Pub launches 

its own 

radio station 

Ive spent most of my adult life working in radio or behind bars - i.e. stood behind a bar dispensing drinks, in a piub, hotel, night pub or wherever! Great fun, both, but I have often wandered from one industry to the other because I didn't want to leave the lifestyle of either of them. They both really are great fun, and I am a firm believer in always doing whatever you enjoy!

Its amazing that I haven't thought of the idea before now, of running a radio station from a pub!

Well, someone else has beaten me to it.  Ian Evans and Brett Orchard have combined their experience in the licensed trade with time in radio and launched a radio station from a pub.  They have taken on an Enterprise Inns lease  (always a minefield of potential legal and financial problems - BEWARE!) on the Winchester Arms in Taunton (Somerset) and reopened it as the Atlantic Radio cafe. 

The sound-proofed studio is located inside the pub, just off one of the bars, meaning diners can not only hear the station but they can also watch the station's broadcasters.  Sometimes they can even take part in the programmes.  


The station's output can be heard on the internet, and they are currently targeting a family and predominantly female audience, aged between 25 and 55.  Atlantic Radio also intends to have a presence at various events in the taunton area and they have invested in a converted 'Thunderer' pick up truck, used for OBs. 


Maybe they will be playing lots of BEER GEES records?
Soft Cellar?  Stevie 'Golden' Wonder?  Guns & Rosé ? 

Need a decent portable radio to carry around and pick up internet radio stations?  
(also does FM and DAB, etc)    
We recommend the Roberts 93i -  
it's available immediately at a very special price for 

FREE 'NEXT DAY' DELIVERY.

     (£21 off the regular price.)  

Click the radio for full details. 

Rare Record Price Guide 2018 reviewed

Rare Record 

Price Guide 

2018 edition 

now available.

One new book published in October is, without any doubt, the best resource for the latest information about the state of the market for used vinyl records. Its a huge book with over 1,400 pages, listing one hundred thousand (100,000) of the rarest record releases in the UK. Better than just a cataloguing of the A & B sides, the catalogue number and artiste, the book also puts a fair valuation on the records' prices, based on actual sales and opinions of many of the UK's top record sellers.

Each artists has their own listing which chronologically runs through singles, EPs, LPs, etc, as can be seen herte with this very short exceprtt from the Beatles section, which tells how to accurately age the many issues and re-issues of their releaes. A 'First Pressing' is worth far more than a third or fifth repressing, that will proably have been contracted out to another company, as the Beatles were selling so many records in the sixties.

Editor Ian Shirley, of the world famous Record Collector monthly magazine,  assesses the business with the help of some of the leading experts in the field.  The RRPG is now in its 14th edition and covers all kinds of pop, soul, dance, rock and many more sub genres. Singles, albums, even CDs and 8 tracks are included,  where these are appropriately rare. 

Rare Record Values 

The guide shows 'mint' values, and has the necessary grid to track how to assess the comparison of your copies - is it Very Good, Fair, Poor, etc and so arrive at a reasonable valuation for items in your own collection.  The book lists every UK single worth over £5 mint,  every EP (ask your dad!) over £10 mint, each CD single with a value over £8, Album (LP) worth over £12 and CD album over £18

Sometimes it s not only the vinyl thats of value, but the correct sleeve; much is put on a record being in its correct 'birth sleeve' and to help be certain that these are correct pictures of the right ones are shown for the most valuable records. 

No matter how obscure your taste you'll find the most sought after items here whether your particular obsession is 50's rockabilly, 60's MOR, 70's jazz funk, 80's post punk, hip-hop, reggae, Northern Soul, British Jazz or today's indie bands. If it is collectable, and it was released in the UK, then you'll find it in the Rare Record Price Guide!

2018 is the latest edition 

The book comes out bi-annually, and previous year's editions still sell for quite hefty prices, ullustrating what a valuable work of love this book is. Constantly revised and updated, no self-respecting record collector or music fan should be without a copy. I am sure you will be using it for many years and it will give many years of enjoyment, for you and, once they realise you have a copy, for all your friends. too. They will all be popping around regularly to 'just check one record oiut' and will probably stop for hours leafing through!

