There is nothing I like more than listening to great entertaining radio from great broadcasters, equally there is nothing I dislike more than generic, poor, boring, predictable radio. There is so much Vanilla sounding radio out there now, that it feels like most radio Programme Directors simply visit the radio equivalent of IKEA and buy an identikit Breakfast Show off the shelf, because so many of them now sound exactly the same. 'Ringmaster' main presenter, weather and traffic girl, sports guy etc. all talking about exactly the same things, and doing competitions that most of the people listening really couldn't give a monkeys about. Mystery voice competitions and giving away money may have worked 20 years ago, but you need to be cleverer, funnier and far more engaging now to grab the attention of an audience, especially with so much digital choice out there for the listener. Piccadilly Radio was one of the original big commercial radio stations launched in Manchester in 1974. In 1988 Piccadilly Radio (as was) split frequencies, putting the main heritage of Piccadilly Radio (presenters and line-up) onto AM and launching a bright, new, exciting brand called Key 103 on 103 FM. The radio station management at the time did this in the very same week that Radio One (Piccadilly's main competitor at the time) launched their FM transmitters.
Manchester is a special market and Manchester listeners are direct, honest and won't take any old rubbish. Underestimate the audience at your cost. What they should have done in 1988, is bank the Piccadilly Radio heritage and the names on FM for the launch of Key 103, and do something new on AM, just like Capital Radio did in London launching Capital Gold, most likely learning from the mistakes they saw happen in Manchester. Key 103 when it launched was the worst sounding radio station you could imagine, with a strap line that nobody really understood.... 'Music, not Music' What the bloody hell was that all about? The listeners hated it and they switched off in droves. The reason for the brief history lesson, is I think history is about to repeat itself in Manchester with the launch of ‘Hits Radio’. Having listened for a few days, I have to say it’s terrible. The first few days are the most important, especially when Bauer have spent the past couple of months shouting about it on the air everyday and in the local press. They made the audience interested, possibly even excited, listeners wanted to hear how wonderful this new National Radio Station coming out of Manchester was going to sound. On Monday June 4th 2018 they got to hear it. I don't buy the argument that it's early days so give it a chance, that's corporate spin, nonsense and a poor cop out excuse. This is the digital age and Bauer Radio (Key 103 owners) are the 2nd biggest Commercial Radio operator in the UK, massive resources and equally massive deep pockets, when needed. They are not re-inventing the wheel, it's just radio and Bauer make radio for a living, it’s what they do, so it should be brilliant from day one, NO EXCUSES. The breakfast show, which is the most important show for any radio station, should be utterly brilliant from day one. They should have gone out and bought the best possible radio talent they could find and the breakfast show should be blowing everything else out of the water from Day one, creating positive social media coverage, people should be talking about it and loving it. They’re not. This is Big news in the World of Radio, it’s the very first National UK Commercial Radio Station to come out of Manchester, it should sound amazing, big, exciting, original and compelling. What I've heard is uninspired, predictable, run of the mill and just generally poor. The production is dreadful, I've heard internet radio stations with better imaging. It sounds like any typical ‘local’ radio breakfast show you hear everywhere, and it shouldn't sound like that, it should sound much better and far bigger. Key 103 has had issues in recent years with increased radio competition in the Manchester market and audience loss, but Key 103 had the one master trump card that non of their commercial competitors had, they had 30 years of heritage in Manchester. Listeners grew up with the brand, many loved it, some may have stopped listening in recent years, but listeners will always keep trying the heritage brand and will comeback if the radio station starts to sound better, that's what you get with heritage. Heritage is a powerful thing to have, and if used correctly can be almost unbeatable. Yes, Key 103 had to do something, mainly because it's been badly managed programming wise for far too long, consistently losing audience, but to simply throw away 30 years of heritage and hand the heritage hit music crown to your biggest and most fierce competitor (Capital/Global Radio) is the most spectacular own goal I've ever witnessed in radio. Why didn't they just call the new National station The Key or Key UK? The name would have worked. That way it would have allowed them to keep the Manchester Key heritage whilst at the same time launching a new National radio brand. Key as a National brand would have worked, brilliant marketing people would have made sure of that. Songs in 'The Key' of Life The Key to all your favourite hits, etc If 'Hits Radio’ turns into a huge disaster they will blame the on air talent, because as they always say, shit flows down, but the management, those people ultimately responsible for destroying 30 years of Manchester radio heritage, should be the ones held accountant-able. The legacy of all those involved in Hits Radio will be seen as, they're the ones who destroyed Key 103, not a great legacy.
A crazy, rushed, ill thought through re-launch in my opinion, made worse with a terrible name, open for ridicule from listeners who have already christened it ‘Shit Radio UK’. Not good for advertisers and sponsors. Everyone associated with the new 'Hits Radio’ will now be under the industry magnifying glass and many careers could be broken. New ideas are good, change is good. When the various ITV regional TV stations disappeared and everything merged into one giant ITV brand, some mourned the loss of local regional heritage names, but the quality was never affected, we just simply lost Granada, Thames, Yorkshire, Anglia etc and people will buy the change if the quality of programming remains, or is better. I understand the commercial thinking and the need to create another National Radio brand that can compete with Capital, Smooth and Heart, I totally get it, but this situation is different and to state the obvious, radio is completely different for many reasons. It's an exciting thing when something new and fresh comes along and replaces something old, but a 30 year old much loved radio brand has been thrown away and replaced by something inferior, which is just stupid. New ideas are always needed in the creative industry and change can be good, but I often feel now that Radio is lacking Big creative leaders and there aren't enough big talent radio programmers out there, who are used to handling Big Talent and finding the next Big personality superstar presenters. Many PDs take the easier option, often employing bland, easy to forget but easier to control on air talent, often resulting in predictable bland radio. There are not enough ruthless, hard, single minded, unique and brilliant Radio Programme Directors. We love our football analogy’s in Radio, when it comes to Programme Directors we need more Alex Fergusons running radio stations, and that’s exactly what Key 103/Hits Radio UK needs, inspired, creative, ruthless programming and leadership. I feel angry and deeply saddened that a radio brand with 30 years heritage has been cast aside and dumped, with the heritage card simply handed to someone else, what a gift for Capital, you can't buy heritage. Hits Radio fails on so many levels, I can't imagine for one minute that Manchester listeners will like it and nobody in London will choose to listen to Hits Radio when they have far superior radio stations already in the market. Capital, Kiss, Heart and Radio 1 are brilliant brands, brilliantly programmed with amazing on air production and imaging and just sound fantastic, it would take something very special to win listeners away from those stations in London and Hits Radio certainly won't. I will watch with interest what happens with ‘Hits Radio UK’ but simply based on what I've heard so far, the radio station is just not good enough and I sadly suspect it could end up being one of the greatest disasters in the history of British Radio.
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Steve PenkRadio Man! Archives
January 2021
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