UK Commercial Radio Deregulation: The Good, and the Very, Very Bad.

I imagine there's a somewhat polarized response that is developing to the news that commercial radio formats are to go in terms of regulation from OFCOM.

Those who are closest to the front line on this will be mostly celebrating the deregulation. Those who are most passionate about radio will probably be bemoaning the loss of the localness requirement.

None the less, what we have here truly is a mixed bag of deregulation. There are some bits that are very good, and there are some others that are truly very, very bad.

So lets start with the best change of the lot. The removal of requirements to play a perticular genre of music. In practice, these were pretty much nonsense anyway, as the format could be written in such a loose way that you could often play almost anything popular and not contravene your format requirements.

Community radio stations have also over the past 10 years highlighted the problem with music formats. Because community radio didn't have this requirement to play a certain music format, it can and very often does, play almost anything and almost everything, within acceptable standards, such as definitely not having songs with losts of swear words in it during times when children would be listening.

Stations like Source FM actually make a point of playing local music from local musicians, music that, until now, gets zero airplay on commercial radio, despite the fact that many songs are indistinguishable in quality terms, from the material submitted by the big music companies. The only actual difference in the sound of the music will sometimes be the instruments used.

If anything, the elimination of music formats as a regulatory requirement, might actually free up commercial stations to take more risks at least musically. If you value localness in anyway, consider scheduling a locally originated track in one music slot per hour during your locally originated programming.

Or, how about an hour long weekly programme, where you only play locally originated music. BBC has already done something similar with their "BBC Introducing..." shows that air for one or two hours per week on the BBC Local Radio stations.

With Ofcom no longer required to approve music format changes, it should allow stations to be more free to add different genres music to their mix as needed. I'd argue that having classical music on a Sunday morning would be more popular than having the same normal music mix.

I'm also reassured by the assurances that there will be strong requirements to provide national and local news, weather and travel.

Local information is one of the key reasons that people tune into local radio as whole, be it BBC, commercial radio or community radio. It is especially important during times of severe weather, when information about school closures, power interruptions, disruption to public transport and many other things, goes from being merely a nicety, to being absolutely essential.

Local television and local radio in other countries understand that providing much more specific and localised information in times where it is required, is much more beneficial to the station, as well as being beneficial to the listeners.

The biggest problem with the deregulation is the removal of localness requirments. Now, stations will be able to share programming 24/7/365, rather than having to provide breakfast and drivetime programming on weekdays, and honestly, that is a big mistake.

I just said that during times of severe weather, local information is more important, and just because the technology is available to enable centralised hubbing of multiple stations with the ability to provide local links on those different stations, doesn't mean that localness should not be a requirement.

How do you build rapport with an audience in a local area, if your presenters and station staff aren't out and about in that area? It's difficult. The Breeze right now has network programming based in Bristol & Southampton. It's difficult for those presenters to build good rapport with audiences in Torbay, which is the most south westerly version of The Breeze.

Heart's Network programming is produced in London. Now how are they meant to be a presence from Scotland to Cornwall, when they're in London?

Local stations that have local presenters going out and about meeting local audiences at local events build much better rapport and have a much stronger connection with the audience, than a network presenter who might occasionally appear at an event in your local area, but mostly is never seen.

Yes, social media helps that process, but nowhere near as much as people think. Being out and about, representing the stations at local events, is at least 10 times more effective than anything social media can achieve.

So, overall, this has the potential to be far more positive for commercial radio, but radio needs to be careful not to do things that alienate the audience, because despite what commercial radio seems to think, the advertisers will not stay if the audiences decide to leave the station.

You can't make a station appealing to advertisers, you have to make it appeal to listeners, and then, the advertisers will come aboard, because you have the listeners. Reducing locally originated programme below the current minimum level, is likely to alienate the audience.

Viewpoint: An Open Letter To David Lloyd

David, you are an industry veteran who has been around the block since 1980.  You have so much experience and your books and blog are full of valuable insights that mostly are bang on the money.

