Radio Survivor

source: kitschulike.com

Ofcom (the United Kingdom’s equivalent of the FCC) has just published a new survey of which words British radio listeners and TV watchers don’t like, or sort of don’t like, or really object to, depending on the circumstances.

The most important circumstance is whether the word was said pre- or post-”watershed”—post being the equivalent of our “safe harbor” period in the United States for “indecent” or, as British broadcasting code classifies it, “offensive” language.

Our’s is 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. Their’s is 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. Those are the hours when, here in the U.S., you can say those seven dirty words that George Carlin so famously used in 1972.

Guess they go to bed a little earlier than we do. If you don’t like reading nasty words, please click away from this page, NOW. Otherwise, here goes.

When it came to “strong language”: (more…)

Lynn Parsons of Smooth Radio London

It will be interesting to see what Ofcom, the United Kingdom’s broadcast regulatory agency, says about GMG Radio, aka “Smooth Radio” of London and North West’s request to pare down its jazz format. Here’s the gist of the request for the stations (I’ve added the bold):

“Current Character of Service

AN EASY LISTENING STATION FEATURING EASY LISTENING MUSIC INCLUDING JAZZ, SOUL, BLUES AND R&B TARGETING A NORTH-WEST AUDIENCE AGED 50-PLUS, AND BROADCASTING 45 HOURS A WEEK OF SPECIALIST JAZZ PROGRAMMES

Proposed Character of Service

AN EASY LISTENING STATION FEATURING EASY LISTENING MUSIC AND LIFESTYLE ORIENTED SPEECH, TARGETING A NORTH WEST AUDIENCE AGED 50-PLUS, AND BROADCASTING 12 HOURS A WEEK OF SPECIALIST MUSIC PROGRAMMES“

As you can see, it’s those “specialist jazz programmes” that GMG wants to retrench, scheduling what’s left before midnight and during weekend afternoons. (more…)

Commercial radio broadcasters on both sides of the Atlantic are no doubt praising the United Kingdom’s move to allow licensed stations to cut down on their news and local fare.

“Changes in the advertising market, greater competition for audiences’ attention and technological developments mean that the radio industry is facing significant challenges and is having to change,” the UK’s regulatory agency Ofcom declared this week.  “So the way it is regulated also needs to adapt.”

Among other provisions, Ofcom will allow FM stations to “co-locate and share” their programming.  “This will allow the stations to merge to form larger, more financially viable stations.” And: “Stations may request to reduce the number of locally made programme hours from 10 a day to 7 a day, if they commit to providing local news bulletins throughout weekday daytime.”

Nick Clegg of the UK's Liberal Democrats

The move was authorized by the UK’s controversial Digital Economy Bill, and goes into effect in June, unless the UK’s Liberal Democratic Party wins enough seats in the upcoming election to repeal the law.

As far as I can tell, even with these provisions UK commercial stations will still be much more locally oriented than their equivalents in the United States. But it’s the thought that counts. The cross Atlantic assumption seems to be that local broadcasting is an intolerable burden on commercial radio.

Here in the San Francisco Bay area, there are some commercial radio stations that, with the implicit approval of our Federal Communications Commission, offer almost no local coverage at all. For example, I’ve logged in many hours listening to Channel 92.3 FM, the Bay Area’s self-proclaimed alternative rock station, which supposedly loves indie rock so much that it almost never identifies the names of the songs. As for the Bay Area local scene, I rarely hear a live someone say anything substantial on the station, much less offer day time coverage of the region’s doings.

So the question is when we’re going to have a serious discussion not about how to relieve commercial radio stations of having anything to do with their immediate environment, but how to create the system of incentives and requirements that make local broadcasting on all platforms more viable.

The United Kingdom’s broadcasting regulator has given the green light to a new community radio station in the Essex county area. It’s SAFE radio for young listeners in Grays and the outer regions of Thurrock (that’s about ten miles east of the outskirts of London).

The new signal “aims to unite young people from different backgrounds and give them a platform to air their views and promote understanding, tolerance and respect,” UK regulator Ofcom’s summary of the signal says.

You can stream SAFE, which I’m doing as I write this story. It’s a just a few minutes before 6 PM over there and I’m getting a nice pop sound with lots of fun back-and-forth between the various deejays. Interspersed between the discussions and tunes are PSAs about where to get help with domestic violence problems and similar issues. The signal is sponsored by a variety of youth oriented web sites, among them connexions direct and the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

The station’s presenters are a mostly young and diverse mix of people. Right now Mick “Smashy” Mcgrane and Keith Kelsey are running the mic, and they’re having an argument about how many Facebook friends they can name from memory.

“Stop looking at your screen!” one is shouting at the other.

“Shut up!” the other is laughing.

“You can’t do it even though you’re looking at the screen!” the first retorts.

There are about 24 other “presenters” at SAFE. The station also offers DJ training, giving students “the foundation necessary to create their own enterprise, (a radio station) within the school, as well as becoming either presenters or back room staff on it.”

Sounds like a great beginning, so hello to SAFE radio from Radio Survivor . . . and  good luck with your project!

Ofcom's latest poll on how Britons get their weather news

The latest poll taken by the United Kingdom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom) indicates that almost as many Britons get their updates about weather and travel conditions from websites as from TV and radio. 43 percent identify the web as their favorite source in response to the question: “How have you been getting your weather/travel information during the  recent snow.”

Meanwhile 26% percent clicked “National TV/radio” while 19% clicked “Local radio.” So it’s 43% web versus 45% radio and TV.

Makes sense, of course. You get a lot more detail and data from one of those local traffic/weather sites than you do from the occasional radio update. Still I like listening to the latter more than I do looking at the former.

The Ofcom poll is obviously directed towards the moment, with heavy weather warnings in London, Wales, the West Midlands, and southern England. 50 schools in Gloucestershire closed on Wednesday.

The rest of the  respondents say they get their weather intel from smart phone apps (7%), Twitter (4%), and phone information lines (1%).

The British government released its decision today to sanction an Asian community oriented AM radio station for not keeping its advertising and content  sufficiently separate. West Midlands area Radio XL (“the best in Asian music 1296 AM”) presented a 40 second office space availability spot “seamlessly as programming,” ruled the  United Kindgom’s Office of Communications (Ofcom). Therefore it was in breach of Rule 10.2 of British communications code: “Broadcasters must ensure that the advertising and programme elements of a service are kept separate.”

For you Radio Survivor readers here in the  United States, nota bene: they do things very differently over there in the  U.K., broadcast regulation-wise, so hold onto your hats.

Pick up the phone

In October of 2009, a West Midlands area radio listener heard the following on Radio XL. (more…)