the same visibility issue still holds true, albeit somewhat easier to rectify. Turning to the station’s output.   It’s a little too late to correct a deficit in audience numbers for a revenue problem now – that is a good twelve month project.   The work can start though and we can recognise again that in a local market any Rajar figures may actually be irrelevant to a small business.   Again its down to an individual’s perception of the listenership of a station and the footfall that is actually generated. It always amazes me how many of the smaller stations have no idea what their unique selling point (USP) is.   Its something the likes of Heart, Capital, Magic and Smooth know and implement perfectly.   In the smaller stations where revenue performance is poor it can usually be tracked right back to the misunderstanding, or poor delivery of a station’s USP. I could go on, but I’m sure you get the idea.   As a very senior member of a major group’s management team told me just yesterday – the money is still there, you’ve just got to work harder to get it.   I agree with that and will add “work smarter” to “work harder”.

19th August 2011 A bit of psychology I love dabbling in psychology and fitting the theory to real life situations.   I’m sure you have heard of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, drawn up by Abraham Maslow in 1943.   To refresh my memory I’ve just re-read his paper, from the first level of basis human survival, through the second level of safety needs, to the third level of love and belonging.   After this comes esteem and self-actualisation.   It all comes together into a neat triangle with one level only coming into play when its predecessor is satisfied. In the current economic climate many companies across all sectors are struggling.   As I write this the stock market is plunging for a second successive day and that rings alarm bells for the future of the economy more generally.   So its perfectly understandable that individuals feel jittery.   In radio continued employment is probably less certain now than at any time in the past few years as advertisers tighten their belts, or in some cases disappear completely.   So there is the potential Maslow’s second safety level can be undermined, and as I said above if this happens the levels above don’t even come into play.   That said its how the manager delivers the story to the staff that can have a major influence on the individuals level of worry. So what about the stations where the staff aren’t spending every waking moment worried about their future?   For them its love and belonging that come into play.   I’m sure we’ve all heard of radio stations that are vicious places plagued with egos and back-stabbing individuals.   But standing back from these situations and applying Maslow’s theory demonstrates just how much damage this can do to the station’s ability to perform.   Who should be controlling this situation?   It should be the manager, but the reality is the manager is usually the person just watching from the sidelines, or worse still joining in!  Is the manager therefore at fault?   Quite often no, because these are people who have landed a management position with no management training provided subsequently by the company.   At a very basic level the training is in making people feel they belong. A happy and contented team is a team that works well and works hard – Maslow’s first three levels satisfied.   I’m currently doing some work with a couple of stations where this is highly evident.   The managers in these teams are to be congratulated because for the staff going to work in the world of radio is as enjoyable and fulfilling as they always dreamt it would be.   These are places I enjoy going in to.   Its all about how the captain controls the sailing of their ship! Maslow’s theory is a complicated psychological work but one any manager should take time every now to re-read.   In these difficult economic times we don’t need anything else to distract a stations performance.