But nobody bats a perfect innings, nobody hits the ball out of the park every time, and I'm afraid in your Open Letter To Tony Hall, you miss the mark by such a wide margin, that it's hard to believe that you actually spent a year in BBC Local Radio.  I feel I shouldn't have to be explaining what I'm about to say to you, but here goes.

This is a new time for BBC Local Radio, and indeed for all media.  Now more than ever before in the broadcasting world, broadcasters need to work as though they are working for multimedia operations, because the reality is, they are.

Back in the early days of the internet, a radio station's website or a TV station's website, could be like a shop window, giving people a flavour of what the radio station or TV channel could provide, if you chose to listen or watch.  

Nowadays, the online shop window concept seems about as archaic as silent movies, a style of movies that I love and adore, yet are so associated with the early days of Hollywood and film making.

Radio and TV broadcaster websites these days have to be another platform, for the broadcaster.  Online broadcasting for radio is now commonplace, and few radio stations worldwide don't actually have some form of online relay of their signal, or in some cases, an online-only schedule that allows them to have content going out online whilst live sports content that they don't have online rights for goes out over the airwaves.

How often do you hear on jingles these days something like, On FM, online and on your mobile?  Online broadcasting allows for greater reach, and through mobile apps like BBC iPlayer Radio, Tune In, RadioPlayer and others, as long as you are in range of mobile signal, you can listen to any station you choose, from just about anywhere in the world.

Of course, the text side of the equation is still there, and many radio stations are using the resources that are available to them, on their website to provide local news and information, plus taking national and international news and sport from Sky News or some other national provider.

And now, social media is added to the mix.  And this is where things get interesting.

Your own words David...

"...A radio station cannot target everyone. Radio One would be less successful were it targeted at everyone, and so would Radio Two. It does not work. You will create a radio network which is expensively-producing valuable output, consumed by ever fewer people..."

This is where you are wrong, David.  These days, a radio station can target everyone, but in different ways.

Social media is about the younger demographic, they get their news these days mostly from social media and the internet.  Radio is becoming an older demographic thing generally.  People gravitate onto radio usually through online listening these days, alongside their surfing and web browsing.

And here's another time you made the same point in the article...

"...You suggest moving from a 50+ target. The BBC appears to believe it is appropriate to require a Radio 1 to target young - but not for any one of your services necessarily to trouble with those of us over fifty - radio’s most avid consumers. Not only a puzzling decision, but irresponsible. Commercial radio cannot target 50+ given it is simply not economically viable . You have just announced that BBC radio should no longer charge itself with the interests of those over fifty. Can that be right?"

Okay, two big problems here.  First, commercial radio cannot target 50+ due to lack of economic viability?  How come channels like Gold and Smooth, and the Bauer City 2 stations, and My Music Radio and Encore and Classic FM all do so well.  Most of the demographic targets of those stations are 35-64 year olds, which means according to you that half the target audience of these stations is untargetable.

And as for the fact that BBC national services don't target the over 50s, I would suggest that BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio 4 Extra and BBC World Service all to some degree target the over 50s audience and do fairly well in that demo. 

Heck, I'm aware of commercial stations picking up audiences way older than their demographic targetting, because the person likes what they hear.  

What the BBC is doing, is similar to what community radio has been doing for itself.  Defining the role for the station, rather than the demographic, which is at best, is imprecise, and at worst, an idea drowned under the weight of stereotypes that don't exist and nobody actually believes in.  Nobody actually matches the stereotypes, so forget about them.  And forget about demographics, they'll only lead you down the wrong path.

