RTV Theory and Practice - Special Issue

This has restricted radio advertising , making it only a smal) part of national advertising spending. In Britain, only 2.3Z of advertismg топеу goes to radio stations , compared with 10.5/ in France, 4.1/ in бегтапу and 10.6/ in the USA . (PeacocK 1986:69) The IPA hopes that the introduction of national commercial channels will provide the 'critical mass' of listeners to make radio advertising into a significant part of the industry . (tPA 1987:4) They forecast that, if the three NCRs are successful, there could be a doubling of radio advertising's share of the total l ad spend'. (IBA 1987:12) This projection is supported by the IBA , which '. . .is optimistic about the potential for a very significant growth in radio advertising revenue in the future , as radio penetration of the UK market increases and the image of radio as an advertising medium is enhanced . (IBA 1987:5) The authority also hopes to see radio advertising rising to 4-5/ of Britain's total 'ad spend'. (IBA 1987:5 ) However these forecasts could be wishful thinking of propaganda designed to head off the ILR's resistance to national commercial stations . The expansion of the number of commercial stations тау not lead to a large mcrease the total amount of radio advertising. Radio advertising is low in Britain because commercial television was introduced first . (PeacocK 1986:94) As the NCRs could be starting at the same time as new television stations funded by commercials , they will face strong competition for corporate advertisers . The new commercial stations also face the problem of listener resistance to adverts on the rađio . People are more hostile to radio than television advertising as they f ind commercials more mtrusive in the former media . (PeacocK 1986:95; Barnett and Morrison 1988:43, 56-7,102 ) Whatever the potential problems of national stations , there are already a number of companies which are mterested in the proposed NCRs . Withm the existmg IBA system , there are already eleven regional conglomerates of ILR stations . (Vick , 1988) For example, Red Rose radio has bought two stations in Wales and one in Leeds . This groupmg coulđ provide the basis for an application for a NCR franchise . (Phillips 1986) Capital Radio in London is also rumored to be interested in convertmg its local service mto a national one through the Sateliite Međia Services network . (Loat 1988) Capital is the most suecessful station m the IBA svstem. In 1985-6, this station was making 73/ of total ILR profits! Not surprisingly, when it was floated on the Stock Exchange m February 1987, the issue was oversubscnbed by 56 times . (Phillips 1987) Outsiđe the existmg iLRs , there are the media multmationals which are searchmg for profitable markets . The major media corporations owned bv Murdoch and Maxwell seem to be more mterested m satelhte television than radio. But the Vmgm record сотрапу is one corporation which is prepanng to enter mto radio broadcastmg. Virgm alreađv owns shares m two ILR stations,