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Broadcasting innovators set to launch online local radio network for England

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If you're a habitual listener of local radio, you may have noticed something troubling in recent years. As it stands, Independent Local Radio in England is neither independent nor local. Following a series of acquisitions and mergers, just a handful of companies now own and operate the entire commercial radio network. The concept of a full-service, local radio station for everyone, has been abandoned in favour of low-cost, lowest common denominator programming and centralised presentation, delivered to multiple radio stations simultaneously.

"Delivering a high-quality service to an internet connected audience is readily available."

So, the team behind a new entity called Independent Local Radio plc. (ILR) believe the time is right for a paradigm shift in the way local commercial radio is delivered. They've picked up on the fact that advances in technology mean it is no longer essential for a ‘radio’ service to be simply available on the old-fashioned AM/FM sets. Given the ubiquitous nature of mobile communication devices, the practicalities of delivering a high-quality service to an internet connected audience are readily available.

Team Lead, Andy Lloyd said: "Our plan is to operate a network of twenty, city-specific, localised online radio stations. Starting with an initial tranche of five, for which we are seeking backers via Kickstarter, the crowd-funding platform. We've already invested a considerable amount of our own time and money in the planning stages, and this extra funding is designed to bring the network to fruition. The internet offers a plethora of multimedia choices, both aural and visual.
There are many internet radio stations, however we are clear that our proposition is very different from those. Research tells us that nobody else has created a wholly internet and app-based local radio network.
We are in the process of recruiting professional radio presenters from the target areas concerned, with a good working knowledge of their locality, and ideally these presenters will include voices from the original station. Most importantly, we will be the first to market with this concept and therefore unique."

To ensure each station performs optimally, following the launch of the first one, subsequent stations will be launched bi-monthly. The first, 'Chiltern Radio', is scheduled to go online in August 2016.

"The stations will have resonance with older listeners but are very much based in the present, harnessing the latest technologies."

The ILR team is a group of radio professionals - presenters, producers and journalists - who are passionate about the medium. With many decades' experience between them, their personnel includes names from stations such as Viking FM, Hallam FM, Radio Trent, Kiss FM, Radio Sheffield - and even a familiar character from BBC Radio One.

The stations will have resonance with older listeners but are very much based in the present, harnessing the latest technologies. To have real appeal to the target audience (35+), ILR has secured the trademarked names of former local commercial stations which are no longer on-air. For example, the first five stations will be: Chiltern Radio (Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire & Hertfordshire) County Sound (Surrey) Pennine Radio (West Yorkshire) Radio Victory (Hampshire) Trent Sound (Nottinghamshire).

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"All profits will be reinvested in the network."

ILR's business model is designed to produce revenue via website and broadcast advertising, sold at very low rates to attract local advertisers. All profits will be reinvested in the network.

Of course internet start-ups aren't exactly a rarity, but this struck me as something rather different, with the potential to genuinely disrupt an industry crying out for a different approach.

ILR's Kickstarter page can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/h89cerm

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