22nd July 2011 The times they are a-changing Everything comes in threes they say.   Well maybe that’s true.   This week the departure of Andy Parfitt from Radio 1 came as a shock to many.   It was Andy’s announcement that made my count of three programmers I know who have announced they are moving on in the last couple of weeks. My other two?   Danny Cox has announced his departure from Mix 96.   I’ve worked with Danny on and off since our days together at Fox FM.   He is a gifted presenter, programmer and manager.   Danny is one of those few people who makes quality radio fun for the listener and presenter; he knows how to get the best out of his team and makes everyone feel an important “cog in the wheel”.   Importantly he is able to deliver on air himself the quality product he requires from others.   Add to that Danny’s ability to innovate with the latest technology and you have a formidable programming force. Further south James O’Neill has announced his departure from Kestrel FM.   Bizarrely there is a link to Mix 96 here.   I first met James when he applied for a PC position with me – at the time he was working at Mix 96.   I remember the first conversation I had with James because it felt like a meeting of minds.   His understanding of what was needed to make a small station successful was the same as mine.   It was a pleasure to watch James in his new position developing links in the locality, raising visibility and awareness and making the station a focal point for local matters.   Crucially he worked with the sales manager to generate those all important programme friendly revenue ideas.   Wessex FM have got themselves a good man. Of course BBC Radio 1 is a completely different game, but for Andy Parfitt the story of success is there again.   Radio 1 in 2011 does a great deal of public service broadcasting that is carefully wrapped up in an easily accessible product that is performing very well.   There’s also a wide variety of music on offer from genres well away from the mainstream, albeit off-peak.   At a time of cut backs I expect the next controller may have to look at the number of staff employed on Radio1, but for now Andy is leaving knowing Radio 1 is in rudely good health. In any business people move on, and I expect we’ve all worked for someone for whom we were pleased to close the door after they left.   But the good people are remembered positively.   But what’s more radio is a small industry and as I’ve found many times you meet old friends and colleagues time and time again, albeit in a different building. So good luck to Danny, James and Andy, and anyone else moving on to a new challenge.   In terms of the finances, we’re in difficult times at the moment, but with a good person at the helm the ship can always sail a steady course through the choppy waters.

15th July 2011 A day-off drive to the West Country On Wednesday I drove to Somerset for a non-radio day and found myself as a radio consumer alongside other non-radio people in the car.   I’ve never considered myself a channel hopper, but if I wasn’t before I certainly became one on Wednesday. Heading for the M5 took me through the Cotswolds where its difficult to pick up very much, so I landed for a while with Chris Moyles.   He was mid way through a feature whereby he played a song that was the worst song of all time for someone in the studio.   Whether I joined it too late, or whether I’ve had a sense of humour bypass, the feature seemed to go on for a long time with no laughs for me and the search button was pressed. Next stop Richard Madely on Radio 2.   Now as a stand in for Terry Wogan I can see how this would have worked, but Richard now seems to be the deputy for Chris Evans.   Their styles are just too far apart (in my opinion) for an Evans listener not to be tempted to stray.   Had I turned into Mr Grumpy?   Possibly because Richard didn’t hold my attention for more than ten minutes. Another search and it was back to Chris Moyles who was still doing the same feature!   No tunes here. The next search landed me on Heart Gloucestershire.   Here Warren Moore was on breakfast and was a good listen.   As you expect form Heart the songs were all well known and obvious, but critically they were all great.   Warren was bright, tight and local (yes … I know!).   So thumbs up to Warren.   It was only a fading signal and the allure of Ken Bruce that stole me away. Well it was my day off, so I was allowed to indulge in a couple of hours of Mr Bruce, Popmaster, the lovely Lyn, and everything that makes Radio 2 mornings the choice for so many.   It’s the warmth, the dry humour, the interaction, the variety of music and the feeling you too can take a sideways look at life that gives Ken’s show that inclusive feel.   I too was left pondering why the £166 million lottery winner would only receive £161 million. Later in the day for the return trip I thought we should sample the local station in Bridgwater.   I wasn’t sure about the rotation of song eras, and the presenter didn’t seem to have a lot of interest to say, but the biggest shock came when I hit the search button to find an alternative.   The next station I hit was several times louder and nearly blew my speakers.   In fact every station was about five times louder than Bridgwater’s local.   To be fair I think its Bridgwater’s local that’s actually five times quieter.   Someone needs to call the engineer quick. A bit later on as the sunshine faded away a similarly named station faded in.   They were playing a wide variety of songs and I actually found it an interesting mix that kept me listening for a while.   The only thing that let them down was the production.   Well the lack of production.   The sponsor of their evening show seemed to be mentioned on what appeared to be the same sweeper between almost every song.   I suppose the sponsor can’t argue their not getting value for money! Eventually it was back into my own patch and the post 10pm selection of love songs.   I say “selection” but to be honest therewas nothing here other than the usual suspects.   The off button was eventually pressed as a sweeper announced we were listening to “Mellow Classics” and my mate said “that sounds like a cheap supermarket coffee”! Are all listeners as awkward as me?

