Back in 2008, we reported that Global Radio were scrapping many of their local radio station brands to form a network of 33 statations all branded as Heart?
Well, that number is set to shrink to 15.
Following recent rule-changes announced by regulators OfCom, Heart stations will be merged into what’s being called “Super Stations”, in some cases forming what are effectively regional radio stations. Mercury FM (Crawley) and Ten17 (Harlow) will also form part of nearby Heart super stations.
It’s expected that up to 200 jobs will be axed as a result of these changes.
Also, their Gold services will be affected. At present, there are 26 “Gold” branded stations with some local programming, but these will be scrapped to be replaced with a national “Gold” network with no local programming, from next week.
Another dark day for “local radio” in the UK…
Is anyone suprised by this. DAB is old technology that does not do what it is supposed to. Time to move on to DAB+, internet radio or (better still) just stick with analog.
Will there still be local adverts?