Abstract
This relatively slender book on the history of local and commercial radio since the 1960s fills a gap in media history. That's because it is penned by a former radio producer turned academic, who understands the sector and writes clearly and analytically without getting lost in tedious detail. It is a vexing tale of how what could have been a vigorous commercial force at local and national level has been neutered, leaving the BBC triumphant. The main theme, loss of localism, has been covered before, (principally by Tony Stoller in Sounds of Your Life in 2010) but this is an easier read.
Full disclosure: in 1972, I interned on a rather lazily run Radio Bristol, at the start of the BBC's local radio expansion. In 1974, working on the Birmingham Post & Mail, I watched the new commercial station, BRMB, win the respect of the city for its robust coverage of the horrific IRA bombing. When the Radio Authority was shut down in 2002 (after what even then seemed a recklessly hyperactive decade of licensing, including regional radio licences), I authored an internal book of record.
This account weaves together political and social trends. In the 1960s, Harold Wilson's implacable opposition to pirate radio and commercial radio led to the BBC experiment: eight local stations in Labour areas, an extra 12 launching in 1970–73 and a revamp of BBC national radio services. The Conservative government gave a gentle no to further BBC local expansion, and in 1972 opened the door to licensing commercial radio, Independent Local Radio, a nod to the ITV system. These had a public service remit and franchises were awarded on beauty parade principles. Perhaps not enough attention is paid by the author to the links between the two media throughout his account. The first 19 went on air between 1973 and 1976 (BRMB in February 1974).
The author's (sparing) use of useful graphs and lists to illustrate key narrative points are well done and helpful. For example, one gives a breakdown of ILR's early schedules, including farming, fishing, jazz, religion, arts and drama – and brass bands. Another gives a snapshot of the main local radio presenters in 1976 and their geographical origins, recalling the heady days of scarce talent, transfer deals and star pay. The account also draws attention to the era when voice-over artists (fees under £10 per individual advert) made a good living from doing a dozen or more scripts an hour. It explains the (long lost) concept of “meaningful speech” as opposed to prattle, laid down by the Independent Broadcasting Authority (and regulator) in the 1980s.
Starkey, professor of radio and journalism at the University of Sunderland, elegantly charts the onset of Thatcherite free enterprise, “bringing a far more complex set of circumstances” as local radio campaigned for freedom against constraints (which also guaranteed its localness). He follows Stoller in underlining the importance of the Heathrow Conference on June 23, 1984, where ILR operators basically opted to lobby government direct, rather than submit to the master and servant relationship with the IBA. As David Pinnell, managing director of BRMB, observed: “We should not be afraid of freedom, ILR has nothing to lose but its chains.”
The 1980s saw the near doubling of ILR stations under a “use it or lose it threat” as FM and AM frequencies were split. Starkey sees an ushering in of a lengthy period when “the cream of local radio began gradually to run dry, it didn't happen all at once”. He then draws on his own experience of split frequencies, where for a year he was the senior producer on Liverpool's City Talk 1548, taking on BBC Radio Merseyside.
It gave feisty characters, including Derek Hatton, fame at an open mic, but it was too expensive to continue. This is where the account to my mind starts to disappoint: a more forensic grasp on the business and relaxed competition forces at work in commercial radio would be welcome.
The launch of national commercial stations was botched. Why? The book could be clearer on the reasons they were “deliberately constrained from the outset” and designed not to take on Radios 1 and 2. Of the three, only one was on FM. Launched on September 7, 1992, Classic FM was an instant success, while Virgin 1215 (1993) and Talk Radio UK (1995) were handicapped. “The success of INR was spectacularly modest,” concludes Starkey I suspect a combination of BBC lobbying and protectionism by existing ILR players.
From 2003 the overarching communication regulator Ofcom accelerated the relaxation of the corset of localness. Production and management ‘moved out of their stations’ geographical areas. Automation offered huge scope for unmanned studios. Starkey describes the throwing of anti-competitive caution to the wind:
“Why pay a person to play the music when a computer can do it for free?” He draws attention to the decision (predating Ofcom) by the Radio Authority in the 1990s to encourage digital audio broadcasting by allowing operators the automatic rollover of licences for using DAB, so there was no need to demonstrate quality and quantity of localness.
Also underscored is the key role of Ralph Bernard, founder of GWR and Classic FM, and the makeover of its stations inspired by Australia, with centralised music policies, short pre-scripted messages and the eventual emergence of quasi-national chains.
From 2004 there was a decade of fast consolidation, with the ITV Carlton and Granada merger showing the way. In May 2005, Capital Group and GWR merged as G Cap Media. Emap took over Scottish Radio Holdings, then in 2008 Emap's holdings went to Bauer Radio. Recession and financial difficulties led to the creation of the super group, Global Radio.
Starkey concludes by noting the irony of a Labour government acting as a “catalyst for the most blatant substitution imaginable of market forces” for quality-based criteria to determine the ownership and governance of local radio stations. He concludes that the will of legislators and regulators is probably needed to keep localness alive. Unlikely.
Meanwhile, BBC local radio has introduced a networked evening schedule, a messy experiment in local TV trundles on in community radio expands.