8th July 2011 Local Television - the time is right Local celebrities.   That was what the presenters of SIX TV – The Oxford Channel were in Oxfordshire.   Many in the media who weren’t part of the project were sceptical as to whether anyone actually watched local TV, but you only had to head out into the area with someone who appeared on screen to realise people did watch. SIX TV was one of the initial trial local TV services that broadcast on a low powered analogue frequency.   This meant many people had to watch a snowy picture unless they were within a few feet of the transmitter!   But watch they did. What made SIX TV a success was the unashamed localness of the service.   Programmes like “Tales of the Thames” brought to people’s attention stretches of the river they could easily visit the next day; local sport was featured at grass roots – at the time presented by Sarah Stirk who now works for BBC News.   Of course local news was a key audience driver and during my time overseeing the output we began an innovative experiment using journalists who could read news on our radio station and present on TV as well.   (As an aside it was great watching Andrea Benfield on the ITV Early Evening News yesterday – a slot she used to present for us on SIX TV). A lot was learnt from those early trials and since then new business models have been developed that will enable local TV to provide a high quality local service in a financially viable way. Over the last few years ITV regions have grown larger and the BBC is now considering its local options.   The net result is that local news – the local news that really affects the viewer – is becoming more scarce. Today the Digital switchover is underway and in its wake the plans to role out local television on freeview in a digital age are gaining pace.   My colleague Dan Cass will be speaking on the West Midlands edition of the BBC Politics Show this weekend and explaining how places like Coventry, Stratford and the Vale and Stoke-On-Trent could support and benefit from their own local television services.   And no more grainy pictures – digital quality images of the area the viewer relates to. What makes local television so interesting in 2011 is the fact that new ways of working and the ability through technology to provide alternatives to traditional concepts will win through.   I suspect many will continue to say local television won’t work but, as with the early trials in Oxford, ultimately it’s the viewer that will decide.

24th June 2011 Today ... its about 2Day It was an ambitious project: bring the best bits of BBC Radio 2’s specialist, evening and weekend output to the daytime audience.   To the casual observer this is an audience more used to getting through their day with the background banter of Chris, Ken, Jeremy, Steve and Simon in the order that makes Radio 2 the soundtrack guide from breakfast, through the day, to the way home. We know people don’t like change, so how could throwing away the regular daytime schedule possibly work, and who came up with such a ludicrous idea?   I’m sure one or two commercial executives imagined with glee the potential channel hopping that could result from 2Day. However it is my suspicion that 2Day will actually be a huge success for Radio 2, and on more than one level. It was interesting watching the BBC’s own message boards and producer chat forums during the day.   (The BBC is always brave airing the feedback so openly with what appears to be limited moderation.)   Initially the negative comments far outweighed the positives, but by the end of the day the swing was firmly in the other direction.   Indeed people were highlighting sections of the output they had enjoyed and would now search out within the normal schedule.   Maybe those that had been unhappy initially had channel hoped by later in the day and hence the negative comments dried up.   Or maybe, much the same as the Wogan hard core said they would never listen to Evans, people came round to the idea and gained from the experience. I purposely listened to the whole day and whilst I found some of the morning segments a hard listen, by the afternoon I was actively involved.   I guess if you listen to Radio 2 normally you are not used to having to listen as intently as 2Day required.   For me hearing Michael Ball with David Jacobs was a pleasure, and something only Radio 2 would dare to do in the middle of a weekday afternoon. I suspect 2Day achieved the aim of raising the profile of Radio 2’s specialist output with the daytime audience.   For those that did channel hop for the day I wonder what BBC Local Radio or the commercial competition did to showcase themselves to a potential new audience?   That said I think we must credit listeners with some intelligence and loyalty; I suspect they were all back with Chris, Ken, Jeremy Steve and Simon on Thursday. To me the real success of 2Day was at a much more corporate level.   Radio 2 knows the next BBC Trust review is just round the corner; the station often faces criticism for sitting in an area too close to the commercial sector; the licence fee usage must always be justified.   In one swoop this “ludicrous idea” took a big chunk out of these arguments, chewed them up and spat them out.  I suspect we haven’t heard the last of 2Day.   Well done Radio 2 for a brave idea, successfully delivered.

