The thoughts of a drive time radio DJ

One big family..

2008-03-06T00:03:00.000-08:00

Notice I missed the word HAPPY out of the title.

Looking at the news from late yesterday that GCap are holding back on their deadline decision and actually talking with Global about a takeover means it's probably going to happen.

I probably speak for a lot of people who were exciting by the chase but now it's actually going to happen, feels a bit bored and fed up with it. It's like a relationship, one is excited to do the chatting up but once you get to know them, things are a little different and the mind starts wondering about other things.

But what does this mean? If GlobalCap happens, the fun will be lost. In London, I'm sure the management and staff at Heart gain much motivation trying to beat the crap out of Capital, and Xfm to come degree with Choice. Same in Birmingham with Heart and BRMB and in Manchester with Xfm and Galaxy. But now they will become family and we must all be nice to family now mustn't we?

I can see Leicester Square becoming vey cosy with Heart and LBC moving in - or maybe new owners Global will move out of (the best location for a radio station, behind Radio City's 450ft tower) the city and rent a much cheaper unit on an industrial estate in Hounslow.

Or maybe the sale of Xfm (network) will continue. It is already rumoured that a management buy-out is about to happen, and the two main guys running the show Ande and Nick have already taken redundancy - not to mention those Scots who want to buy the loss making stations.

Maybe Myers was right and we all have to like it or lump it, there will be two companies running the industry before too long. We are merely going through the obligatory procedure to make this happen.

Oh crap it's going down the pan

2008-02-29T16:58:00.000-08:00

I've had the week off the radio and the week off the internet. Almost. I come back to hear Global making a slightly higher offer for GCap Media - from 190p to 202p per share. Is Charles taking the piss? Or does he know Fru is desperate to sell and they are trying their luck. They have just five days and counting to get that offer up to at least 214p and they'll have themselves consolidation. Probably.

Meanwhile, back in my day, I remember radio stations made money. Back in my day, one got the nod from the IBA or Radio Authority and there it was - a licence to print money.

These days it's a totally different story. I'd like to turn your attention to exhibit a - A petition to wind up Fresh Radio. Whilst this is not new - it has only just been made public that on the 15th of November last year Fresh went bust, so to speak. I still can't work out if this was before or after Laser Broadcasting got their hands on the portacabin-style-station but one thing is for sure, it ain't doing very well.

It's a shame because there is a real need for a station in the Yorkshire Dales but if this outfit was a dog, it would have been put down by now.

Coming up next, a bit of Abba and that Money Money Money song.

GCap don't deserve anything!!

2008-02-17T08:55:00.000-08:00

Think of the people involved. It's all very well Fru saying she'll shut down three Xfm radio stations and two popular national digital stations to save a bit of cash, but I bet she hasn't taken time out to think of HER own staff.

People who work long hours and are dedicated to building a brand and a network over years and years don't expect some new dot com bubble woman to come along and say game over.

I never thought I would see Charles Allen as a knight in shining armour but for gods sake lad hurry up and buy GCap - they really don't know what they are doing. Some say that if Capital management ended up running GCap after the merger instead of GWR things would have turned out differently, but who knows. One thing we know for sure is that if anyone wants to know how not to consolidate in the future, just read all about GWR and Capital.

Let's hope Wednesday March 5th 2008 is the end of GwrCap and the beginning of GlobalCAP.

Rajar - we all know it's crap

2008-02-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

I personally live or die according to my figures, like many jocks on decent radio stations. Thankfully I'm not on a decent station so my boss doesn't kill me if my figures are bad. I do far too much of his work for him to be able to fire me that easily.

So anyway, the fact that Rajar have screwed up everyone's results just goes to show what everyone has been thinking for the past 20 years. It's shite. You know that, I know that, even Kelvin knows that. Kelvin even tried to do something about it but with very little success. So why do we pay them thousands of pounds per year to tell us lies?

That, my friends, is a VERY good question.

Coming up next, a bit of Fleetwood Mac.

Who's Zooming Who

2008-02-15T16:23:00.000-08:00

THAT is a very good question. More to the point, what the hell does zooming mean apart from fine tuning a camera lense.

Anyway, I'm not here to talk about songs played on the radio, I'm here to splash my thoughts for all the world to see about what the f**k is going on in the radio industry today. It's all gone tits up. It was never meant to be like this. Rewind a couple of years. Maybe even 12 months.

Chrysalis was taking Heart to number one in London and launching the third of the brand in the east midlands. Emap was spreading its Big City network north of the border (I hate that term too but its an alternative to saying Scotland) and TLRC finally dumped MusicFunLife and sacked Gordon Davidson. The industry wasn't at its best but it was OK. It looked rosey because DAB was expanding nicely with reports of more and more people buying sets for less than the price of a 10 packets of fags. And theJazz launched. Fantastic.

Fast forward to a more gloomy time.... the present! Planet Rock and theJazz are doomed, Oneword and Core already gone. Chrysalis and Emap are no more (as far as radio in concered at least) and GCap might as well call it a day and sell up to Charles.

Did I mention SMG will have sold Virgin within a couple of months too?

So join me, a lone drive time radio dj as we watch and learn how not to run an entire industry. Who said 2008 was going to be a quiet year for radio? Not me. Buckle up!

Coming up after the break, a little bit of Dido for ya.