Instead, define what your station's role is.  Radio 1's role is to pioneer new music and new artists.  The community radio station I do programmes for, Source FM, has a role, to promote local music and local issues that are of interest to the audience in our area, which is generally more progressive than other parts of Cornwall, which are more conservative.  In 2016's Brexit referendum, the Truro and Falmouth constituency voted Remain by 54-46.  BBC Local Radio's role is also to provide coverage of local issues.  But it needs to do more than just that, it needs to carve out its own important role, and Tony Hall's speech actually suggested that he had a vision for what BBC Local Radio should be.

"...Firstly, I want us to be more creative; and more local. As I said, I’m going to restore responsibility and accountability for the evening schedule – giving it back to local editors. Next summer we’ll be ending the All England show. I understand why it came about, but it’s not local enough; and it limits creativity.

We’re going to help you change the music you play too – giving you playlists which reflect the diversity of our cities and our counties. I want that to happen – and your colleagues at Radio 2 are going to work with you to do that.

Secondly, we need to do more to celebrate the diversity of our communities
So, as and when I can, I’ll introduce a fund to help you do just that....

...And, finally, I want us to continue to invest in our digital future.  It’s something David Holdsworth has felt very strongly about too. Rightly so. We need the right kit. We’ve got some brilliant journalists working in local radio – and I’ve already seen some great innovation. But you simply don’t have the best mobile equipment. That’s going to change.

And it’s going to help our local editors – every one of you – to be more ambitious.

Over the next few months, we’ll be working out how you can produce, publish and take charge of all your digital content. Because I want to put you in control."



Now, do I agree with everything that he sets out in his vision?  Most of it, but whether I agree with it or not, is not the point.  The point is he's defining the broad strokes of BBC Local Radio's role in the future.  

 Now, a couple more points...

"...You announce that budgets are not being reduced. Frankly, Tony, this is appalling. In such demanding times, every media outlet in the country is making economies. As I have demonstrated with granular detail at the invitation of your executives,BBC local stations could be managed more efficiently on far less money with greater success. You are wasting licence fee payers’ cash. Whilst many people on local radio work their socks off producing great radio, just about every employee could point to many inefficiencies too, if invited. Local radio will always be expensive, and this short -term announcement simply places local radio irresponsibly in long term peril."

...The only point I agree with here is that BBC Local Radio could be managed more efficiently on far less money, although whether that would bring greater success is debateable.  But frankly, there is massive overspending in other areas outside local radio, and the BBC needs to look at that first.  They do need to change the way they produce local radio, but even then, the idea that you need to cut budgets on BBC local radio is preposterous.  It's losing them listeners, you have said so yourself.  Adjusting how programmes are done so that the budget can go further, sure, but don't cut any more and really, they should invest more in local radio.  

How local is Heart really?  Heart only provides 43 hours a week of local/regional programming.  The remaining 125 hours a week are networked.  Commercial radio is heading towards a mostly networked model, with weekday breakfast, weekday drivetime and weekend breakfast being the only parts of the schedule that are local.  Local News might be done throughout daytime, but that is minimal local content in network daytimes, which really shows up commercial radio's commitment to localness, little more than a tick box exercise to keep the regulator happy.

Meanwhile, BBC Local Radio is live and local for at least 14 hours a day Monday to Friday, 12 hours on Saturday and 13 hours on a Sunday.  That adds up to a total of 95 hours of local programming, with the rest either being shared regional programming, the network evening show, and 5 Live's Up All Night, which totals around 73 hours.  Which one were listeners more concerned about?  Heart's network invasion of daytime, or BBC local radio's network evening show?  The answer was BBC local radio's network evening show, despite the fact the evening slot had fewer people listening to that than were listening to Heart's Daytime output.  I think that says it all about how little people truly care about local commercial radio.  But the BBC's local output is held in far greater esteem.

You might think this is the wrong move from the BBC.  I think this is exactly the right kind of thing that the BBC should be doing more of.  More local radio, more regional TV.  Such a move would solidify the BBC's position in local and regional broadcasting, a position that right now seems to be built on quicksand.  Better, more stable foundations will make for a better BBC.