17th June 2011 Snooping Around Shop Windows Imagine, for a moment, you have just bought a high street shop.   After fitting it out you will ensure the staff arrange the window displays to maximise the appeal to all those passing potential customers.   Would you then leave those displays for months?   I doubt it.   You would ensure the team attended to them regularly, updated them, made them sparkle and shine, and kept them appealing to the passing trade and those regular customers you need to entice back in.   The big retailers know the importance of their shop window displays.   Clothes retailer Next employ specialist teams to look after this vital part of their business. Our radio stations aren’t much different.   Our presenters are tending to our shop windows.   So why do some stations let them do this vital role with little or no guidance? It always shocks me when I speak to a presenter who claims to have not been coached for “a few months”; indeed some claim to have never been coached at their current station. We know programme managers at stations are busy, but the presenters coaching session (or snoop as we affectionately know it) should be one entry in the diary that is sacrosanct.   But that’s not all. When the programme manager and talent do meet its important that both are prepared so they can make the most of their valuable time together: The programme manager should have listened to some recent output from the presenter real time to get an overall feel for where the presenter is The presenter should have considered and noted their recent highs and lows and be armed with suggestions and requests to help them progress The environment should be conducive to a productive session, free of interruptions, and where the audio can be heard in decent quality (so no tinny inbuilt laptop speakers!) I’m a firm believer of picking a random period of output from a stations logger so the presenter is heard without the ability to “up their game” for the benefit of the session.   They need to be heard and guided based on the general performance the station’s listeners are used to, not a polished pre-snoop special. Both the presenter and programme manager should listen to a link in its entirety before commenting.   Sections can always be replayed to highlight a point.   Its fine to open by asking the presenter what they thought, but the programme manager must offer an opinion and develop the thinking as well. The end game, of course, is for the presenter to develop and improve, becoming more targeted to the station’s audience and having the ability to make your shop window the most attractive on your radio high street.   But more than that it’s an opportunity in team building, in people development, and for the programme manager to earn some respect from the presenter.   So its vital the presenter leaves the snoop in a mood of positivity. All too often a presenter will exit with their head down, feeling completely demotivated.   Why?   Surely even the worst performance in the world should be explained in a way that leaves the presenter with a clear vision of the way forward and a path to improvement that they can buy into.   Its all about the way the message is delivered, and for that its all down to skill of people management – something which is no different in any industry. So good luck with your shop windows.   In a changing radio world its never been more important that presenters completely understand what they have to deliver, and how to successfully achieve it.   Without feedback they can only guess and shouldn’t be blamed if it doesn’t work…

10th June 2011 What is truly local radio? Local radio comes in all shapes and sizes, but which one fits best. There are the small stand alone stations – the well run ones are financially viable as well; there are the Jack’s; there are the networked hubs; and then there’s the BBC. Producing good quality local output with limited resources when you are fighting for every penny of advertising revenue is no easy ask.   But I firmly believe those stations who really work at embedding themselves in their local communities are rewarded with local listeners and happy advertisers.   UKRD is an example of a company that understand this; professional people creating a quality local product that generates a response for advertisers.   The turn around of the former TLRC stations is an achievement the industry should be held up as an example of a company that really understands its market and its business.   Of the indies Andover Sound and Newbury Sound (where I must admit I have an interest) again encapsulate what I believe makes a small local station successful: they reflect life in their communities day in and day out in a professional manner, they build relationships and they are highly visible locally. At the other end of the scale are the networkers who share programmes or share automation from a hub housing several stations.   Now I believe this model could work, if engineered correctly, but often the local content is nothing more than the odd place name mention, one or two local stories recycled from the local paper in the news, or a pre-recorded whats on.   