The book can be obtained via Amazon who offer next day delivery for just £29.99 including Post and Packing, or there are some offers  where you can get a copy for around £20. (Take care to be sure you are ordering the right year's edition). The 2016 has already been out for two years - its the 2018 one thats the latest and most up to date. 

Radio Adventures of the MV Communicator

Radio 

Adventures

 of the 

MV Communicator 

Its over thirty years ago that I wrote the book "Lid off Laser 558", a story about we set up one of Europe's most successful radio stations, on board a ship!  

The book was a great success, just like the radio station, Laser 558, which attracted over five million listeners in the UK and a similar number on the continent. Although very successful, the station was short lived, thanks to a totally inept New York based management who tried to control the station from the Big Apple.

They spent a fortune entertaining prospective advertisers on a series of junkets to Las Vegas but starved the poor DJs out on the ship of food, wages and even water. Eventually the crew mutinied and in true pirate fashion took the ship into port, where I was waiting with a writ!

The ship was sold for a pittance to pay her outstanding bills and her next owner put her back to sea as Laser Hot Hits. he was even less successful and soon she was languishing back in harbour again. Her next owner was Fred Bolland who had run the very successful Radio Monique. He took her to Portugal for a refit as a four station radio giant, but the Dutch secret service got very scared about one of his customers - a fundamental religious organisation called the Underground Church. By spooking the Dutch government's cabinet,  the BVD (Dutch sceret police) got permission to take immediate action and mounted an armed raid on the Radio Caroline ship, that crippled the organisation.   They also persuaded the Portuguese to stop the Communicator leaving harbour.       

A few years later the ship was taken to Holland, given a licence and successfully broadcast with a new high popwer Medium Wave transmitter on 1224AM.  Holland FM, Veronica Hit Radio and Q The Beat are just three of the stations that broadcast from the ship. She broadcast legally in Holland for around eight years during which time she made a fortune for her operators.

 In 2003 she was sold to a British company and taken to Scotland, the Orkney Islands to be exact, and launched a local radio station from there called the Super Station.

Now availabe as HARDBACK
or as a SOFTBACK copy 

This is a collection of stories of those eleven radio stations that were heard transmitting from the Communicator at one time or another. They are all "from the horse's mouth" , either the owners, the engineers, the DJs, the suppliers  and, in many cases, my own. I also examine the background into the many other projects that planned to transmit from her.  The midnight raids, the extortion, the takeovers and of course that other big lure of pirate radio - The Loot! 

Among the questions answered are:-

• Why was it on board a ship?
• What qualifications did DJs need to join the ship?  
• How did they live and spend their time on board?  
• What did they eat and drink ? 
• What did they do for recreation?
• Who was the ghost who appeared in the transmitter room?

A fun-filled, action-packed tale of 
dramatic events on the High Seas.  

Over 200 pages of swashbuckling excitement!  

To get a copy you can either order it at your local bookshop (ISBNs are below) or order via Amazon, or direct from the publishers who can get me to personally sign it and put in whatever dedication you wish.   Find it at the WorldofPages web site. An excellent idea for a Christmas present perhaps?

Radio Adventures 
of the MV Communicator

by Paul Alexander Rusling.  

Published by World of Radio Ltd

ISBN   Hardback   978-1-900401-14-2

             Softback   978-1-900401-12-8

Radio Adventures of the MV Communicator

Radio Adventures

 of the 

MV Communicator 

Its over thirty years ago that I wrote the book "Lid off Laser 558", a story about how we set up one of Europe's most successful radio stations, on board a ship! The book was a great success, just like the radio station, Laser 558, which attracted over five million listeners in the UK and a similar number on the continent.

The story of Laser 558 is now being retold, along with ten other stations that broadcast from the same ship over a voyage across the airwaves of Europe lasting 21 years.

Although very successful at getting large audiences, Laser 558 was short lived, thanks to a totally inept New York based management who tried to control the station from the Big Apple. They spent a fortune entertaining prospective advertisers on a series of junkets to Las Vegas but starved the poor DJs out on the ship of food, wages and even water. Eventually the crew mutinied and in true pirate fashion took the ship into port, where creditors waited with writs!

