Who's On Heart breaches broadcasting code, and listener trust

Do you remember the competition that Heart ran for about 6 months during their daytime shows between 10am and 4pm?  It caused a lot of controversy on some radio forums, and apparently, OFCOM also recieved a complaint about it.

The complaint from a listener to Heart's Devon station, now mostly merged with Heart Cornwall, formerly Atlantic FM, to form Heart South West.  There were three incidents that the complainant reported where the presenter, in this case Toby Anstis, host of the Mid Morning slot from 10am to 1pm across the whole Heart Network, did not make clear that the competition was across the whole Heart Network, not merely the station that the listener was listening to.

OFCOM found that the station had been in breach of Rule 2.15, which states that...

“Broadcasters must draw up rules for a broadcast competition or vote. These rules must be clear and appropriately made known. In particular, significant conditions that may affect a viewer's or listener's decision to participate must be stated at the time an invitation to participate is broadcast.”

 Now, it has to be said, this I think is something of a harsh decision, as I believe the top prize on the competition was around £50,000, or maybe it had gone up to £60,000, but either way, that would be enough motivation for any listener to want to call in.  Also, as OFCOM noted in the decision, only the person who got through to the studio was charged for the call, and others would not be.

But there are a couple of interesting points that are worth remembering here.

The first is the issue of listener trust.  Now this is something that some people in the broadcasting industry either don't understand, or forget about, or think that it doesn't matter.  Yet, listener trust is one of the most important commodities that any station can have, as it helps to build ratings and credibility, two of a radio station's results.  It's very easy to destory listener trust, and once that trust has gone, it's very difficult to get it back.

And Heart, in its very construction, is a station that actively avoids being upfront with listeners.  The fact that 35 stations have become 17 all under a single brand, with 17 hours a day of network programming on weekdays, and 20 hours a day on weekends, yet tries to say with a straight face that it prides itself on it's localness, just doesn't ring true.  A listener to Heart South West in Penzance, wouldn't feel that a station based in Exter and London, is very local to them.  After all, Exeter is 110 miles away, and London is 289 miles away.  Not exactly local, especially when compared to Pirate FM, that is based in Pool, near Redruth, which is only 15.7 miles away, and does locally originated programming for all except 3 hours on a Sunday afternoon

Heart's words and actions are not congruent, and as such, to me as a listener, it does not make me want to trust them as a radio station.

The second point I'd like to make is one that would annoy a lot of the fans of Heart on the various radio forums and sites, but is a very pertinent point.

Heart's parent company, Global Radio, have set themselves up as the big guns in the industry, and with their intended purchase of the entity formerly known as GMG being investigated by the Office of Fair Trading, this breach of the broadcasting code doesn't help matters for them, even if it doesn't hinder them.  And even if this breach is counted against them in that process, which is unlikely, it's not exactly a big minus.  But when you set yourself up as the biggest company in the industry, there will be people who will not like what you do, just as there will be people who do like what you do.

However, some of the reactions that I have seen from Heart's fans, or as I usually call them, the Heartophiles, have been definitely derogatory towards the complainant.  Some of the thoughts about who the complainant might be, are logical and believable.  After all, in creating Heart Devon, Global took 5 different breakfast shows, 4 different daytime shows and 5 different drivetime shows, and replaced them with 1 countywide breakfast show and 1 countywide drivetime show, with network daytimes.  They basically fired a lot of people and  it's not inconcievable that some of them might have an agenda against Heart.  However, it has to be said that a number of those who used to work for those stations that became Heart Devon, still have some very strong friendships with those who still work at Heart.

But it is worrying that the attitude is that the person invloved is somehow either a professional complainer, or someone at a rival station, that's a very damaging attitude to hold.  When you are working at a radio station, you are busy doing so much, that you don't have time to dissect the opposition's output, much as you'd might like to.  I find the whole idea of a rival station getting a complaint submitted to OFCOM to be totally ludicrous.  The other idea of a professional complainer, whilst being more plausible, considering the past actions of organisations like MediaWatch UK, also seems unlikely in this situation.  The professional complainers, such as MediaWatch UK, go after the BBC, or Channel 4, or Sky.  The groups that are anti-Global and anti-Heart, are rag-tag Facebook groups of individuals, many of whom don't even have the time to actively monitor Heart's output all day.

