Campaign group launches petition aimed at convincing Bauer Media to keep West Sussex radio station Spirit FM local.
A campaign group has been established with the aim of petitioning Bauer Media to keep West Sussex radio station Spirit FM, after its owners, Bauer Media, announced that it will re-brand and re-locate the station.
Bauer Media last week announced that it intended to combine its local radio stations into national brands, and network their programming from a centralised location, resulting in job cuts across the board.
Spirit FM is based in Chichester and has broadcast across West Sussex since its launch 1996.
Noted as a local radio station on which all of it’s output is locally produced and presented, the move to a fully networked model will be significantly noticed by the station’s loyal audience.
Many have taken to facebook, joining the campaign group launched there, and signing a petition against the re-branding and relocation effort.
Perhaps the most concerning aspect of quasi-nationalising a local radio station such as Spirit FM, is the removal of the ability for local traders to access affordable radio advertising.
No longer will an independent business in Chichester, for example, be able to affordably access local radio advertising and production – something which will become the preserve of large corporations wielding massive budgets.
Advertising for a local shop or tradesman, will be replaced by adverts for national brands, and no longer representative of the locality in which the radio station was established to represent.