Viewpoint: BBC Local Radio cancels the network evening show, and cancels the cuts!

Finally... some sense has at last permeated into the hallways of Broadcasting House, and penetrated the thick skulls of BBC management.

Just think about this.  In the last year, BBC Local Radio in England reached 133,000 less people now than it did in 2016, according to RAJAR.  And why is that?  Because they were continuing to use an outdated idea of what BBC Local Radio is.  Well, outdated is not perhaps the most accurate term for it.  Try, short sighted, ill-advised, ill-judged, and outdated.  The current local radio format, is basically the same one that has been in place since 1992, before the internet became a common thing, and before social media even existed.

At the time, the strategy seemed to be a good one, make BBC journalism the core of the local radio product.  The net result of that though was a more talk format during weekday daytime, which felt a little off, and also an all talk breakfast slot.  This felt a little bit like overkill, in trying to differentiate themselves from their commercial radio competition.  As the internet has become a phenomenon and social media has come into being and grown into another phenomenon, so the strategy of serving the over 50s audience, allowing commercial radio to come in and hoover up the 18-54 audience, has looked more and more ill-judged.  After all, local radio should be serving communities, not demographics.

In fact, BBC Director General Lord Tony Hall even admitted as much in his speech at the Frank Gillard Awards in Coventry Cathedral tonight.  “Local Radio should be for everybody,” he said. “It’s there to serve the Facebook generation as much as the rest of us.”Too right it is there to serve everyone in a community, even if that community is as diverse and eclectic as Cornwall. 

But the thing that makes me most overjoyed, is the cancellation of the network evening show.  In my view, it was and still is, the biggest mistake BBC local radio ever made.  Heck, there have been times in the past when BBC local radio had to save money, and cut the number of regional outputs in the evening slot from the previous 10, down to 4.  Whilst it didn't feel particularly local, it didn't feel particularly distant either.  The network evening show has felt distant and disconnected from the rest of the BBC local radio output, even though they were following the daytime more talk format, which was also a mistake for an evening show to do.

 On top of that, it eliminated some particularly well thought out local strategies for the evening output, such as Duncan Warren's Evening Show on BBC Radios Cornwall, Devon, Guernsey and Jersey.  Any sports coverage that any of the local stations needed to do was cleverly opted out of the show at the relevant point, and then they would opt back in at the end.  Meanwhile Duncan's show would update the information on that sports event during the show for those who couldn't bear to listen to the coverage, or just weren't in the right area.

Listeners to BBC Local Radio stations in the South were annoyed to lose the thinner record spinner, Roger Day from their evening output.  BBC Radio London would lose their nightly sports programme, which was a great idea for an area like London, where there are many different sports teams and usually at least one of them would be in action most evenings.  In many areas, there was consternation about losing these good local shows for a network evening show.  But now, the beast that is the network evening show, has been slayed, or at least is dying a slow death, officially ending next summer, probably right around the time next year's football season starts at a guess.

In fact, Tony Hall's speech at the Frank Gillard Awards held great promise for the future of BBC Local Radio.

“I’m a Director-General who believes in Local Radio. I recognise the unique value the BBC locally can bring. We’re an organisation that’s global, national and rooted in our local teams. Local Radio is in the DNA of our communities. I think that is more important than ever. England’s changing. It’s always been a patchwork of communities, with quite distinct identities. While Newcastle’s population is getting older, Bradford’s is getting younger and Birmingham is becoming one of the most diverse cities in Europe. Decision-making is being devolved too – there are mayors in some of the big metropolitan areas and that’s having an impact.

“I want to hear the sound of England as it changes. So while other media are becoming creatively less local, I want us to become even more so and to connect with our audiences in new ways.

“For many years the BBC has been reducing its investment in Local Radio. The development of new technology and the growth of smartphones has seen many people getting their local news, weather and traffic information digitally. But the rise of digital technology has also seen the rise of fake news, not just on a global level but on a local one as well. That’s why the role of BBC Local Radio is actually becoming more important – not less.