The ship was sold for a pittance to pay her outstanding bills and her next owner put her back to sea as Laser Hot Hits. He was even less successful and soon the Communicator was languishing back in harbour again. Her next owner was Fred Bolland who had run the very successful Radio Monique. He took her to Portugal for a refit as a four station radio giant, but the Dutch secret service got very scared about one of his customers - a fundamental religious organisation called the Underground Church. By spooking the Dutch government's cabinet,  the BVD (Dutch secret police) got permission to take immediate action and mounted an armed raid on the Radio Caroline ship, that crippled the organisation.  They also persuaded the Portuguese to seize the transmitters.       

A few years later the ship was taken to Holland, given a licence and successfully broadcast with a new high power Medium Wave transmitter on 1224AM.  Holland FM, Veronica Hit Radio and Q The Beat were just three of the stations that broadcast from the ship. She broadcast legally in Holland for around eight years during which time she made a fortune for her operators.

 In 2003 she was sold to a British company and taken to Scotland, the Orkney Islands to be exact, and launched a local radio station from there called the Super Station.

Now availabe as HARDBACK
or as a SOFTBACK copy 

This is a collection of stories of those eleven radio stations that were heard transmitting from the Communicator at one time or another. They are all "from the horse's mouth", either the owners, the engineers, the DJs, the suppliers  and, in many cases, my own. I also examine the background into the many other projects that planned to transmit from her.  The midnight raids, the extortion, the takeovers and of course that other big lure of pirate radio - The Loot! 

Among the questions answered are:-

• Why was it on board a ship?
• What were the qualifications DJs needed to join the ship?  
• How did they live and spend their time on board?  
• What did they eat and drink ? 
• What did they do for recreation?
• Who was the ghost who appeared in the transmitter room?

 Its a fun-filled, action-packed tale of 
dramatic events on the High Seas.  

Over 200 pages of swashbuckling excitement!  

To get a copy you can either order it at your local bookshop (ISBNs are below) or order via Amazon, or direct from the publishers who can supply a personally signed copy in either Hardback or Softback with whatever dedication you wish.   Find it at the WorldofPages web site. An excellent idea for a Christmas present perhaps?

Radio Adventures 
of the MV Communicator

by Paul Alexander Rusling.  

Published by World of Radio Ltd

ISBN   Hardback   978-1-900401-14-2

             Softback   978-1-900401-12-8

The original book about Laser, called The Lid off Laser 558,  is currently being reprinted.  

Online Radio 2016 

book now in print

21 July 2016

Earlier this year I published a book called "Internet Radio 2016".  It tells readers what's needed and where to find everything that you need to set up and run your own Online Radio station. It is a huge work - around 77,000 words and was designed primarilly as a reference work as well as an educational read, so it can be read like a novel, instructing readers in a logical way how to build and then launch their own radio station.

The reaction has been very good - and we now know of several who have launched stations with the E-Book's help. It is difficult to gauge in advance what the response will be to niche books such as this. My previous books have sold up to 10,000 copies but this one,  . . well, perhaps we are expecting not quite so many!   To print and bind large numbers of books is very expensive and a publisher needs to do so in big numbers to benefit from the economies of scale otherwise the costs (for short runs) quickly escalates. Anything under a thousand copies and the actual cost of a book rockets to beyond what most buyers will be willing to pay.

The size of this book for a Kindle was around 350 pages; to print and bind up 1,000 copies would cost about £50 a copy, so we decided to go with the initial publication being solely as an eBook.  Many are convinced that this digital route of eBooks is the future of book publishing, although if you look at any crowded book store any Saturday afternoon, you will see there are still tens of thousands of books being sold every week. Most of the books sold 'over the counter' are about cookery, or children's stories, such as the highly successful Harry Potter series.  There is however still a good market for popular books, if sufficient marketing is done and the title is of wide interest to the public.  Marketing is the key however: You can have the best book in the world, but if no one knows about it, then it simply will not sell. And Marketing costs REAL money!

Advantages of eBooks


E-Books are more versatile than the printed editions, as you can incorporate audio and video recordings into them as well as web links to other sites for more information. You can read an eBook via any device with a screen: a desktop computer (Apple Mac or Windows, they work on all types), laptops, tablets (such as the iPad) or even Smartphones.  And of course the many Kindle based devices, including the Amazon Fire.

One huge advantage with eBooks is that the reader is able to vary the size of the print to suit you eye's capabilities. It’s so easy to increase the size of the print, which makes for a really easy reading experience. 