The idea that "normal listeners" don't complain is something that broadcasters have been trying to use for years to discredit anybody who did complain about their output.  It's a dangerous attitude to hold, and is very insulting to listeners, who are the most important people for any radio station.  If you don't value the feedback you get from your listeners, then why should they listen to your station?

All in all, this is small fry, this is a minor infraction.  In the NFL, you'd call this a 5 yard penalty.  It's nothing.  But the reaction of the Heartophiles online, is very disconcerting.  They're treating it, like they've given up a 15 yard penalty, a major infraction, and they've basically attacked the motivation of the complainer, without having any proof, or any eveidence, or even anything slightly circumstancial.  Rather than accept that Heart made a few mistakes, they throw some quite wild unprovable accusations, just so they can feel better.  Such behaviour is unjustified, unwarranted and does not help Heart from a public relations standpoint. 

It's a shame that these so called fans cannot just accept the fact that Heart go caught out on some minor infractions of the broadcasting code and let things be.  But any big company can be regarded as a target, as the BBC, ITV, Sky and NewsCorp have all found out.  And now Global are starting to realise that as the biggest commercial radio company, you are there to be shot at, and some people will take potshots at you, and some will hit the target.  The measure of a company is how you react and recover from those hits and do you make your product better as a result.

Global to buy GMG Radio: Competition issues.

So, it's being reported today that Global Radio is to buy GMG Radio for £50million.  It's being reported that UTV Media, Absolute Radio and Bauer Radio are expected to lodge complaints to the Competition Commission.

It's strange to watch this happen, knowing that this has happened already in two broadcasting related industries, and in both of them, they are significantly weaker now, than they were before the whole merging process began.  Instead of becoming more than the sum of the parts, in both cases, the industries have become singiificantly less than the sum of the parts that made it, and it's already been happening in radio and it seems to be getting worse.

When radio stations first started being sold in the UK, back in the early 1990s, the usual valuation for a station was around £10million each.  Accounting for inflation, which doubles every 15 years roughly, that would make each station today worth somewhere between £20-25million.  Except, that Global has just bought 10 stations for £50million.  That's £5 million per radio station.  Accounting for inflation, that valuation of radio station back in the early 1990s would be somewhere near £2million.  In other words, the value of an individual radio station has fallen 80% in the last 20 or so years.

That's some pretty massive depreciation.  It's a damning indictment of an industry that seems to be doing what both Virgin Media in cable and ITV in terrestrial broadcasting.  Merging themselves, not into oblivion, but into irrelevance.  And as this trend continues, listeners will slowly continue to desert those stations that are part of this massive conglomerate, and seek other alternatives, from overseas if necessary. 

And there is a bigger issue than merely the massive depreciation in the value of the radio industry over the last 20 years.  This is the biggest radio company in the UK, buying the third biggest, when it is already way more than double the size and reach of the second biggest.  And all this does is make Global bigger and make radio a less attractive industry for people and other business to come into.  Radio was a better industry and a stronger industry, when there were more players in constant competition.

What's often refered to as consolidation is in fact nothing more than seeking to eliminate competition.  And Charles Allen, who was the man responsible for the assimiliation of many of the ITV regional companies into Granada, and the eventual merger with Carlton to form ITV plc in 2004, knows all about that.  And with GMG willing to sell, Global basically, being the biggest, could offer the most money, and yet, they still undervalued the group by at least half, according to GMG's own valuation in it's last annual report.

Global want to basically consolidate all of commercial radio under one company, much like Charles Allen tried to do at ITV, and almost succeeded.  This deal is not designed to increase competition or preserve it, it is designed to reduce it.  For that very reason alone, the Competition Commission should refuse this deal. 

A Rebuttal to Radio Today's Stuart Clarkson

Radio Today is supposed to be a radio news site.  But last week's commentary from Stuart Clarkson about brands, which although spoke a lot of truth, asked one really stupid question.  Was anybody missing Plymouth Sound?