“Local Radio should be for everybody. It’s there to serve the Facebook generation every bit as much as the rest of us. My ambition for BBC Local Radio is for it to have more creative freedom, to celebrate local life, to be the place where we report local news but also the place we reflect local identity, nurture local talent and engage local audiences through digital platforms. I want to see a renaissance in Local Radio.”

Now, what this implies, is in many ways, a back to basics approach for BBC Local Radio, back to how it used to be before 1992, when the station's Managing Director, had much greater control over the local output, than the current Editors do. 

Community Radio has taken on a lot of what BBC local radio, and indeed Independent Local Radio, used to be.  Community radio has really become the community's voice on the airwaves, the place where local life is not only celebrated, it's almost revered.  Community radio nowadays reflects local identity and nurtures local talent more than the BBC or Local Commercial Radio does.  Local Commercial Radio is going more generic and more national, and has been for a long time.  And Tony Hall is quite correct when stating that the BBC had been reducing investment in Local Radio, but from what he's saying, and this is purely speculation on my part, that increased investment in the Local Radio product is coming and its coming at a more local level.  But what does this mean?

In an area which I'm most familiar with, the South West, I can forsee a few possibilities.  The first, and easiest to achieve, is increasing the output of Somerset Sound, or as it is now known BBC Somerset.  At the moment, BBC Somerset shares output with Radio Bristol 0500-0630 and 1200-1600 on weekdays, as well as sharing the evening and overnight output from 1900 to 0500, whether that's BBC Radio 5 Live, Ujima Radio, Somer Valley FM or BCFM, or any other programme for that matter.

At the weekends, BBC Somerset broadcasts local programmes from 0600 to 1300 on a Saturday, whilst on Sundays, BBC Somerset and BBC Radio Bristol completely share output.  Changing that situation so that from 0500-1900 on weekdays, and 0600-1800 on weekends, BBC Somerset is completely local, is the minimum requirement.

The second requires more work, but I am sure this can be done, and that is to turn the weekday breakfast opt-out for Dorset into a full radio station.   The minimum requirement here is adding some weekday drivetime output, but in reality, nothing less than a full local radio service will do.  Lots of people in Dorset think that the BBC forgets about them, and to be fair, they have a point.  Years ago, the BBC Dorset FM optout ran from 0630 to 1300 every weekday, opting out of BBC Radio Devon.  Now it's merely 0630 to 0900 opting out of BBC Radio Solent.  There needs to be some serious work done to change the long earned reputation that to the BBC, Dorset is the forgotten county.

The third is the one that I think might be least likely to happen, but they have done opt-outs before for this area, and could easily again, and that is to make the 95.7 FM frequency for BBC Radio Devon in Plymouth, as well as the DAB version on the Plymouth multiplex, a Plymouth opt-out or even, a full separate station.  A BBC Plymouth, maybe titled BBC Plymouth Sound as a needle to Heart, would only have Radio Plymouth as the local competition, as Heart South West's output in Plymouth is the same as it is across the rest of Devon, minus adverts of course.  The BBC could have the advantage by doing local Plymouth Breakfast and Drivetime shows, plus weekend breakfast as well.  Eventually, you might look to go full time with it, but that could be a way off in the future.

A fourth possibility would be to give BBC Radio Cornwall, the same status as BBC Radio Wales, Scotland and Ulster, and make it a National Regional station.  This is unlikely to happen, but if they are serious about increasing local output, then how about adding local output to evenings and late night, 7 days a week.  This would give the station the same levels of programming that the national regionals do.  Even adding a daily news bulletin in the Cornish Language, even if it was only a couple of minutes, would make a difference to how the radio station is percieved in the Duchy.

