RADIO OUT OF TUNE WITH LOCAL VOICES

19-04-2008

Sick of so-called local radio that plays the same Top 40 garbage as every other station?  Matthew Revell is proud to declare that in Wolverhampton, at least, there is an alternative.

Who cares if  commercial radio is set to get even more bland? So far, the big radio networks' reward for homogenisation has been falling audiences and falling revenue (Guardian link)

There was a time when local commercial radio stations broadcast varied shows, took an active role in the community they served and made a profit.

Today, it's only the station names that share any similarity with those days. The '90s rush towards cost-cutting, consolidation and constant Top 40 rotation has left British local commercial radio as little more than a jukebox with verbal diarrhoea.

While Rupert Murdoch is an easy hate figure for media studies students, it's the big radio groups that have caused most damage in British broadcasting.

What Metro Radio Group, GWR and Emap set in motion, now GCap/Global Radio and Guardian Media Group continue. Scan through the FM range at any location in the country and you'll already hear the same voices, the same songs and the same anecdotes wherever you happen to be: although the names are different, their output has been carefully formatted by head office.

It's hardly much of a development to do away with the local replication of this output and replace it with a nationally networked programme. If the jock pressing the buttons and burbling inanities happens to be in London, rather than Wolverhampton, who cares? Commercial local radio is already barely local.

This is where I'd expect the BBC to step up. Shielded from the vagaries of commercial pressures, BBC local radio has the freedom to be bold and to take risks. In days past it did.

Chris Morris began his career at BBCs Bristol and GLR. Martin Kelner's North Night Network show was hilarious, built a community amongst its listeners and gave some of the first exposure to the talents of Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash.

The past successes of BBC local radio only serve to highlight the sorry state of BBC WM. Having spoken to several people involved in WM over the years, it appears that its management is rigidly committed to serving God-fearing, socially conservative, football-loving pensioners.

That leaves us with two options for innovative local radio: podcasts and the new community stations. Community radio is an odd beast: hobbled by commercial radio's insistence that it should be allowed to raise only 50% of its revenue from advertising and often burdened by vague licence commitments to do some form of social good, it's a wonder any of the stations have started broadcasting at all.

Despite greatly restricted finances, many of these stations are broadcasting and some of them are producing great radio.

In Wolverhampton, we have http://www.wcrfm.com/ 101.8 WCR. Virtually all the presenters are volunteers from the city, most with no previous radio experience.

Programming is diverse: specialist music shows serve groups that radio has neglected for years, while the speech output gives a voice to ideas and stories that are largely unheard elsewhere.

Whereas many a local radio presenter comes across as the sort of person you wouldn't want be stuck next to on a long train journey, WCR FM's presenters are ordinary people.

There's a long way to go for community radio but while London-based businesses struggle to find the next way to squeeze another few quid out of our airwaves, I'm grateful that some spectrum is finally available for people like you and me to talk with one another.

(Find out more about Matthew at www.understated.co.uk and listen to the Wolverhampton Politics Show on 101.8 WCR FM Fridays 7pm - 8pm www.wolverhamptonpolitics.co.uk)

SEE ALSO “BRMB – IN TUNE WITH NOTHING”

The Stirrer would be delighted to help promote more community radio and podcasting initiatives.  Contact editor@thestirrer.com