Yes, people are missing Plymouth Sound, and Gemini FM, and Lantern FM, and South Hams Radio, and Orchard FM and Westward Radio and all the other local names.  Listeners miss that feeling of a local friend they can turn to.  Because of the lack of localness, there are implications for things like flood warnings and weather warnings.  Local radio stations would be able to give detailed warnings of flooding risk, the kind that are released by the Environment Agency.  A network operation even with split links, cannot provide that same degree of localness.  The reason for this is simple, it's impossible to talk about any area like you have a local knowledge, if you are not from that area.  You can't buy the local knowledge that comes from having lived for a while in that area.  That kind of local knowledge cannot be duplicated from a network hub.

But, this week, Stuart Clarkson exposed his own lack of local knowledge when writing a commentary on the aftermath of Global buying Atlantic.  Time to debunk some myths, and translate the rest of it back into actuality.

But first, an actual piece of truth.

"In many cases, small stations are struggling to make ends meet, and for some the only option is to consider whether there’s a better option than handing back the licence and depriving local advertisers of a marketing outlet that’s needed more than ever in these tough economic times."

Yes, this is true, small stations are struggling to make ends meet, and they don't make it any easier for themselves when they do things wrong, like trying to promote a station with a marketing budget of exactly £0.  Social media is helpful as part of a marketing strategy, but it cannot be the entireity of the marketing strategy.
And for a small station that is struggling, asking presenters to help the sales team in selling advertising is a trick that needs to be done.  Even if it's only for an hour or so a day, every little thing that can be done to help a station, should be done.  Unfortunately, far too many stations don't do everything they can to make things work.

"So-called radio fans and industry folk took to social media sites and our own comments box to demonstrate their outrage at the ‘big bad Heart’ and wish bad things to happen to Global."

When listeners realise that the station they used to like is gone, there is a backlash and a drop off in listenership.  Global is basically nothing than GWR version 3.0, combined with the worst of the attitudes that ITV exhibited between about 1993 and 2005.  That's a hell of a lot of negative baggage to be carrying around.  The only way Global could shift that excess baggage is to totally reverse course and it is impossible to see that happening in the current conditions, but it is still extremely unlikely to happen even if the economy improves, because it does not seem to be in Global's heart, pardon the pun, to produce radio that makes people sit up and listen.  They're not making radio that would enthuse people, they are creating aural wallpaper.  Is it any wonder that listeners actually don't like what Global and Heart represent?  Bland maybe safe, but it's not a winner, it's merely a way to avoid losing badly.  Unfortunately, this means that people who are looking for more interesting radio are having to look around for something better.  Hence why the BBC does so well.  BBC Radio right now is just a better worked product.  If commercial radio was more prepared to put more content into their product, they might find it better liked by listeners, and by advertisers.

"Which got me thinking. Isn’t it time we stopped the whinging, and just accepted that the state of the economy and the legacy of licensing decisions down the years means we are where we are? And that we should focus on the future of our industry instead of harping back to a ‘golden era’ that will never return? Just a thought."

No, because factually that does not hold true.  Whilst it may be true that regulatory approval was required to create GWR from the combination of Radio West and Wiltshire Radio, the attitude that became prevalent in that company was a product of greed and ambition.  The fact that so many stations have been bought up to create these networks that we see now, is also partially a fault of the radio stations themselves.  The inability to adapt to changing situations is ultimately what allowed a lot of these stations to be bought out.  Also, newer stations that came on stream didn't actually plan things out properly, with non-existent marketing budgets and no back-up plans in case of problems.  If you can't respond to change, expect to not be around for long.

And by the way, all this talk of harping back to a golden era that will never return, just came from you, Stuart Clarkson.  Nobody is harping back to any so called golden era, which in fact didn't exist.  What we are looking for is for stations to have an attitude towards providing a service that people truly want, something that will enthuse them, rather than providing something bland and uninspiring that they just accept because it's about as good as it currently gets.