And that's just on four of the 40 stations that the BBC currently runs, with the option to increase that so much more.  With ViLoR, their Virtual Local Radio software, they have an option to run continuous music overnight rather than Radio 5 Live.  When Radio 5 Live was introduced as the overnight sustaining service in the mid 1990s, it was done because it was the only way to hear 5 Live without interference.  Now you have 5 Live on Digital Satellite (both Sky and Freesat), Digital Cable, Digital Terrestrial, online, and on DAB as well, the 5 Live overnight sustaining service just isn't necessary any longer.

Stations can contribute programmes to air overnight, and there are already a number of good candidates in my view for this.  Programmes like Paul Miller's Soul Show, Graham Pass's show of crooners and music from the vintage years, Richard Green's Vintage Chart Show, Gillham Gold, and many others could be shared across network overnight, just like some of these programmes are already shared between stations in regional structres weekend evenings and Sunday afternoons.

All of these things and many more can be done relatively easily and quite quickly.  The BBC is also supposed to be working with the community radio stations.  Now BBC Radio Bristol utilises this partnership quite well, with Ujima Radio, BCFM and Somer Valley FM all producing a weekly hour of output to go out overnight at the weekend, plus there's a best of community radio show on Sunday afternoons at 5pm, and all of those programmes can be heard on BBC iPlayer Radio.  BBC Radio Cornwall for instance, could work with Coast FM, Source FM, CHBN and RSAB to provide weekly hours of output that could be used to provide more local content at weekends, evenings or overnights.

BBC Radio Devon have Soundart Radio, Phonic FM, Bay FM and The Voice as possible producers of community radio hours.  There's a lot of options out there that BBC Local Radio could utilise.

Hopefully we'll start seeing changes in 2018, but the one I am most looking forward to, is saying goodbye and good riddance to the network evening show. 

Live radio. It's not just the past, it's the future.

So, James Cridland, a self-described radio-futurologist (is that even really a word?), recently released an audio column on You Tube.  Now I have a lot of time for James as he talk a lot of sense.  In particular, his commentary on treating audiences with respect was pretty good.



But this column on whether radio needs to be live, is one where I think he came to the wrong conclusion, for the wrong reason.



Okay, so the motivation here was a response to someone else's blog post about the idea that if radio isn't live, it isn't really radio.  Well, I'm sorry but that's patently nonsense, and I agree with James on that.  Some of the best radio material ever broadcast was pre-recorded in advance.  But equally, some of the best radio material isn't pre-recorded at all, but went out live and untouched by any razor blade or piece of audio editing software.

But when he says that the people who say that live radio is the essence of great radio are wrong, I start to get concerned about this.  His first argument is the technical one, the one that says that FM is a slight delay behind the actual broadcast, DAB is a little bit further behind and radio over an Internet Protocol, can be a lot slower.  Sometimes the delay is only 10-15 seconds, sometimes it can be as much as a few minutes.

But actually, as I've found with various different listen again services, the delay between the actual broadcast, and the reception of it, isn't actually relevant.  Whether something was actually happening as you were listening, or had in fact happened up to 30 days previously, didn't matter.  What I was listening to had been transmitted live, and I was experiencing it, as though it was live, even if it had happened 4 weeks earlier.

And that I think is the key to this 'myth' that keeps cropping up, that radio doesn't need to be live or isn't better live.  The evidence that keeps coming up for this idea, is that podcasts like Serial are some of the best produced and most talked about and you can listen to it when you want and not on someone else's schedule.

Yet, that is the very reason, and the overriding one at that, that supports the idea that radio stations will stay live or mostly live, if they want to survive.

Live radio has a few benefits that pre-produced radio doesn't.  Yes, pre-produced radio does have it's own benefits too, but in my view, these are outweighed by the disadvantages and the advantages of live radio.

Here's what I mean.

Here's what I think are the advantages of live radio.