Book Prices
The average price of general radio books, the semi-autobiographical ones, is from £10 to £25, and the more information, technical and academic books that impart knowledge, etc, sell for about £30 to £45, as anyone who has had to buy text books for university courses will know!

We decided to pitch the "Internet Radio 2016" book in its printed form at £25 or so. By removing a lot of the logos and using a slightly smaller text size we have been able to trim the size down to 280 pages and the cost to just below £20 - £19.81, and that price includes post and packing! Similarly, book pricing is just as important as availability.  We studied the few books that are available about radio stations, and the number is not huge. (There is a section on them in the Internet Radio 2016 book; the Bibliography includes a short guide to the content of such radio books.).

So, in answer to those who want a hard copy of the Internet Radio 2016 book, its now available, either via bookstores (who take a few weeks to stock such specialist items) or via AMAZON's excellent mail order service, which can get YOUR copy into your mailbox by tomorrow.  

http://amzn.to/29SjuAl 

Happy reading!

PS.  The eBook version is still available in the Kindle Store for less than £7, via this LINK. 

Radiohead fans attacked in record store

Radiohead fans attacked

 in record store 

during album launch

The launch of a new Radiohead album is usually a big event, but fans dontg normally get attacked while attending it. It happened yesterday in Istanbul, a city trying hard to be a part of the west.  Indeed, the 'west' currently pays them around 3 BILLIONS to help them become more westernised. 

The attack took place late on Friday evening in the VELVET INDIEGROUND record store in the Beyoghlu district of Turkey's largest city. About 20 suspected Islamists arrived brandishing knives, bottles and sticks and beat up the customers in the shop, who were there to be the first to hear the new RADIOHEAD album, A Moon Shaped Pool. 

Radiohead's PR spokesman said: "Our hearts go out to those attacked at Velvet IndieGround in Istanbul. We hope that someday we will be able to look back on such acts of violent intolerance as things of the ancient past. For now, we can only offer our fans in Istanbul our love and support."

The protestors returned on the Saturday but were beaten back by riot police. They held a mass pray-in at Taksim Square. They were protesting that music should not be played during their holy month of Ramadan. 

In the UK we have music pretty much on tap 24 hours a day, on radio, TV and through our own record libraries. We can also go and buy recordings in most towns and cities, although there are far fewer outlets for records than there once used to be!). We can even go and here live music most evenings. A little cafe bar, called SOLOS is less than a mile from my home have live music most days, and we ventured there last night for a quick bite, a few glasses (there were a few friends birthdays to celebrate!) and we heard a couple of blues artistes giving credible renditions, or acoustic versions of some blues numbers. On trips to Istanbul we have noticed how devoid of music this city is - little wonder if the fundamentalists do their best to suppress it? 

How strange that a bunch of people who claim to be peaceful and religious, can attack people with weapons,  simply for the 'sin' listening to music. 

You can download some or all the tracks from the new RADIOHEAD album Moon Shaped pool HERE from iTunes.  (Guaranteed that you will NOT be attacked by any religious fanatics!) 

Garnett Family from Hornsea wows BGT

TheGarnett Family wow BGT 

The Garnett Family from Hornsea in East Yorkshire knocked the judges for six in their audition for Britian's Got Talent. Mum Helen and her daughters Anna, Abbi and Rachel were very nervous but did a superb version of Jess Gynne's "Take Me Home", with Simon Cowell nodding along to the chorus. They got four YES votes to appear in the semi-finals in the Summer. 

Mum Helen Harnett brought the girls up on her own as a single mum,  She is already well known for setting up the All For One Choir in Hornsea. Her solo within the song brought judge Amanda Holden and most of the audience to their feet and a huge round of applause. 

World Record Store Day in the UK and on the radio

       World Record Store Day

vinyl collectors will be in heaven!

Originally an American initiative, World Record Store Day has since been taken up by the UK record retailing industry, or what's left of it. The event gets more successful every year and the 16th April looks to be bigger and better than ever. Many record labels make very limited edition pressings available for this one day only and 2016 is no exception. A full listing of the special releases can be found on the RSD16 page. 

These invariably become collectors' items and change hands for extraordinary amounts. This year many of the prime cuts have been made available some days early by some sharks on EBay, even before their official release! 

