Plymouth finally gets some radio justice
23 July 2008 tbs.pm/925
It seems hard to believe that it was back in September 2005 when this licensing process actually began. Back then, of course, Ofcom was looking for applicants for a new FM licence for Plymouth. ILR2 Plymouth, as we will call the licence for reasons of ease, was a licence that would be in effect in competition to Plymouth Sound/Gold Plymouth.
Three months later, 5 applicants had emerged for ILR2 Plymouth. Armada FM, Drake FM, Plymouth Live, Radio Plymouth and Diamond FM.
Armada FM was backed by UTV Radio and was trying to appeal to Adults 35-64 as it’s core demographic. They were offering a broad based music service with less reliance on modern chart music. Extended news at 1pm and 6pm as well as a request show and lots of features like Jobspot, Community Focus and entertainment reviews were filling up the schedule.
Drake FM was a local consortium, trying to appeal to Adults 25-55 as its core demo. Like Armada, they were offering a music based service with less reliance on chart music, with more talk based features and programming than current ILR. Extended news at 1pm, 5pm and 6pm were part of the order of the day, and lots of little features fill up the schedule, alongside a weekend sports preview and a weekday evening magazine show.
Plymouth Live called themselves an interactive station, and were backed at arms length by both GCap and UKRD, along with a locally based radio investments company. Unlike the previous two organisations, they did offer something a little different in their proposal. Daytime would be geared toward an older audience, with a 30 minute news magazine weekdays at 5pm and also a stronger focus on talk programming. A weekly Sunday lunchtime show, would be a pure talk radio phone in show, with absolutely no music. The Saturday afternooon sports programme would have a greater focus on local sports clubs. Evening programming would be geared to a younger audience, including a weekeday evening lifestyle programme, a comedy hour and a hour a day dedicated to local bands.
Radio Plymouth was a station that had a pedigree unmatched by anybody else in the auction.