The rest is a staple diet of showbiz news, bits from the national papers and teasing ahead to the next Olly Murs track.   Why do they focus on talking about the music when that is not their USP?   I tune to Heart or Capital for the music; I tune to my local station for the localness. So what of Jack.   Well you might be surprised to know I think there is nothing wrong with the idea of Jack.   Its not purporting to be anything its not.   You know you will get local news, travel and events information and a string of songs inbetween; what’s more the production values will be high, and amusing.   It will be a good listen.   Jack knows its USP and so does the audience, so they will listen and the advertisers will get a response. Which leaves the BBC.   The local stations from aunty face a difficult time at the moment, not knowing their own future.   Their remit is always going to be far more speech based than their commercial rivals  and that can be a difficult call.   With the right features most people will listen to good speech though.   Personally I like Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 as he discusses subjects I can have an opinion on.   In addition an hour with You and Yours on Radio 4 flies by.   In some areas the BBC is the last bastion of truly local radio, so they have a lot to live up to. At the end of the day the listeners will decide which shape and size of local radio best suits them, but we do have the ability to make it ours if we think about what we are doing.

3rd June 2011 Everyone move along one, please The radio industry about to relive the 1990s.   This may seem a ludicrous statement, from a completely different time and industry base, but I believe there are a lot of similarities between then and now. I spent a pleasurable reading session reliving the “good old days” through the memories of a late 80s Radio Authority handbook a few days ago.   How things have changed since the days of those individually branded, locally focussed heritage ILRs. Since then regional radio arrived - so did the small scale services, or sallies as they were affectionately known.   I believe the small scale stations were born out of the early stages of consolidation of the heritage ILRs, albeit not exclusively.   Having been involved in a heritage ILR I know what consolidation meant to the local output of the station, followed by the listening figures and eventually revenue.   Unlike those heritage ILRs that were GWR’d overnight, in the case of my station it did not happen quickly.   However the changes were made; the local content wasn’t dropped, but was changed and “packaged” into the accepted group style. We should never underestimate our consumers - the listeners noticed the changes and the natives became restless.   Across the country groups sprang up wanting truly local radio for their area.   They campaigned; they ran trial broadcasts; slowly legislation was changed and the Radio Authority began the drawn out licencing process as each area proved their case.   As small scale stations were born the rigid rules under which their larger brothers and sisters operated were relaxed. Fast forward to today and we see where most of the heritage ILRs have ended up; transformed to the quasi national Heart and Capital brands.   But the story doesn’t end there.   A lot of the small scale stations have now followed the same route, now sharing programming, premises and resources. The old heritage ILRs moved along to occupy a national ILR space and the small scale services are now taking their old county-sized positions, under Ofcom’s area guidelines. And what do the natives think?   Again the natives are getting restless.   Across the country groups are springing up demanding local radio for their area. So will it happen?   In many areas people are calling for community radio, but the funding rules currently make this less of a possibility and more of an impracticality in all but the largest areas.   The rules with regard to accepting advertising currently protect the incumbent small scale service in an area.   I think this is quite acceptable in the case where that service is based locally and proven to be supporting the local community, in the eyes of that community.   But where a service’s only presence in an area is the transmitter, and the localness is a couple of press releases in the news, a local place name in the weather, and some local sweepers inserted by the playout system, then I question why they are being protected. Its at this point some will point to the financial viability of small local stations, or lack of.   My response is to point to several examples of very small, stand alone stations that are operating successfully and profitably.   It can be done with the right people. History shows that the regulator does listen.   I wonder how long before the argument to remove the funding restrictions for community radio will be heard, and the local radio game will begin all over again.