tag below.-->
Concept Radio News
The Jim Lowe Page
The Concept Complaints Desk
THE JIM LOWE EDITORIAL
Crash FM Yes, it's still on.
Old News
The Jim Lowe
Editorial. Updated to Tuesday, 20. July 1999
Concept News has now been on line since
February 14th 1998 and is expanding as promised.
We have now added some new features:
Cruise
One A link to the Cruise web
site
FAQ's Frequently askes
questions about free radio
TRANSMITTERS SERVING MERSEYSIDE
Includes Allerton Park, Wallasey, Bromborough, Moel-Y-Parc,
Storeton Hill.
Inside Free Radio features pictures of Central and Merseywaves in the
1980's
The Pirate Files documents court cases of pirate stations in the
Merseyside area.
The Jim Lowe Editorial.
Certain parts of this text have been edited
at the request of a pirate radio operator.
The Pirate Band
According to Link Exchange, the concept
website had 423 visitors between 30th and 31st August 1998. This
may be due to us signing up with search engines recently.
The August bank holiday brought out the
usual stations such as Concept, Pirate FM' Pure FM and CFM. Pure
FM weren't content with playing mindless music. They had to move
right next to Concept in order to cause interference. Previously
they had been jamming Radio Tarkwa when they were in 105.8, and
now Concept is the station they have targeted. Pure has not been
on for months, and now that a bank holiday has come up they
decided to switch on just for the nuisance factor. What is wrong
with these people?
Frequency Sharing. Will it work What do you
think? Email me !
The unofficial pirate band is diminishing even
further with 106.9 Silk FM on and 107.2 Wire FM from Warrington
due on shortly. There are only 106.2 to 106.4, which are really
clear in the Merseyside area. It seems that my prediction about
frequency sharing will become a reality soon. Some pirates will
claim a frequency belongs to them and should be available to them
24 hours a day and 7 days a week, but those days are well and
truly over. All stations please take note!
Fringe frequencies
If a pirate is on the same frequency as a
distant station, it still has the potential for generating a
complaint, whether or not it is causing interference in the
station's main service area
The Tarkwa Scenario
Radio Tarkwa got raided in 1996 for that very
reason when South Flintshire Radio is alleged to have complained
of interference on 105.8. Whether or not interference was caused
is irrelevant, The offence of illegal broadcasting had still been
committed. This why a frequency sharing 'agreement' will be
necessary if high power pirate radio is to continue on FM. <P/
1998 Wireless and Telegraphy Act
There are more amendments due to be made to
the existing Wireless and telegraphy act which will include
things like interference from thermostats on central heating
systems etc. No doubt it will increase the powers of the RA to
make it impossible for pirate stations to operate. Fortunately
Merseyside is not the Pirate Radio Capital of the UK.
Jim Lowe.
The Concept
Complaints Desk
CFM
We have been asked to remove certain clips
from our Real Audio page following complaints from CFM. We have
also been accused of not mentioning them on this site. They do
have their own web site, which I trust they will be expanding
soon. After all, they are the best-qualified people to do a
history of CFM.
COMPLAINT!
The Webb And Lowe Show 4th May 1998.
In the W+L show we have managed to annoy the
people from Central Radio, (that has-been station from the
1980's) or Jim Brown, to be precise, who has been moaning about
Tom Webb saying that Central finished because of squabbling
between Jim Brown and Phill Davies. This is fact and if Brown
doesn't like the truth, there is always the option of using the
OFF switch on his radio. The idea of the Webb and Lowe show is to
speak the truth and not as a mutual admiration society for ego
trippers. If these people are so interested in Central, why
haven't they brought it back after 11 years? Answer: Because
nobody's interested.
Complaint dismissed !
Crash FM
Janice Long has now been dismissed from Crash FM and is to
be replaced by a former Kiss FM DJ. The station showed signs of
trouble on their launch day when their managing director
resigned. There have also been reports in the local press about
their listenership falling. She recently appeared on
BBC Radio 2 at the Glastonbury Festival.READ
IT ! It is updated regularly and features the latest RSL listings
direct from the Radio Authority.
