The Stage

Virgin DJ criticises decline of regional radio

Published Tuesday 4 May 2004 at 13:30 by Joanna Taylor

Regional radio stations are failing the local community by broadcasting homogenous content with no outlets for new bands, Virgin breakfast DJ Pete Mitchell has argued.

Speaking exclusively to The Stage, Mitchell - who made his name on Manchester’s Piccadilly Radio - lamented the loss of the local identity of radio, blaming it on stations being bought by big corporate groups.

He said: “Most of the local stations are already owned by big companies like Emap. There is no outlet for local personalities on these stations anymore with very little local music featured.

“The future of radio is not very bright. It is a real shame that a station that is on air for 24 hours cannot donate two or three hours to local bands on a weekend. Key 103 in Manchester is just a watered down version of Radio 1 and doesn’t relate to its local audience at all which is incredible considering Manchester has such a strong identitiy.”

Mitchell presented a weekend show on Piccadilly Radio in the late eighties and nineties and through this helped to establish acts such as Oasis, 808 State and Inspiral Carpets. One of Mitchell’s predecessors on the Virgin Breakfast slot, Chris Evans, also started his career in local radio at Piccadilly.

Mitchell added that the lack of individual content on radio is likely to deteriorate even more after the Communications Act relaxed broadcasting ownership rules last year.

“We are probably going to end up with just one or two stations serving the north of England - run by people from the south. It is ridiculous.”

Regulations in the Communications Act reduced the minimum number of commercial operators in any one area from three to two plus the BBC.

Nigel Parker, who is advisor to the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters, warned during the creation of the Communications Act that the rule would lead to an Americanised radio service with identical content.