Many radio stations are taking part this year, BBC Radio 6 nationally on DAB, and Bauer 's MW network in the north,  from 4 to 6pm will be 

• Viking2 
• TFM2
• Hallam2
• Aire2
• Key2
• City2 

The show will be hosted by avid vinyl collector Stephanie Hirst, who can also be heard on several BBC local stations (e.g. BBC York and BBC Manchester) regularly with more 'all vinyl' programmes. 

The music on Stephanie's vinyl shows are always played in from original vinyl discs, drawn from her own record library at home. She has been an avid collector for many years spending thousands of pounds on old singles. 

The BBC has entered into the spirit of World Record Store Day in quite a big way this year, with items in many of the corporations other programmes. Even Women's Hour on BBC Radio 4 did a feature,  with vinyl addict Mary Anne Hobbs telling Jenni Murray all about how she got rid of her huge vinyl collection by having a party and inviting her guests to simply help themselves to whatever they wanted!  A very kind hearted girl is Mary Anne!

Mary Anne kept only 200 items, real solid favourites that she just could not bear to be parted with.  I know how she feels,  I could not even whittle my own favourite list down to 200! My own 'favourites' list is around 400 (you can see a print out of the Paul Rusling Favourites by clicking the words).

Following Mary Anne's programme (she does breakfasts on Saturdays, from 7 to 10)  Radio 6 had scheduled a Lauren Levine  with a special 'RSD Party' broadcast which has some very special guests who she is keeping close to her chest. 

Your Local Record Shop

Many record shop[s have their own events - in Hull the SoundSystems shop in Bowlalley Lane had the FRONTEERS playing their tunes and signing their 45s in the afternoon.  Steve Mathie's Spin-it in the Trinity Market and Darran Crowther's Disc Discovery on Spring Bank are ALWAYS worth a visit.  Check out  YOUR own nearest independent store with a handy little checker available on THIS WEB PAGE .

The SL1200 turntable reborn

After almost going into extinction ten years ago, record shops are really making a comeback this year, as is vinyl generally.  Turntables too are making an appearance once again as the focal point of many HiFi installations and this week a new turntable, a remodelling of the legendary SL1200, as sold out, despite a $4,000 price tag.  

The orginal SL1200s stopped production about five years ago and have been commanding hefty price tags; I've been itching to take mine to bits for years but it has just never faltered! The new SL1200 GAE models have their own BlueTooth transmitter on board so you can hook up wireless speakers or any other kit around the home. This eradicates the one item that does add some crackle in any turntable installation - those old phono plugs, which are not really conducive to great audio fidelity!

Other Turntables 

The Daily Mirror too has jumped on the vinyl bandwagon for RSD 2016 and has several special HiFi offers available. One is a Zennox music scentre, reduced from £500 down to £299.99, with a 6 in 1 music system reduced to £140.99, and a recordable music centre  allowing connection to a laptop compter for recoding for just £129.99.  Details are on this special RSD16 page.

Other manufacturers have been putting new turntables onto the market too. SONY have a much cheaper option in their PS-HX500 HRA turntable, which is due out any week and will cost around £400.  This model  not only allows users to digitize their records, but offers output as DSD (DSF) files, which SONY claim matches audio CDs. 

It has a  “Hi-Res Audio Recorder” app for PC or Mac so you can edit the raw files, deleting unwanted parts of the recording, such as the pop as the needle drops, or the ubiquitous 'cue burn' that many DJs collections are afflicted by. It seems odd that SONY, who worked so hard to launch the CD, which put paid to vinyl as the major format, should be trying to get back into the vinyl market. They even sold their huge European record pressing plant Record Industry in Harlem, Holland a few years ago, a move they are now regretting.

That Record Industry record factory is now the largest vinyl pressing plant in the world, and is struggling to keep up with demand for its records from all over the world and ships out around 30,000 albums a day, giving it an annual turnover of $5.4 million, and growing. Demand is so heavy that the minimum time they can get releases out is currently 3 months! 

Audio Technics have also jumped on the 'wireless' bandwagon with their  LP60-BT which  has a pre-amp built in and a wired output for the traditionalists. Its now available for approx £135.

Record Store Day New Releases

For fuller details of the many new releases available on RSD (and perhaps for a short time afterwards) see THIS PAGE which lists the special releases, including Alannis, Albert King and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band (always very collectable!), Allen Toussaint, The Animals, Ashford & Simpson, the Associates and of course, that doyen of DJs, Alan Partridge! That was just a few from those beginning with A - check out the pages and pages of rare recordings on the Record Store Day page. 

