http://radiotoday.co.uk/2012/09/loss-making-station-planet-rock-for-sale/ Hard to see a buyer bar one of the bigger radio companies who will turn it into a hits rotation station as happened with XFM.http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,912994#msg-912994Fri, 24 May 2013 23:18:47 +1000 Phorum 5.2.16 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913178#msg-913178 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913178#msg-913178I've not listened much over the past year or so but before that, would listen regularly during the day.

Unfortunately the daytime playlist still had an air of '70's denim jacket with band patches on' feel about it.
The afternoon presenter at the time seemed to love Neil Young and Jethro Tull.

It's a tough balance so as to not become another bland 'modern' rock station but sadly it needs to move a few more degrees forward away from nostalgia.

(AND a big cash injection from some wealthy's doing a community project too)]]> NIK WILSON NoticeboardWed, 26 Sep 2012 20:40:37 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913110#msg-913110 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913110#msg-913110 Someone-else NoticeboardWed, 26 Sep 2012 04:33:23 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913075#msg-913075 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913075#msg-913075 seventhsea NoticeboardWed, 26 Sep 2012 00:55:44 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913062#msg-913062 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913062#msg-913062
If it closes, so be it. Let's face it, since he took over it's lost it's best presenters bar Reddick, and has some right turkeys on now, like this Wyatt bloke. No loss as it is....]]> MCFCTrick NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 23:55:06 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913056#msg-913056 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913056#msg-913056 Andrew NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 23:35:39 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913050#msg-913050 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913050#msg-913050
I think you missed the point of my post - being, if I were a rock star with a fortune in excess of £250 million I'd buy Planet Rock and wouldn't care about the money or listeners it's losing.

Brian May helped out before and someone like him could buy it and lose that money without even noticing. Not saying he will or should, but that's what I would do if I were in the position of someone with virtually unlimited wealth - which has been mostly provided by rock fans and that genre of music. I'd see it as giving something back.

I'd also re-employ Rob Birnie pronto!]]> RAMSAY NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 23:02:15 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913047#msg-913047 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913047#msg-913047
Rob Birnie Podcast]]> seventhsea NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 22:38:35 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913036#msg-913036 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913036#msg-913036-------------------------------------------------------
> I can't understand why someone like Brian May,
> David Gilmour, Ozzy etc doesn't buy this station
> to give something back to the fans that have given
> them everything. Losses of £3 million to them -
> it's like me losing a tenner!

Maybe, but when its contstantly losing 300,000 a year, no-one is going to hang on to it. The problem with Planet Rock is it isnt "mainstream enough" for the average listener. Lets look at the breakfast show from today - remember radio considers the breakfast show as the 'shop window to the station'. Id like to bet that the average general public will not know the ones ive put in bold. Its fine for rock enthusiasts but there are simply too many album/obscure tracks played at peak times to get Joe Average to continue to listen. The majority of the general public want familiarity on the radio especially at breakfast when they are getting ready for work/in the car etc. Too many unfamiliar songs and they will just stick a cd on. That has been proved by the success of Heart etc with their tightly controlled, short playlists. A station playing tracks like Aqualong in the breakfast show is never going to make serious money (especially in the UK radio market these days).

Wheel In The Sky - Journey
Behind Blue Eyes - Who
Dust Bowl - Joe Bonamassa
Just Like Paradise - David Lee Roth
Roll Away The Stone - Mott The Hoople
Lover Alot - Aerosmith
Seven Seas Of Rhye - Queen
Cold As Ice - Foreigner
The Pass - Rush
These Days - Foo Fighters
Skateaway - Dire Straits
Aqualung - Jethro Tull
Low Life In High Places - Thunder
The Needle And The Spoon - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Panama - Van Halen
High Voltage - AC/DC
Radio Nowhere - Bruce Springsteen
Shame Shame - Red White & Blues
Roadhouse Blues - Doors
Mama - Genesis
Gimme Shelter - Rolling Stones
Ready For Love - Bad Company
Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd
Elected - Alice Cooper
Crazy On You - Heart
Confessor - Black Country Communion
White Rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
Photograph - Def Leppard
I Surrender - Rainbow
Ghost - (Ian Astbury)Slash
Crossroads - Cream
Demon Head - Europe
Rebel Yell - Billy Idol
Can't Slow Down - Foreigner
Young Blood - U.f.o

The other problem is DAB hasnt taken off as well as they hoped it would. A lot of the stations on DAB are worse sound quality than on FM. Take Kerrang! for example. Here in the West Midlands I can choose between FM or DAB. DAB is 64kbps in Mono! It was 128kbps stereo (i believe) when it launched but it got cut down to squeeze more stations onto the multiplex that it broadcasts on. It may sound ok on a small kitchen portable - but connect it to a hifi and compare the two. I guarantee you will be switching back to FM before the song has finished. I wouldnt be surprised if even the webstream is better quality than the DAB.

I honestly cant see Bluemel getting his money back for it! This quote on radiotoday says it all - from Johnny Meyers - a radio veteran rumoured to be interested as part of his TeamRock venture

"At that level of losses it’s hard to determine value – if any.”

Steve]]> seventhsea NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 22:14:11 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913015#msg-913015 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913015#msg-913015
If I were a wealthy rock musician I'd buy it in a heartbeat.]]> RAMSAY NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 20:38:09 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913006#msg-913006 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913006#msg-913006
Two words that sum up this business!]]> Andrew NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 19:57:39 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913004#msg-913004 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,913004#msg-913004 Steve_Roamer NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 19:50:30 +1000 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,912994#msg-912994 http://www.melodicrock.com/phorum52/read.php?1,912994,912994#msg-912994http://radiotoday.co.uk/2012/09/loss-making-station-planet-rock-for-sale/

Hard to see a buyer bar one of the bigger radio companies who will turn it into a hits rotation station as happened with XFM.]]> Stokieboy NoticeboardTue, 25 Sep 2012 19:02:47 +1000