Reading List: Mixed Reception For Rebranded Radio Station

Thursday 26 March 2009

Mixed Reception For Rebranded Radio Station

Global Radio has undertaken a major promotional push to advertise their rebranding exercise for 'local' radio station Heart Berkshire.

Cynical commentators seem not to have been won completely over as suggested playlists have covered messageboards.

Requested songs include:
'A Good Heart Is Hard To Find'
'Money's Too Tight To Mention'
'The Best Things In Life Are Free'

The move is part of a wider corporate rebranding exercise which involves cost-cutting on a national scale and reduces all locally-produced output. Now only peak-hour breakfast and evening 'drive-time' slots will be broadcast from the Calcot studios to catch potential listeners trapped in cars on their daily commute.

Oranjepan says:
This is more rationalisation in the local media marketplace happening under our noses.

If Heart truly aspires to the 'local' tag they should really broadcast more relevant local events and issues.

1 comment:

Mark Thompson27 March 2009 at 11:21
Indeed. I have been getting confused listening to 210 fm recently hearing them talking about Heart FM. "Isn't there already a Heart FM?" I mused.

It turns out that it has been taken over by Global Radio and according to Wikipedia:

"The station produces only two local programmes at Breakfast and Drivetime on weekdays with networked output from London. Weekend breakfast shows are also locally produced. Local news bulletins are broadcast at breakfast and drivetime only with national news headlines aired throughout the rest of the day."

So there is now only a fraction of the local programmes and news that there used to be. This is not good news for Reading and the surrounding areas but I fear this sort of homogenisation is inevitable in the current economic climate.

Interestingly, there is a Radio Bracknell I discovered recently although I think it only broadcasts online.
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