UKRD & tlrc resign membership of trade body to campaign against 2015

Both UKRD and tlrc have resigned their membership of commercial radio trade body, Radio Centre, over a point of policy which both groups feel needs to be aired more widely and publicly.

Chief Executive, William Rogers, has confirmed that the decision is based upon both groups hostility to the proposal to switch over from FM to DAB in 2015 after a review in 2013.

"This policy of proposing a switch off date of 2015 is a complete fairy tale," said Rogers. "The industry has suffered from a complete lack of appropriate planning and thought over the years on this issue and we now have a potential shambles on our hands."

"In-car listening won't really kick in until at least 2014, and then at low levels, the coverage of DAB across the country is wholly inadequate and will be costly to build out, and the denial of access to far too many popular local commercial radio stations to a DAB multi-plex are all issues that need resolution prior to proceeding down this path any further."

"We are not opposed to a digital future for commercial radio or the wider radio community but this is a complete farce and needs to be re-visited, and urgently," said Mr Rogers.

Both UKRD and tlrc have opposed the switch-over date as "a fairy tale" and condemned the proposal as "ridiculous"

"What we want to see is a properly thought through plan which has been carefully considered, including all the consequences. What we have had over the years, is a bunch of ad hoc and sometimes knee jerk policy initiatives responding to the ongoing failures of this area of public policy."

"Frankly, when you look at the proposed migration of commercial radio to the so-called bright digital future, you are left with the feeling that there is precious little consideration of the consequences for all too many popular and successful stations. On this issue, the emperor clearly has no clothes!"

"We will be working with UTV to get this message across to politicians, regulators and the wider industry in the hope that it will result in an honest debate with everyone about the situation that exists. We must restore honesty to this policy issue and not press on as though huge parts of the sector do not matter."

"At the end of the day it is the listeners who matter most and this is a strategy that will ultimately lead to a loss of choice in the market, the closure or withering on the vine of many successful popular commercial stations, a further enhancing of the BBC's position of dominance and a level of investment from the commercial sector that will continue to cause it huge problems without appropriate return. It is difficult to find anything positive to say about this Alice in Wonderland proposition."