You would be excused for thinking that advertising your business on local radio would blow your budget and only a few years ago you would likely have been correct. But times have changed and so has the radio industry.
Independent local radio stations have been absorbed by the big national networks and made space for ‘community’ radio. The overheads to operate a community radio station are far fewer than that of their predecessors which means that the cost of advertising can be much lower.
Ocean City Radio broadcasts to a potential audience of 320,000 people on the local DAB network and to an unlimited number on its internet service to the rest of the UK and the world. We are the most listened-to station for miles around and still offer on-air advertising at unbeatable rates. All our clients receive the benefit of free advertising on our six social media accounts too.
We currently have a special offer on our 30 second commercial package. We will create a 30 second scripted dialogue for you, add your chosen music and special effects free of charge. Alternatively, if you have used radio advertising before, provide your own commercial. We will play your approved commercial once every hour 24/7 for an entire month for £70.00 per month. There are no extras or hidden costs, there is no contract and your campaign can be cancelled without penalty. Only Ocean City Radio can offer these types of prices because we are a not-for-profit. Most local radio stations charge 100s of pounds per ‘week’.
To find out more, please email sales@oceancityradio.co.uk for a quote without obligation.
Independent local radio was at the forefront of community life for decades in the United Kingdom. The need and demand for it never diminished but was rather taken from us as a result of Covid. The virus seems to be the pretext for everything that has failed since, but to blame the demise of local radio on the corona virus is more than valid.
Radio Plymouth was an effective provider of local radio in the city, as was Plymouth Sound before it. The out-break of Covid crippled local business and small traders to the extent that they could no longer sustain the cost of radio advertising due to either forced closure or restricted working.
This period coincided with that of Bauer (Greatest Hits Radio) and Global (Heart, Capital, LBC, Classic FM, Smooth and Radio X) seeking to take control of the entire independent radio network across the country. Independent local radio shareholders recognized an opportunity to sell-up rather than face inevitable bankruptcy. The radio revolution resulted in the choice of listening to radio being limited to one of those mentioned or the BBC.
No longer could listeners tun-in to local people with local accents, talking about local things.
That was until the next generation of local radio was born. It was to be an opportunity for community radio stations to take advantage of modern technology by streaming their output via the world-wide-web. Over time, Ocean City Radio became one of a handful of community stations doing this in Plymouth area. Our hard work and determination led to the awarding of a ‘license to broadcast’ on the local DAB network. We were the only station to achieve this and it upgraded our status from a ‘community’ radio station to that of a ‘hybrid’ station. Hybrid lies somewhere between community and mainstream.
This was an immense achievement by our team of twenty-five volunteers and led to our prominence in the local radio environment.
We had however been naïve enough to think that local businesses would be queuing up to take advantage of our ‘rock-bottom’ advertising prices. This was to be an error of judgement and to this day we are still struggling from month to month to keep our heads above water. The cost implications of being a ‘broadcaster’ is not to be underestimated. No longer were we just responsible for meeting the cost of the studio, now we had to finance the lease of a transponder on the DAB network, OFCOM fees and copyright licensing costs which multiplied ten-fold.
We now find ourselves seeking a new main sponsor. A local business which would benefit from having their insignia in a prominent position on six different social media platforms and on our website. More importantly, they would have a commercial played hourly 24/7 which is sure to increase the prestige of their business.
The moral of this story is, “Do not allow local radio to become a thing of the past again”, because there will not be a third generation of stations. If you would like more information about become our main sponsor, please email sales@oceancityradio.co.uk
Ocean City Radio is among a small group of radio stations that are ‘bucking-the-trend’ and ultimately getting in the way of an attempted monopoly on radio broadcasting. We have been approached by a number of companies seeking a stake in our principled and incorruptable community asset. They always get the same response…