Music and Radio Magazines

Music and Radio Magazines

I've loved magazines from being about ten years old - well, not quite magazines in those days. it was music papers. A friend at school (Ian Colebourne - where is her now?)  had an elder brother who was chucking out his stash of Record Mirror and Mersey Beat issues. These were weekly tabloid size on newsprint, I think I got some Fabulous 208 mags from him too which had lots of pictures of music stars,mainly Cliff and Elvis. 

I began taking Disc and Music Echo myself and then  Record Mirror, especially as they covered the radio stations, and especially those on the ships which Melody Maker and the NME ignored. The Melody Maker had been running since 1926 but folded into the NME in 2000, which itself has recently collapsed to just 20,000 copies a week. The electronic version has not taken off and has less than 2,000 subscribers. 

I continued subscribing to these and more throughout the 1970s - they provided much needed information when I was DJing and for many years kept huge archives of back copies of Mix Mag, Blues & Soul, and those papers. 

Its only pretty recently that I've been persuaded to move most of them on, although I still have about 20 years of Record Collector. It was one of my favourites for many years, as was Radio & Records (an American weekly, now sadly gone). I still have many years of Private Eye, essential reading once a fortnight. 

A while ago we were asked to recommend a library of books and of periodicals  for a radio station to make sure their presentation team were up to date.  I spent a couple of days trawling through whats available, and thought this might be a useful exercise to repeat now, so here is a pretty comprehensive listing of the magazines you can find at your newsagent today.  A far better way though is to subscribe which has five great advantages.  

1. It makes sure you don't miss a single copy.  That's can be very important if you are very busy! You get extra free gifts too - exclusive music CDs, and so on
2. You often get each issue s a few days before it appears in the shops,
3. Your copy turns up nicely sealed in a plastic wrapper,  not dog-eared and well thumbed like some of those at the newsagents!
4. Its often much cheaper as a subscriber - you can get up to a half or so off the cover cover price.

Happy reading -  but don't forgot to come back here for my Blog every now and then!

Paul

Acoustic  Monthly guitar, incl tutorials.

Alternative Press   Live rock music  

Audio Media (for engineers)

Bass Guitar Mag a monthly 

Bass Player Leading UK bassist's Monthly. 

Big Cheese  Fashion & music for teen boys

Billboard (American)

Blues

Blues & Soul  Long running fortnightly

Clash (UK independent)

Classic Pop

Classic Rock

Country Music People.  UK monthly

DJ Monthly  Clubbing DJ monthly (UK)

Downbeat  Jazz and Blues monthly 

Fader   Leading Culture bi-monthly

Fireworks   bi-monthly, melodic rock 

Froots (folk  & roots + world music)

Future Music

Guitarist  Very popular monthly mag

Heat Magazine   Lifestyle and pop / RnB
Hip Hop Magazine US fortnightly urban

i-D   Style & Culture

Jazz Journal    Monthly, since 1948

Jazz Times US monthly, jazz with soul

Jazzwise  modern and stylish jazz

K-Mag   (Drum & Bass monthly)

Kerrang! (World biggest rock music monthly)

Live UK  (concerts, equipment & tours

Living Blues Afro-US with US radio charts

Maverick bi-monthly quality country mag

Metal Hammer Hardcore & loud rock mag

MixMag (dance music and DJs lifestyle)

Modern Drummer  Monthly 

MOJO (rock, Alternative and World Music) 

Mondo DR   for sound & light engineers

Music & Copyright  

Music Tech Magazine

Music Week UK Recording industry

NME rock and pop week paper

PowerPlay  Heavy rock and Metal monthly

Prog

Record Collector bible of vinyl fans

Rhythm Magazine   summers magazine
ROCK
Rolling Stone Iconic pop culture mag

Songlines  World music bi-monthly

Sound On Sound equipment focussed monthly

The Source Monthly hip-hop / urban

The Wire   

Time Out    Listing magazine for London 

Top of the Pops  Teen fashion and charts.

Total Guitar monthly, covers amp's too.