"Stop and think for a second about your own radio listening habits. And then think about how a friend or family member who doesn’t work in radio (or have an unhealthy interest in the medium) consumes it. "

Oh, now this is just a humungous insult to radio listeners.  For far too long, anybody who had an interest and expressed a point of view about television was denigrated in the same way.  It is just an insult to people's intelligence, and demonstrates that the only view you're interested in, is the one that agrees with you.  I've heard opinions from a lot of people over the years who would not fit that description, and they have expressed the exact same concerns, the exact same worries, the exact same issues.  Unfortunately it seems that most radio stations seem to be chasing a C2DE audience exclusively, which leaves the ABC1 audience looking elsewhere.  Far too often, you get the sense that your intelligence is being insulted by what you're listening to, that the station is not trying to appeal to a broader market, say BC1C2D, and you're left feeling like they're not speaking to you, and since radio's main benefit is it's ability to speak to people on a 1 to 1 basis, you feel that radio stations are disobeying the first commandment of radio.  Thou shalt always make a connection with your audience.  So not only is this whole idea of someone who has an unhealthy interest in the medium not only an insult, but a deliberate lie.  It says "you'll get what we give you and like it, and if you don't, we're not going to listen to you."  Surely no bigger cardinal sin exists in broadcasting.

"In an age of the internet, smartphones and multi-channel TV, listeners are far less bothered about where their favourite radio station is based than they were in the 70s, 80s or even the 90s."

There is a grain of truth here, but the reason for it is a direct result of the GWR/GCap/Global slow erosion of local radio and radio content.  Over the years, radio companies, primarily led by GWR and Capital, fought against all the regulations that the IBA, Radio Authority and Ofcom have been required to enforce, and it's a battle they've been slowly winning.  Now, if they'd put as much effort into winning listeners over, as they had into fighting the regulator, it's very likely, they wouldn't be fighting for survival, they'd be doing bloody well, making plenty of profits and the BBC would probably be struggling to justify its existence.  If commercial radio was a much better product than it is now, the BBC would not be as successful.

In other words, they're not so bothered about where they get their radio content from, because they've been disenfranchised by commercial radio in this country, which has forced them to look further afield.

Ironically one of the few stations that has bucked the downmarket trend is one that was originally set up to compete with the highbrow BBC Radio 3.  Classic FM had to go slightly down from the Radio 3 level, but could not afford to go too far downmarket, as the audience for classical music, was at a higher demographic level than popular music.  And Classic FM is the most popular national commercial radio station in the country.  It just goes to show that if you go for higher demographics with content, you can win.

Now do that at a local level, and promote and market your station effectively, and anything is possible.

"In many markets, Radios 1, 2 and 4 still knock the local commercial competition into oblivion. Which tells me this: big name DJs (yes I know that contradicts my point above, thanks), a professional sound, and content that has no local relevance are all still a massive hit with listeners."

I'm afraid that that is purely a reflection of how bad the local commercial stations, and in some cases, the local BBC stations, are in those markets.  Any good national product, will defeat any local product that is mediocre or worse, but a good local product beats a good national product every time.  Just ask listeners in Cornwall and Devon.

"So will Atlantic’s change to Heart lose audience for the frequency? I very much doubt it. If anything it’ll go up. Whether you like it or not is irrelevant. A core audience of listeners love it – and that’s good for business, and good for the survival of our industry."

This segment is doubly wrong.  I'll take the second one first.  "A core audience of listeners love (Heart) - and that's good for business, and good for the survival of our industry."  Whilst a core audience may like it, and I have seen first hand evidence that that is actually true, just maintaining your core audience, is not good for your station, in neither the present, nor the future.  Every CEO of any major company the world over, will tell you that you need to grow your business, and for radio, the only way is to increase the listenership, and the only way to do that, is to provide a product that is less aural wallpaper, and more attention seeker.

