Flex has been granted licence

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by sinus trouble » Sun May 21, 2017 1:23 am

This is quite interesting!! After a little research, its no surprise that money and influence seem to be top of Ofcoms agenda! The entire band is clearly controlled by three big corporations!!

GLOBAL MEDIA own Heart, Classic, Smooth, Capital, Xfm, Gold, LBC and others!

BAUER MEDIA own Absolute, Heat, Hits, Magic and others

And not forgetting The BEEB ofcourse!! Say no more!

The net figures that these corporations are talking is staggering!!! Tens of millions of pounds are invested!!
Even Mr Branson couldn't stand the heat and had to get out of the kitchen!! LOL!!
I am as stupid as I look! :|

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by sinus trouble » Sun May 21, 2017 1:43 am

Whats also interesting but somewhat irrelevant? My Younger Brother who has no passion for radio whatsoever heard Vision and believed it was a legal legit station??
I am as stupid as I look! :|

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Albert H » Sun May 21, 2017 3:06 am

Way back, some of the pirates were as professionally produced as the legal stations. If you listened to the outputs of stations like Thameside, Zodiac, London FM, Horizon, Solar, RFM, Raiders, Q102 you would think that they were legitimate stations - they weren't kids playing their favourite records for half a dozen of their mates! These were mass appeal stations that gave the legal stations a serious run for their money.
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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Effemm » Sun May 21, 2017 10:09 am

.....& Thus Radio One&Capital totally changed there audience to dance related music because the pirates back then really were competition..saddos,capital xtra, what a waste total dross

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Heisenberg » Tue May 23, 2017 10:50 am

Well done to them :tup

However I've had to stop listening to them because of their annoying adverts monster job search etc. I'm sure there not getting paid to play them so why would they bother? are they trying to sound like a crappy commercial station? if so I can see them loosing listeners fast!.

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by djmysterykanefm » Mon May 29, 2017 2:15 am

Big up Flex and hope they can survive. I'm part of Kane Fm. It's been a tough ride at times but we keep going. Yeah lost a few djs on the way, but it's the dedicated djs that stick with the community stations like us. I've not got 1penny in 6 years but I love doing radio.... And here in Guildford it's not as easy as it is in London to get onto stations.

Big em up anyway :)

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Albert H » Mon May 29, 2017 10:17 am

....and there's the main point I'm making. Kane is only surviving because of "the dedicated DJs that stick with the community stations like us".

What does that tell us? The Community Licences are designed not to be financially viable. If you have some "dedicated" people, you can possibly run one as a hobby, but you'll have to pour your own time, effort and money into it. They're designed to fail - to prove that Community Radio "can't work" (a direct quote from a Board Member at OFCOM, by the way!).

I hope that one or two of them survive, but that's very unlikely.
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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Heisenberg » Mon May 29, 2017 4:58 pm

Surely they could hold an event and use the station to advertise it and make from that?

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Albert H » Tue May 30, 2017 12:24 am

Surely they could hold an event and use the station to advertise it and make from that?

No - they can't do anything that'll raise enough money to actually pay their staff. The Licence rules are insanely restrictive!
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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by famefm » Tue May 30, 2017 12:31 am

What you're saying then is don't bother applying for anything while ofcom are in charge with the presant rules?

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Albert H » Wed May 31, 2017 2:32 am

I'm saying that the "Community" station licences are designed to fail. There's no point in trying to run a station under those rules.
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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by famefm » Wed May 31, 2017 11:50 am

Why don't com want success why licence failure and waste time over the last few years?

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Sparki » Fri Jun 02, 2017 11:58 am

Quite surprised at Albert's dismissive attitude that the dance pirates are 'unlistenable rubbish'. I wish Flex every success! good to see a dance station get awarded a licence. Its widely known that community radio is staffed by volunteers and no one gets paid, I worked for my local one for a little while and its been around for 7 years so far. Ok it isn't a dance station and wasnt a pirate before but its testament that despite the restrictions it can survive!. I think Flex have done a good job to get the licence, perhaps they have ambitions to move on up in the radio world and it gives the local youths something to do a nice lil training scheme I dont see whats wrong with that?. Does it really matter that stations run at a loss? Rinse I know runs at a loss as just a station but they do have a brand with their FWD nights and their clothing range also their record label. Maybe Flex wan't to do the same and move in them circles? maybe its not all conspiracy led like some believe? ok yes OFCOM need to fill their quota etc but if people are seeing that dance station can actually get a licence then some movement can be built upon and expanded from there.

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by zoostorm » Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:40 am

I believe Albert would rather pirate radio would go back to when he liked it in the 80s with the soul stations or those playing mainstream music, so finds the rave scene which transformed pirate radio to what he considers "playing music for your mates" beneath him.

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Albert H » Mon Jun 05, 2017 12:54 am

Sparki, Zoostorm

Take a listen to some old tapes of Invicta, Solar, Thameside, Horizon (the original one)..... Now listen to the crap that wasting space on the band these days. The difference is quality. The old stations were as slickly presented as the legal stations. Many of them were indistinguishable from the legals in presentational terms. The music might not have always been to my taste, but they provided a credible alternative to the mainstream. They were mass media outlets, broadcasting to large numbers of people.