UNCUT  new & classic rock music 

VIBE   Hip Hop Magazine

We Love Pop Teenyboppers monthly

Wire  Monthly underground music mag

XXL  Quarterly American hip-hop mag

ZERO TOLERANCE experimental metal

Soul music on UK Radio

Soul's big hole in the radio market?

The shock news this week that Ministry of Sound has abruptly closed its radio outlet took some time to sink in.  As an old soul boy myself  I find myself tuned to more and more soul outlet, and the MoS channel, although poorly presented and with a music format that was literally "all over the road" was a key port of call as my fingers wandered top and down "the dial". (strange how we say that, even though like so many I pick my stations out on a keyboard!)

I was first turned on to soul music by Johnnie Walker playing the latest hot American sounds on Swinging Radio England in 1966.  t was here I first got into Wilson Picket, and others from the Atlantic and stay labels as well as the very latest tracks from Motown, usually months before they were released by the UK Motown office at EMI in London. When I began DJing, I also played a lot of UK releases that never even got radio play - stuff like the Karate Boogaloo by Jerry O and heaps of stuff on the Action, Soul City,  Direction and President labels. Getting hold of American pressings came later, when I heard stuff on AFN from its giant station in Frankfurt that played the latest US  releases.  

We've never had a radio station solely for soul in the UK that was available on regular radios and covered the whole nation. Some DJs have a love for soul and play as much as they can - Tony Blackburn is a great example, Dave Gregory too and of course Robbie Vincent, all of them heard all too rarely on the radio. But there isn't a radio station that you would call pure soul that has become mainline, big time and a huge success.

I know some of the DAB channels have some soul, some of the time, and I'm always grateful for it and pleased to help promote it. But DAB reception is so poor in many areas, especially in parts of the North. In Wales, Cornwall and Scotland its almost inaudible outside the major population areas.   parts ofThis is the reason 'land pirate' stations have thrived - there is a huge market of listeners who want to hear the music of their choice on the radio.   

The explosion on online radio means that at last almost anyone can open their own radio station. Listeners voice with their feet (OK, their ears!) and we have seen several stations come and go. Perhaps one of the longest surviving is SOLAR which began as a tower rock pirate in London. They are now heard on two of the small scale DAB trial stations (in London and Norwich) as well as online. They feature some well known DJs from the soul scene, such as Tony Monson and Les Adams; great names and very competent and they really know their soul.  The station however does veer towards jazz, lounge and all kinds of laid back stuff that don't appeal to me.

If you want  something a bit more uptime, there is Glitterball Radio, Northern Soul-100mph, and Station X which I do dip in and out of quite often, but I notice from the listener count that their audience often is a big fact zero. Clearly they are not reaching the hundreds of thousands listeners that we should fans KNOW are searching for some up tempo soul to speed their day along.  

So why aren't these stations more successful and achieving 'big time' status?  The reasons are very simple - they are lacking in one of the FOUR GOLDEN RULES OF SUCCESSFUL RADIO, essential elements you need to make a radio station succeed:

1. PROGRAMME a  format that's in demand
2  Make it  easy for listeners to FIND the station 
3.  PROMOTE -  tell people you're there!
4. Keep listeners listening, by engaging with them

once you have a solid station, with regular listeners
5. Market the station to sponsors - advertisers, etc

There are many other skills needed but those four above  which can be simplified as:
Programme  Engineer  Promote  Communicate

Thee are the vital ingredients.  If any one of these elements is missing, the station cannot succeed.and then
  SELL the air time   which means market!

(I don't think of it as selling the listeners, I regard this as renting out all those pairs of ears!)

Now YOU can now have your own radio station

Listening is now moving towards online, and with more mobile WiFi capacity becoming available and very cheaply ANYONE can have their own radio station. No licence is required.  All you need is the KNOWLEDGE  to do it, and we have the solution for that. its all in this eBook

You could start by checking out a book I just published as an eBook which tells you exactly what you need and where to find all that you need. 

Internet Radio 2016 comes complete with links to all the suppliers - equipment, music, staff training, etc. It's your starter for a successful radio station and it will cost you only £6.89, so why not grab a copy now?  I think you'll be pleased that you did!

Never forget those  Golden Rules of Successful Radio.

And I look forward to hearing YOUR radio station !

Paul

Need help launching a radio station?  Contact Worldwide Broadcast Consultants