Now, for his prediction that Heart's audience will rise from Atlantic's levels.  Evidently, he has never spent time in Cornwall or Devon, or actually spoken to anybody round here about radio.  So clearly he doesn't understand the market.  I'll give him an idea just how wrong he is.  There are still major intertown and intercity rivalries, across both Devon and Cornwall.  Plymouth vs Exeter, Truro vs Falmouth, St Austell vs Bodmin, Camborne vs Redruth, and that is not just restricted to the sporting fields.  There is a local saying that comes to mind.  'Redruth is Redruth, Camborne is Camborne, and never the twain shall meet, except at Pool Market on Sundays.'  The whole of the South West, is very much locally driven, locally focused.  When Plymouth Sound and DevonAir back in 1990, said they were going to air joint evening and overnight output, there was hell up from listeners around Plymouth, saying how dare you give us programming from Exeter.  My prediction is to expect a major drop off in listenership, from the current 71,000 down to around 17,000 or even 7,000 within about a year or so.  You already have the Heart Plymouth signal relayed in Cornwall on DAB, along with Capital, XFM and Kiss 100 all relayed from London, and I guarantee you none of the stations have very significant listenerships, not merely because of only being transmitted down here on DAB, but also because they don't connect with listeners down here.  If you expect Heart to connect with listeners, in a market which is strongly local, when they shown no interest in anything strongly local to anywhere, then I'm afraid your logic is very flawed, and your expectations are far too high.

"We must not forget that commercial radio is a business. Yes, in the early days it was about ensuring local democracy, doing ‘lost pets’ features and promoting the bring-and-buy sale at your local town hall. But times have changed. All around the UK, small local stations – whether part of groups or stand-alones – are struggling. And why should those owners carry on throwing money at something that’s showing no signs of returning to the heyday of the 90s when single town stations were changing hands for upwards of three or four million pounds a pop?"

Yes, Commercial Radio is a business, and yet, that is exactly why they need to do more to get back to profitability.  The lower you set your targets, the harder it is to get there.  I know that sounds counter-intuitive, but how often have we seen in sports, teams set a low target and they can't get there, and yet the same team gets set a much higher target in a different game, and they make it with ease.  There is a saying.  'Aim for the moon.  Even if you miss, you will still be among the stars.'  Yes, times are difficult, the money is tight, but if you aim high and truly believe you can get there, then  even if you miss by a little bit, you'll still be doing much better than you are now. 

"I’ve heard comments before along the lines of “Ofcom should just give Heart and Capital a national frequency and let local groups have the local frequencies back to do proper local radio.” If that thought has entered your head then you need to sell your house and move into the real world – and fast. Global don’t want a national licence for Heart or Capital. They might want to share all programming 24/7 on the stations one day, but they don’t want to give up the ability to sell local ads in local markets. That’s their business model and it seems to be doing pretty well for them right now. Programmes of a standard worthy of national radio with a mix of national, regional and local sponsors and advertisers – plus the ability to do just the right amount of local news, sport, travel, weather and what’s ons that the listeners say they want. What’s not to like?"

Quite a lot really.  First of all, they are blocking other competition from getting into the market, and that's enough of a reason.  If they want to do national radio, let then do it on a second national multiplex, which by the way, there's enough demand out there from both sides, from both listeners and from other stations.  Put Heart on there, put Capital on there, put Kiss on there, put XFM on there, and that will free up space on many local multiplexes for other local stations, including those that are still currently FM only, to join the digital revolution, ready for the switch off of analogue radio, a switch off that frankly I don't believe should be happening, but realistically, it looks like it is going to be happening, so the industry needs to get on board, because the train is leaving the station and it seems there will be no delaying it.

And how can you say their business model is working for them, when they haven't made a profit in the last 2 years?

"We’re in the middle of a defining period in our industry and I expect the next few weeks will bring more change too. So let’s try to embrace that change, look for the positives and pull together as an industry to ensure a secure future for radio in the UK."

A defining period???  What we are seeing here is the same thing we have been seeing for the past 20+ years, a slow painful decline in an industry that has forgotten how to go on the offensive, and only play defensive.  If you truly want to secure a future for commercial radio that has the degree of loyalty that we have seen recently from listeners of BBC Local Radio with the cuts that were threatened, then the commercial radio industry needs to buck its ideas up, offer a better product than just aural wallpaper, and get people interested again. 

Global buys Atlantic FM: There are no winners here.

I am disappointed at the recent news that Global Radio is buying Atlantic FM and rebranding it to Heart.