Radio listenership per station is falling anyway due to
more stations sharing the market. This year alone three new
stations have appeared in the Merseyside area alone.. 107.6 Crash
FM Liverpool, 107.2 Wire FM and 107.9 Dune FM Southport.
105.4 Century FM which is the biggest regional station
outside London and will have the advantage of providing cost
effective advertising accross the region, unlike most ILR's.
The Buzz 97.1 Todays Best Music mix
Yes, it all sounds so familiar but this is the new ILR for
the Wirral area of Merseyside launched at 1200 on 14/02/99
featuring the same DJ's, the same playlisted music and the same
'City' sound-alike jingles.
The only differences being the name change (formerly MFM), the
transmitter site (now at Storeton Hill on the Wirral instead of
Moyl-Y-Park in Flintshire) and the seperation from the other
Marcher stations.
They are promising more local news inserts also. I presum that
this is a 100W special like Dune FM.
We'll see !
Bland FM, your local
ILR !
Take a tune around the FM at any time of day
and what do you hear ? Play listed commercial stations playing
the same tracks in sequence daily. This has become the norm for
the majority of ILR's, as it removes any responsibility for music
content from the presenter who just puts on the music and does
the weather etc. There are many robot style DJ's who race through
what they have to say as if it is all part of some production
line to rake in money from the advertisers and sponsors.
At least Crash FM is trying to do something
different, although most their audience will probably be students
at Liverpool University. Time will tell whether they will
survive, as most of the commercials seem to be for CD releases.
Maybe one of the major record companies will buy it out as a
going concern if it doesn't' succeed. Either that or they will
resort to a daytime format of play listed stuff just like the
others, followed by their minority stuff at night.
Jim Lowe
Previously
Easter '98
There has been a very poor turn-out this
Easter with Pirate FM being the only station on Sunday night, and
the occasional appearance of Cruise FM. Concept was cancelled due
to Shure FM from Rhyl on 106.6
The poor turnout is probably due to Crash
appearing in the middle of the unofficial 'pirate' band. Concept
finally made it on to the air on Bank holiday Monday with an
extended free radio news and quite a lot of stuff about legal
radio stations including ILR's, RSL's and Short Wave plus some
extracts from Glenn Houser's 'World Of Radio.'
This section consists of personal opinions
and is not intended to be malicious or damaging to any individual
or organisation
LOCAL RADIO
"Tragic 1548." Have they lost the
plot?
Scottie McClue (real name Archibald Colin
Lamont)
In mid-April, Magic 1548 replaced their late
night phone-in man Gerry Phillips with a syndicated programme,
"The Scotty McClue Mega Phone-In", which is apparently
relayed by the other EMAP owned 'Magic' stations in Yorkshire and
the North East. We now hear that he has resigned from EMAP and is
going to Century FM. I presume that 105.4 in the North West will
carry it from Winter Hill.
Scouse Bashing
The programme consisted of a self opinionated
professional Scotsman with an exaggerated accent who has started
slagging off people from Merseyside, referring to them as
"thick heads" etc. This is because they have been
ringing in to complain about the sudden 'disappearance' of Gerry
Phillips, who said he was going to be back in "about two
weeks".
Complaints
McClue seems to be trying to follow the
example of Alan Beswick who did exactly the same thing in the
1980's but was eventually gagged by the IBA after insulting a
female caller.
McClueless
*This Scottie McClue show will probably be
dropped by Magic in the Merseyside area because of the amount
of complaints received. Scottie McClue also appeared on the Billy
Butler show on Friday but he was actually on a link from his
local station. I saw a Scottie McClue video in Woolworth's
recently. Apparently he is a stand up comedian who does
impersonations etc. He says he doesn't actually get paid for his
show but does it free to advertise his bakery business on the
air. I listened to him on Friday night and there were a few
serious calls but he seemed to be more interested in encouraging
Yorkshire people to talk about breaking wind.
Not very original !
*Looks like my predictions came true !