The current crop of pirates are clueless when it comes to actually making radio programmes. The technical standards are abysmal, their presentational skills are non-existent and the content is ridiculously repetitive. These guys won't have the slightest influence on the mainstream stations. These guys are narrowcasting their single-genre unlistenable crap to their few friends and family. They're not broadcasting to anyone else.

Thirty years ago, the pirates were seen as the vanguard of new musical styles. Dance music has largely remained the same since the mid-90s, and today's kids are jaded and so are starting to look elsewhere for their personal tastes in music. I was astonished recently to see the huge numbers of 14 - 20 year-old kids at straight-ahead Rock gigs that a friend of mine promotes all over Europe.

Tastes are changing, and the pirates are failing - completely - to recognise that. They still turn out the same old uninspired crap that they have for the last 20 years, and fail to understand that they're just talking to themselves. They should take a road trip around Europe to see how European kids are running their pirate stations these days. Most of them are playing Rock - of one sort or another (there's a lot of Heavy Metal around these days) - and some are playing broader-based pop. I was amazed to find a station in northern Italy that was playing 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s pop in the daytime and "specialist" shows at night. The average age of their presenters is 17 and they get a gigantic audience!
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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by Sparki » Mon Jun 05, 2017 10:38 am

Albert H wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2017 12:54 am Sparki, Zoostorm

Take a listen to some old tapes of Invicta, Solar, Thameside, Horizon (the original one)..... Now listen to the crap that wasting space on the band these days. The difference is quality. The old stations were as slickly presented as the legal stations. Many of them were indistinguishable from the legals in presentational terms. The music might not have always been to my taste, but they provided a credible alternative to the mainstream. They were mass media outlets, broadcasting to large numbers of people.

The current crop of pirates are clueless when it comes to actually making radio programmes. The technical standards are abysmal, their presentational skills are non-existent and the content is ridiculously repetitive. These guys won't have the slightest influence on the mainstream stations. These guys are narrowcasting their single-genre unlistenable crap to their few friends and family. They're not broadcasting to anyone else.

Thirty years ago, the pirates were seen as the vanguard of new musical styles. Dance music has largely remained the same since the mid-90s, and today's kids are jaded and so are starting to look elsewhere for their personal tastes in music. I was astonished recently to see the huge numbers of 14 - 20 year-old kids at straight-ahead Rock gigs that a friend of mine promotes all over Europe.

Tastes are changing, and the pirates are failing - completely - to recognise that. They still turn out the same old uninspired crap that they have for the last 20 years, and fail to understand that they're just talking to themselves. They should take a road trip around Europe to see how European kids are running their pirate stations these days. Most of them are playing Rock - of one sort or another (there's a lot of Heavy Metal around these days) - and some are playing broader-based pop. I was amazed to find a station in northern Italy that was playing 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s pop in the daytime and "specialist" shows at night. The average age of their presenters is 17 and they get a gigantic audience!
Its a tricky one for me, the 'matey' type stations have a charm to them. Kool are still going and a lot of the shows on that have that 'aaat to Brandon and his boo locked in from the high rise yes bruv' etc. But I do agree with you that stations play a lot of old skool rave music which is great for the likes of a lot of people but not everyone likes it. I think some pirates need to start supporting a few new genres out there, be bold and start moving forwards I think it will work. Rinse have done it, they stick to dubstep, grime, house and it seems to work for them. In the past they championed jungle,dnb, garage. If more stations did that then it'd be a lot more interesting and prob hold more for young listeners.

There are and have been some nice 'pro' sounding pirates, last time I listened to Point Blank it sounded like a specialist dance show on a big time station. There was also pirates like Groove FM up in Dudley who had a smooth presenting style with some added banter, they used to champion trance mainly as that was what people liked in early 00s. It is possible to still do that style of presenting and be interesting too, I dont see the point in there being a pop pirate though, pop is already served by the awful stations like Fart and Crapital and there is stations like Absolute 90s,80s,70s etc. Rock would be a good addition I agree on that, even though its not really my taste I'd still welcome it as something different.

I think the state of radio now is half and half, you have internet stations mainly these days with the nudge nudge wink wink 'oh are we being relayed on FM then?' stations so it covers all areas, but thats the way is moving now. People still listen to FM, some pirates still whack up an aerial on a Friday night and broadcast till early hours Monday morning without a net stream it just depends where you are and whats around. I dont care if its a matey or professional sounding stations out there, least they are on, its something different to the commercial stations and it proves that pirate radio still is a 'thing' even if times and tastes have changed. Im so used to the 'matey' style of pirates that pro sounding stations sound a bit odd but also quite refreshing. I embrace it all.

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by famefm » Mon Jun 05, 2017 4:04 pm

The only way you knew the 80s soul stations where pirate was the mark Damon adverts and jingles. I still think today's house fm is a professional sounding outfit

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by FM King » Mon Jun 05, 2017 4:49 pm

OK so fair play to Flex if that's the way they want to go, Rinse have lasted and I don't see why Flex can't.
I expect the DJ's will just carry on paying the subs as normal and that should be enough to cover the rent etc.

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by pure94 » Mon Jun 05, 2017 5:11 pm

Also funky seems to have lasted so far also in2beats

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Re: Flex has been granted licence

Post by famefm » Mon Jun 05, 2017 6:33 pm

Funky is only about a year old though? Never heard of any community station closing that soon wait until they are about 2 years old that's when they would know if they can be in it for the long haul?

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