Programming will no longer come from Atlantic's studios in St Agnes but from the old Gemini FM studios in Exeter.  Programmes from Exeter, for a Cornish audience.  That's really going to get an audience... NOT!

You see Heart's owner, Global Radio, is a combination of all the worst parts of UK broadcast history.
It goes all the way back to 1980.  Back then, a radio station called Radio West started broadcasting in Bristol.  By 1985 though, it and nearby station Wiltshire Radio were losing money hand over fist.  The IBA, the regulator at the time, examined the situation and was presented by the stations with a proposal.  Allow the two stations to merge, and broadcasts could continue, otherwise, both stations would have failed and the licences would have to be readvertised. 

The IBA knew that re-adveritisng licences for areas where stations had failed could be problematic.  The IBA had previously disallowed a takeover of Centre Radio in Leicestershire in 1983, and the station had gone off air.  The owners of Radio Trent offered to start a new station in Leicestershire, called Leicester Sound, and 11 months after Centre Radio went off air, Leicester Sound signed on.  So the IBA had previous experience of the difficulties of re-advertising a licence.  They were determined not to make the same mistake again.

So the IBA basically allowed the merger to go ahead.  But in the process, a monster was born, that thought that expansionism was the way to go.  Once the IBA had been replaced by The Radio Authority and the ITC by Margaret Thatcher's government, GWR began expaniding it's reach.  GWR teamed up with Capital to buy Plymouth Sound and DevonAir Radio.  DevonAir was replaced by Gemini FM in a franchise auction, and Capital basically sold the rest of Plymouth Sound to GWR.  GWR continued to pick up stations including the Chiltern Radio network and would begin the process of slowly eroding localness from it's output.  First, all the AM stations were replaced by a networked Classic Gold service with just 4 hours of local output per day for 6 days out of 7, a total of 24 hours of local programming a week.

Then GWR tried to get local programming cut down to just 13 hours a day across their network, but the regulator said that it had to be 16 hours a day.  As a deliberate move, they made 3 of the local hours 3am to 6am in the morning, at the most unprofitable time of the day.  It was as though they were trying to send a message to the regulator that local doesn't work.  Network programming ran from 7pm till 3am.

Eventually, OFCOM backed down and basically local programming has been slashed on Heart ever since.  There is now only 7 hours of "local" programming on Heart on weekdays, and 4 hours at weekends, a total of 43 hours a week.  The company behind Heart, Global Radio, basically these days is a mixture of the GCap attitudes and the attitude of Charles Allen, who basically oversaw the downgrading of ITV from a serious regional broadcaster with a unique selling point, to a company that is little different from the myriad of digital TV broadcasters.  In short, it is the worst of all media worlds, joined together in one place.

People have said this will increase choice.  It won't.  Heart were already broadcasting in Cornwall via DAB Digital Radio, relaying the Devon service with Plymouth ads.  The least I can hope for is that on the Cornwall mux they arrange to playout the Cornwall ads instead.  Other than that, there would be no discernable difference in output, and we have lost the Atlantic FM sound on FM, to make way for Heart.  Jermey Scott called this an upgrade for Atlantic.  it is not, it is a downgrade, and most listeners in Cornwall will know this.
Expect the listenership figures for Atlantic/Heart to plummet from the current 71,000, to a level nearer 17,000 or even maybe nearer 7,000.

Pirate FM and BBC Radio Cornwall will undoubtedly be the beneficiaries.  There's enough history as well to back that up.  In 1999, Plymouth Sound AM was replaced by Classic Gold.   The figures dropped from 67,000 to 20,000.  Pirate FM picked up most of the listeners who deserted.  Now, history will repeat itself, and Global Radio haven't learned the lessons of the past.  If you don't learn from the past, you are destined to repeat the mistakes of the past, which is what Global will do.

The worst part is whilst Atlantic FM never made a profit, they were almost as well respected as Pirate FM.  They knew they were coming into a tough market with both Pirate FM and BBC Radio Cornwall being long established and successful stations.  That Atlantic FM couldn't be profitable despite their best efforts is regrettable, and understandable.  But the fact that Global haven't understood the dynamics of the area they are proposing to move into and are going to output to Cornwall from Exeter and London, shows how much the company is out of touch with actuality. 