(Jim Lowe 26th April 1998)
Scottie McClue now works for Century FM
105.4
Crash FM. Our Verdict
Crash FM
Janice Long has now been dismissed from Crash FM and is to
be replaced by a former Kiss FM DJ. The station showed signs of
trouble on their launch day 27/3/98, when their managing director
resigned. There have also been reports in the local press about
their listenership falling.
Radio listenership per station is falling anyway due to
more stations sharing the market. This year alone three new
stations have appeared in the Merseyside area alone.. 107.6 Crash
FM Liverpool, 107.2 Wire FM and 107.9 Dune FM Southport.
105.4 Century FM which is the biggest regional station
outside London and will have the advantage of providing cost
effective advertising accross the region, unlike most ILR's.
Previous Crash Stuff
I see that Crash 107 FM has now arrived on
107.6 !
I first heard them on Thursday 26th March at
0015. I naturally assumed that they were going to appear on
107.00 and wrongly monitored that frequency for three days !
The Big Launch
Their much awaited but anticlimactic launch
was officially supposed to be at 1:07 on Friday 27th March, but
it was actually at 1:08 and 10 seconds, to be precise. Janice
Long forgot to fade down the music and proceeded to introduce the
station anyway. The local cable TV station Channel 1 from
Liverpool supplies their news. Their DJ line up included former
Culture Club lead singer Boy George, who did a dance show between
1600 and 1800. They are also going to broadcast live concerts
from local clubs.
Will Crash Work ?
The style of music played by Crash FM is
definitely for a minority audience of students etc. This format
is quite varied but isn't in demand 24 hours a day. On Saturday
night I only heard some man/woman transvestite playing 70's music
and making 'trannie' references etc. The presentation was
amateurish and the show was probably pre-recorded. At that time
they should be playing live dance mixes and doing live 'shouts'.
Their launch day seemed promising with live bands and mix DJ's
but now they seem to be losing it a bit, with quite a few
mistakes. Apparently they have had the licence for about a year
and they were given the ultimatum by the Radio Authority of
either going on or losing their licence. It's all very well doing
an RSL or two, but keeping a station going for eight years is a
big commitment and could prove costly if it doesn't succeed.
I will say one thing in there favour. At least
they have been playing tracks by The Fall!
(Jim Lowe
4/7/98:
Well, Crash seems to have survived up to now,
although most of the audience will probably be students.
PREVOUSLY
(21/02/98)
Hello and welcome to the first Internet
edition of the Jim Lowe Editorial. This is the fourth edition,
which usually appears in the Concept Newsletters. Previous
editions will eventually be added onto an additional webpage on
this site for reference, along with some features about stations
on Merseyside in the 1980's. In future editions, I will be
expressing some of my controversial opinions. There has been very
little free radio activity during 1997. The pirates have lost
interest, especially since the raids on CFM and Tarkwa. We now
get just the occasional appearances from Pure FM, Studio FM and
Cruise, plus a few tests from CFM on low power.
Generally speaking, there isn't much that
hasn't been done on radio. Most commercial stations stick with
safe policy of a play listed format where music gets priority and
speech is kept to a minimum case people tune away. Most ILR
stations will have the obligatory 3-in-a-row every hour after the
news and the weather which is done in a racy manner in order to
fit in the timed talk-over music and to avoid crashing the
sponsor's message. Then at 20 minutes past the hour, the
presenter will probably get to say something without reading from
a script, (usually some well used cliché's to avoid being
controversial, the last words being the station's name and
frequency). This routine is repeated after the next bunch of
commercials, followed by another 3-in-a row, and so on to the
next hour followed by the same thing again.
Some of these stations might as well be
automatic, as it doesn't matter who the presenter is. It will
still sound as boring as ever. Even the 'Gold' stations have
adopted the same policy of mixing 70's and 80's music with some
of the lighter new releases. The only difference is they might do
a late night phone-in to stop people tuning away to the BBC Local
Radio. Most people tend to listen to the same station all the
time, usually the strongest station they can get, because radio
has now become the 'poor relation' of television. Most listings
magazines have relegated radio to Some obscure page, completely
separate from their TV listings. Only the Radio Times gives any
proper details of radio programmes.