1.  Live radio is raw.  What that means is that live radio is not that it's untrained, or cruel or brutal, but that it is a natural state, like unrefined sugar, and like uncooked food like carrots or lettuce.  That rawness gives live radio a distinct advantage.  Yes, there might be mistakes or problems, but on the other hand, that's part of the fun.  We're human beings, we're not perfect, however much we like to think we are.

2.  Live radio is responsive.  There's a programme on US public radio that I really enjoy listening to.  It's called The World, and it's presented by Marco Warman from Boston.  They do some wonderful reporting and have some very interesting, but it's not live, and it's marketed as a news programme.  The only actual live elements in the programme, are the news bulletins, for 5 minutes at 1 minute past the hour, and 2 minutes at half past the hour.  Everything else is pre-recorded, no more than about 90 minutes in advance of first broadcast at 3pm EST, but it's mostly pre-recorded.  Which means that major news stories breaking during the programme, often don't get covered until the next day, if then.

With live radio though, you have the ability to cover that major breaking news, even if it's only a quick 10 to 30 second update in a music radio format.  That 30 seconds or less will be more appreciated by your listeners, than if you hadn't done it.

3.  Live radio is unpredictable.  You can format and prepare as much as possible, but just occasionally, something will happen that will be unplanned for.  Now, in my view, a true professional is not the person who sounds slick and polished.  It's the person who can handle the unplanned as though they'd planned it.  If something goes wrong, they have the ability to recover the situation quickly, and with a minimum of disruption.

4.  Live radio is a unique art form.  This one might seem pretentious but hear me out here.  In all forms of media and culture, live radio is a unique form.  It can have elements of theatre about it, it can elements within it that are polished and produced beautifully, but it also has an energy to it that cannot be captured in a pre-recorded format, such as cinema or pre-recorded TV and radio.  Live broadcasting is a unique art form, and with radio's ability to be heard whilst doing something else, that gives live radio a distinct advantage over pre-produced material.

So what are the disadvantages.

1.  Live radio is raw.  Yes, I know I said that it was an advantage, but it is also a disadvantage.  It's unrefined, not polished, not made the best that it can possibly be.  Sometimes that rawness can let people say things that they might not either truly mean or haven't really thought about.  Or, it can lead to serious mistakes in judgment, like when Rush Limbaugh called a woman who had testified to the US Congress a "slut".  That rawness isn't always a good thing, but more often than not, it is.

2.  Live radio can be misinforming.  It can happen from time to time, especially during breaking news scenarios.  At times information can come in, and be contradicted within hours, sometimes minutes, and it can be very difficult sorting out the actual facts from the well-intentioned and unintentional fiction.  Very few broadcasters have that ability to sort out fact from fantasy on the fly, so often they will just avoid breaking news situations entirely.

3.  Pre-recorded radio is often better produced.  There's no doubt that US public radio is filled with great shows that have a lot of great content on them.  However, a lot of these programmes are not heard live by every listener.  Because of the way public radio works in the USA, a lot of material is often produced and recorded in advance of actual transmission.

NPR's shows like Morning Edition and All Things Considered, actually air internally for a lot longer than you hear on public radio stations, but most of those hours are actually repeats of the live broadcast hours.  Morning Edition for example is often only live between 5am and 7am EST, with material sometimes being updated through the morning until the show finishes at 12noon EST, that's 9am PST.  Similarly. All Things Considered is only actually live between 4pm EST and 6pm EST.  Again, material can get updated, but it's mostly each hour individually repeated until 10pm EST, 7pm PST.  Most local public radio stations only air a few hours at most of their own live programmes every day.  WNYC has live local programmes between 10am and 2pm, as well as adding local content to Morning Edition between 6am and 9am, and adding local content to All Things Considered between 4pm and 6pm.  KCRW has local content from 9am to 1pm, plus they have local DJs doing programmes between 8pm and 3am.  They too, like WNYC and most other public radio stations add local content to Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

WGBH produces a lot of content for NPR and PRI, their own local content is contained within the programme Boston Public Radio, which airs between 11am and 2pm on weekdays, as well as selected late night slots on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  They also air local content during Morning Edition and All Things Considered.  KQED's local programming is even more limited, with only the KQED Forum between 9am and 11am.  Most local KQED programming like Perspectives and The California Report, air during Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

So much content in shows like The California Report, and many other public radio shows is produced in advance and it shows in just how well the material is produced.  Live radio is rarely as well produced as these pre-recorded items and shows are.