Global Radio haven't even been profitable the last 2 financial years, yet Ashley Tabor has taken home about £6million in bonuses.  Bonuses for failure.  Failing to grow in terms of listeners, and failing to grow in terms of credibility and respect.

Global is about as hated as GWR Group and GCap Media were before them.  That sort of baggage only weighs a company down.  Global is a company that needs to change it's whole direction and priorities.  Being overfocused on cutting costs, does not lead to making profits.  Their whole mindset, has to turn towards growth, growing the company and investing in its future.  ITV know all about that.  Since Charles Allen left ITV, they have been trying to grow their business, but the market does not have faith in ITV.  It was in 2007 that ITV last saw their share price above the £1 level that indicates market confidence in a company, and even though they have recovered from their March 2009 lows of around 18p per share, they have still yet to recover above the £1 level.  Global is not a plc, unlike ITV, so it's shares do not trade.  But I would imagine that if they did trade on the stock exchange,they would similarly trade below £1.

This move is not good for commercial radio as a whole, and further reinforces the image that Global, through their actions, are slowly destroying local radio, in the same way that ITV decimated regional television.  And whilst that definitely isn't what they are trying to do, that is the perception they are giving off, and as I always say, perception IS reality.

A Multiplex operator attacking the internet?

This does seem kind of strange to be reporting this, but it needs reporting.  If only because I can think of no other way to let these people know that something is badly wrong. 

I used to keep an eye on the NOW Digital website in the run up to the launch of the multiplex in Cornwall and Plymouth and for a short while afterwards as well. 

Well, I just tried to visit the site to check on capacity availability on some of their local multiplexes only to find that the website domain is now apparently harmful to computers and is a reported attack site!  Firefox completely blocked me off from the site and even Google warned me that it was harmful. 

Now whilst I think its great that that can be done, it’s strange to think what is regarded as the official website of the multiplex operator, is a reported attack site.

Global now own the multiplexes since they bought GCap Media, yet when you visit the ThisisGlobal site it makes no mention of the multiplexes at all, almost as though they don’t exist.  It’s really kind of poor.

Now, I’m not being critical of NOW Digital, just whoever is supposed to be looking after their web presence, but even Charles Allen at Global should realise that such a situation should not be allowed to continue as should word of this go much beyond this blog, it will create some very bad PR for Global and NOW Digital.  We already know that commercial radio is reluctant to go digital, despite their protestations that there should be a switchover date, something I believe would actually be a huge mistake.

There is no reason whatsoever to switch off AM & FM, however, more UK broadcasters should be looking towards DRM, DAB+ and HD Radio as possibilities for future expansion of digital radio.  However, just as there is no reason to switch off AM and FM, neither would there be any reason to switch off DAB. 

The cynic in me is saying that this is just another example of how committed to the future of broadcasting commercial radio is, in other words, not very.  But I truly hope the cynical side is wrong.

Disney buys Marvel - more corporate conservatism?

Imagine this: you are webslinging across the New York city skyline, just like Spiderman. You swing round to see the famous Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four, twith its big "4" rooftop landing pad. But as you swing by, you notice something unusual. The circle 4 logo, has suddenly got Mickey Mouse ears!

Okay, this is not likely to happen! But, it does highlight the strangeness of this whole deal. Disney is buying Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. Sounds like a lot of money for a comic book company. But when you look at this in detail, like I have, you notice there are things about this whole deal that seem to be totally wrong here.

First off, is a simple one. The reputations of each company. Disney is well known for it's family friendly image. It's not well known for edgy, controversial and rosky storylines, like Marvel does in its comics. Will we end up seeing a Disney-fied Marvel as a result, with comics more aimed at younger children than at the current teen market? Only time will tell. But that must be a worry for the artists that work for Marvel.

Secondly, when you look at the indivdual properties that Marvel owns (most of these being characters and their related franchises), it would seem that Disney has got somewhat of a bargain, maybe even significantly underpaid the real value of Marvel. Marvel has over 5000 characters across its multitudes of comic books, and many years of history too.

