A few days in the West Country
Posted on Sunday, January 27th, 2008 at 12:14am. #
I’ve had an interesting and varied week. Thursday gave me the chance to visit BBC Radio Devon, though accurately, I ought to write ‘BBC Plymouth’, since it’s a tri-media operation. BBC Radio Devon is in the middle of a trial of what the corporation is calling digital medium wave (’DRM’ was felt to have negative connotations). I was hugely impressed at the organisation of the trial, and of the day. Too early for me to comment on the technology, and how the BBC is thinking of using it, though.
While some of my colleagues caught the 7.25am train back to London, I had breakfast and then caught a train just after 10.00am (hammering the heck out of my BlackBerry) to go to visit GCap Media in Bristol - the home of GWR FM (both GWR Bristol and GWR Bath), and, seemingly, much else.
Following an excellent pub lunch at The Bridge Inn (a Bath Ales house; I enjoyed a small glass of Spa), I was taken on a guided tour of the entire building. GCap Bristol was described by a BBC colleague as “a small, typical, local radio station”; which might be the case for public broadcasters but, in terms of a commercial broadcaster, it’s huge. There are five floors and fifteen studios within the building; some dating from GWR’s expansion into DAB Digital Radio, and some reflecting the fact that Bristol, not London, is still the hub of the GCap One Network.
When GWR Group and Capital Radio merged, it was a real clash of cultures; and one still visible when looking around their building. The Capital Radio culture appeared to get in consultants and third-parties and pay them to do a good job; but the GWR culture was to do it themselves. Which is why the building in Passage Street has a large call-out centre: used for many of their radio stations to help track how their music is faring, for example; and a 24-hour manned traffic and travel department - why subcontract when you can do it yourself? I saw a number of really interesting technical things which I’d better not post about, but which clearly show the team there is innovating and trying new things. The method of using studios is fascinating - simple sharing of studios for many different services means you get great value out of a mixing desk. It’s clear that the building has quite an effect on commercial radio as a whole. The old GWR Group was possibly one of the most innovative companies of its day.
And, on the subject of the old GWR Group, It does feel that the last three months has seen a final closure on the GWR Group chapter of commercial radio. Ralph Bernard has been replaced by the able Fru Hazlitt; another ex-Virgin, Paul Jackson, is now heading up Capital Radio, while Group Operations Director Steve Orchard, and the group programme director, Dirk Anthony, leave the company. While much is said about GWR’s centralist method of producing radio in the 1990s (mostly on the radio discussion boards using less than polite words) GWR ran their stations tremendously successfully, both in terms of revenue and in terms of audience. It’s the company that, above all else, has ensured DAB’s success; their successful stewardship and development of Classic FM ensured a good growth for commercial radio; and these men all played their part.
Steve and Dirk are genuinely nice people, friendly and engaging and still really committed to producing great radio. They both recognise that radio is entering a new place, and that we have to be careful to ensure that it’s still relevant to a new generation of listeners who might be weaned-off radio by the allure of the iPod or the last.fm. I hope that new challenges for them are in the UK, and that we don’t lose them to the US or Australia.
Photo: Sunset at Bristol Parkway. Photo: netlancer2006. Used under licence.