There is a growing delineation between on-demand content, both on radio and TV, and live content.  Anything that is produced in advance is going to become primarily on-demand content in the near future.  They may get released on a certain day, at a certain time, but they are going to be heard and seen at a time of the listener's choosing.  You already see this with podcasts, whether hourly, daily or weekly.  Weekly shows like WNYC's On The Media, and KCRW's Left, Right & Center, tend to be produced on a Thursday, released on a Friday as a download, and you'll often hear these shows and others like them air on radio stations over the course of a weekend, at various times dependent on the station.  And these shows can be heard on your schedule, after you download it.

But live broadcasting at the weekend is often more about sports or a late breakfast, providing news, weather and travel info.  Music radio at the weekend, outside of breakfast, is often voice tracked, usually on the Friday before.  But with the likes of Spotify and Pandora, and your own MP3 players and iPods growing in popularity, these are slowly replacing music radio as the preferred means of listening to music.  Commercial radio is going to have to adapt to that reality, and it will have to do it at some point, sooner or later.  Content is going to become the most important thing and it'll be all the better for commercial radio if they can get used to the idea of having sponsored content, not like teleshopping, but like sponsored sports coverage, and programming like Radio Plymouth's Sunday Supplement, which includes long form news features (for commercial radio, anything over a minute is long form, and some of these news packages are up to 5 minutes in length), interview segments and  showbiz packages.  Other ideas such as local music hours and even some forms of talk programming, are probably going to be better at attracting listeners to a live radio station, either broadcast or streaming, than more hours of music, interrupted by ads and news.

On balance, here's how I would answer the basic premise of the question.  Does radio need to be live?  Not always, but being live, doesn't mean you can't benefit from the best of pre-recorded radio, where as being pre-recorded the whole time, does preclude you from utilising the benefits of live radio.

Ian Beaumont Live & Direct on The Source FM 96.1

It's been a while since I wrote regularly here on Viewpoint.  That's mostly because my attention is focused currently on a new project.  I'm hosting a new show on The Source FM in Falmouth, called Ian Beaumont Live & Direct.

The show airs live on Tuesdays from 11am to 1pm and is broadcast on 96.1 FM in Falmouth, Penryn and surrounding areas, incluidng St Mawes, Flushing, Carnon Downs, Mabe and Devoran.  It's a music based show, and I play a number of very familiar tracks, and some less well known ones including tracks by local artists and brand new music.

Even when I'm not on the air, you can keep up with the programme in various ways.  I have a programme page at The Source FM website at http://www.thesourcefm.co.uk/programmes/ian-beaumont-live-and-direct where you can leave me messages for inclusion on the show.

You can also like the show's Facebook page, and interact with me there at http://www.facebook.com/IanBeaumontLiveAndDirect.  You can leave comments, requests and suggestions there too, I do love reading your comments.

The show also has a twitter feed at https://twitter.com/IBLiveAndDirect and you tweet me at any time, just start your tweet with @IBLiveAndDirect and it'll wend its way to me.

Or if you're on Google Plus, you can add the show to your circles to keep updated with the show.  You'll find my page at https://plus.google.com/102337430810815788919.  Again, your comments are most welcome.

So, if you are in Falmouth, Penryn or the surrounding parishes, and can hear us clearly on 96.1 FM, or if you're outside that area, and near a computer where you can point your browser to http://www.thesourcefm.co.uk/listen, please join me, every Tuesday at 11am UK time, for 2 hours of great music and good company.  It wouldn't be the same without you.