Spiderman for instance, has been around since 1962. He made his first transition to television in the late 1960s cartoon, with perhaps the most memorable sung theme tune lyrics in history. "Spiderman, Spiderman, does whatever a spider can...". He made his first live action appearance in 1978 TV specials, which were actually very well produced, and filmed, managing to achieve the effect of having him crawl up walls and make it look good. He had since also appeared in another 6 animated shows, including two running simulataneously in 1981, and the hit "Spiderman:The Animated Series" which ran from 1994 to 1998.

But it's been the recent Spiderman films that have made Spiderman a huge franchise. Since 2002, Tobey Maguire's Spiderman has catapulted the character into the stratusphere. Without doubt the Sam Raimi directed films have done more for the character than all the previous versions put together, taking almost $2.5 billion in box office revenues worldwide. Two films featuring another Marvel character, The Incredible Hulk, in the same time period, have taken over $500 million. Two films featuring The Fantastic Four in 2005 and 2007, grossed over $600 million. Put together the earnings from these three franchises alone, and it comes to $3.6 billion. Put that next to the $4 billion that Disney is paying, and it doesn't half look like Disney seriously underpaid for Marvel.

But the biggest concern I have in all this, is will we see the taming of the risk taking Marvel, by the more conservative Disney? It's been a growing trend across news media, broadcast media and entertainment media over the past 20 years. Corporations do not like taking risks. But Marvel had taken many risks over the years, including the purchase in 1981 of DFE Films, the company that produced the Pink Panther cartoons, which then became Marvel Productions.

The 1994 animated Spiderman series was a big risk, as they used a lot of new techniques in order to achieve the look that they wanted. But it cost a lot of money. So they started resorting to all the usual tricks to save money, such as repeating animations, a favourite trick of Filmation. Also, multi-part stories became the order of business, in order to cut down on the number of characters that they would have to animate.

Despite the success of Spiderman, Marvel went bankrupt in 1996. The fear of bankruptcy is what makes corporations very conservative. They will not take a risk. We've seen corporate conservatism at work already. In 1993, there were 15 ITV companies, each with their own ideas. Now, there is 1 dominant ITV company - ITV plc, and 3 smaller ones. ITV companies used to take risks with shows they had no idea if it would even work. Now, everything has to be in profit before it even aires. 15 diverse broadcasters have been replaced by 1 large broadcaster that seems scared of its own shadow.

Then there is the GWR/GCap/Global situation in commercial radio. In the late 1980's, commercial radio was forced to split FM and AM programming, creating two stations where there had previously only been one. The ILR heritage stations remained on FM< whilst new oldies stations were created on AM. GWR created Brunel Classic Gold on AM and as GWR bought up stations, they imported the Classic Gold name and format. In 1998, GWR sought the approval of the Radio Authority to network Classic Gold for 20 hours a day. They were granted this, and so began the process of creating a semi-national network, cutting expenses and local programmes, because of their growing corporate conservatism. Classic Gold is now Gold. But of course it didn't stop there.

They increased their networking arrangements on FM. Evenings and Overnights became the first easy targets for FM network programmes. It was understandable. In the early days of commercial radio, some neighbouring stations would get together to provide a mini network for evenings and overnights. The Yorkshire Radio Network, combinig Pennine Radio, Radio Hallam and Viking Radio, provided programmes most evenings and for a bit longer at weekends. Other little networks also emerged, so it was an easy target for GWR, or as they would later become, GCap.

But it took until Global had taken over GCap, for FM network to reach into daytime, with OFCOM allowing a rule change that allowed stations to broadcast just 10 hours of locally originated programming a day on weekdays. The Heart FM network would simulcast Toby Anstis between 10am and 1pm, in order, as they would say, to allow a big name personality to generate revenue across the network. Unfortuantely, Toby is such a bad radio presenter, that the only thing keeping him on air is his supposed star power.
That's the root of the thinking of corporate conservatism. Big names + big audience = profit. But it doesn't always work that way.

Now corporate conservative Disney is going to buy Marvel, and will we see the same corporate conservatism infect Marvel, like it has infected many other media corporations over the years? I hope not, but I'm not confident.