First issue of the corporate newsletter of UK local commercial radio group Laser Broadcasting Limited, edited by Grant Goddard in February 2006 for Laser Broadcasting Limited.

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SHAREHOLDERS
This issue we look at one of the
shareholders in Laser Broadcasting Northern Enterprise
Northern Enterprise is a business that invests money in
other businesses based in Northeast England,
providing them with the funds needed to achieve their
goals. Because the region has experienced economic
hardship since the closure of the shipyards and the coal
mining industry, it is sometimes hard for local
entrepreneurs to raise the necessary funds for their
businesses from traditional sources such as bank loans
or share issues. At the same time, it has become more
important than ever that small and medium-size local
businesses are actively encouraged, because families
in the North East can no longer depend upon the steady
employment that used to be on offer from the National
Coal Board or from shipbuilders such as Armstrong.
Because Laser's head office is based in the North East,
it has benefited from some of the £50m in venture
capital that Northern Enterprise has made available to
help 350 local businesses since 1993. In Laser's case,
the investment is helping it to build a portfolio of
interests in local radio stations that have been
identified as profitable businesses. Northern
Enterprise's involvement and endorsement of Laser's
business strategy is helping considerably in achieving
its goal to become an emerging commercial radio
group over the next few years. Steve Garbutt, fund
manager at Northern Enterprise, says: “The key to
securing this sort of investment is to develop a sound
business plan based on both specific and realistic
principles and market knowledge, and then to work out
how much capital you require to make the plan a
reality.”
The Laser management team's detailed understanding
of the UK radio industry, combined with team
members' track records of success in both local and
national radio, has given Northern Enterprise the
confidence it required to support the company's growth
strategy. For Laser, this investment has provided the
capital to acquire interests in several local radio
stations over the coming year, alongside its continuing
strategy to support applications by local groups for new
licences.
More information about Northern Enterprise and the
other successful businesses they support is available
from their web site at www.nel.co.uk.
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NEXT ISSUE
G
Hull Local Radio
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Laser in the press
G
Investing in radio
G
What is ‘localism’?
GGG
THE LASER STRATEGY
As an emerging commercial radio company, Laser Broadcasting
has a clearly defined strategy to build a successful long-term
business. At the centre of the strategy is Laser's commitment to
setting high standards of professionalism in the radio industry.
This desire for quality is reflected in the calibre of Laser's board
of directors and management team, each of whom has
considerable experience and a long track record of success in
their particular fields. Another example is the use of qualified and
objective market research professionals to execute all of Laser's
market research projects up and down the country. The principle
is that the best results can only be achieved with the highest
quality inputs.
Laser's corporate strategy comprises two complementary parts,
both of which are being aggressively pursued to build a strong
enterprise:
1. Investment and acquisition
Laser is committed to purchasing substantial shareholdings in
several local radio stations. These holdings provide Laser with
opportunities to build success by applying good industry practice
and professional expertise to existing businesses. Laser recently
purchased a stake in Fresh Radio - a station that is a perfect
example of how truly local radio can be so effective by weaving
itself into the fabric of the local community. Laser is presently
identifying suitable opportunities to invest in further local
stations.
2. Licence applications
The second strategy is to apply for newly advertised radio
licences in partnership with local groups of people who can offer
the relevant experience, skills and investment to build a new
small-scale local media business in their community. To this end,
Laser is actively involved with more than twenty groups
across England and Wales who are making plans
for applications to Ofcom for local licences.
These parallel strategies will add
considerable shareholder value to
Laser's business. This is a very
exciting time for Laser,
heralding the development
of a new, vibrant media
company that is
committed to creating
success through local
radio stations that
reach out and touch
listeners and
advertisers in their
communities.
GGG
CONTACT
Laser Broadcasting Limited
PO Box 50
Leyburn
North Yorkshire DL8 4TW
Tel: 01969 640425 Fax: 01969 640425
e-mail: office@laserbroadcasting.com
web: www.laserbroadcasting.com
February 2006
GGG
WELCOME
Teamwork and partnership these two factors are essential
to build a successful radio
station. More than anything
else, radio is a “people”
industry where the quality of
personal relationships can
make a massive difference
between a great station that sounds full of life and
attracts a loyal listenership, and a poor competitor that
is simply dull. Laser Broadcasting places great
emphasis on building positive relationships as part of a
business philosophy that success is something that
has to be built through personal action, rather than
corporate slogans.
At a local level, Laser invests a huge amount of time
identifying and recruiting a diverse range of talents
from communities, all of whom contribute to the
success of a local radio station. Whether you want to
be an investor in a new local project, a reporter who
gathers local news stories, or one of the essential
behind-the-scenes team who hold everything together,
there is always an opportunity for you to contribute
your local knowledge and skills. Laser's local stations
and trial broadcasts are truly local affairs, involving
investors from the area, and producing 100% local
programming tailored specifically for listeners in that
town or city.
At a national level, I am fortunate to be leading a small
team of managers scattered across the country who all
share the same philosophy that long-term success can
only be built through partnerships. We all have varied
and complementary experiences over several decades
in the radio industry, but the one thing that unites us is
the belief that radio is an intensively personal medium,
a fact that has to be built into the teams working at
every radio station, and in the relationships they forge
with their audiences.
At a corporate level, Laser benefits immensely from
being partnered by investors who understand and fully
endorse the company's philosophy that, to be
successful, local radio needs to be exactly what is says
on the box - genuinely local programmes, made by
local people, that fulfil the needs of the people in that
area. To this end, Laser spends considerable sums on
professional market research for every project in which
it is involved, in order to understand as much as
possible what people want from their local radio
station.
If Laser's formula for success sounds relatively simple
and rather old fashioned, then I am not at all
apologetic. A successful local radio station needs to be
just as close to its community as a local hardware
shop. And, no differently from any local business,
success comes from building teamwork and
partnerships. Investing in people is the most rewarding
thing we can do because, without people, radio would
become no more than a music jukebox.
Yours truly,
Nigel Reeve
Chief Executive, Laser Broadcasting Limited
“Northern Enterprise has invested a substantial sum
in Laser Broadcasting Limited on the basis of its
innovative business model and its aim to become
one of the leading radio licence holders in the UK.
We support the management team’s plans for
growth, both organically through the winning of
licence applications and also by the selective
acquisition of key stations throughout the country.
We will continue to support Laser wherever we can.”
Steve Garbutt
Fund Manager, Northern Enterprise Limited

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SHREWSBURY LOCAL RADIO
Alan Mullett, chairman of Shrewsbury Local Radio, talks about his hopes
for the group's recent radio licence application.
When I started my career in local radio in 1976, the
business was still very much focused on truly “local”
radio. Back then, everyone who worked at Beacon
Radio lived nearby, we used to talk to our most loyal
listeners during their regular visits to the station
studios, and we all used to go out to local events every
week, meeting our fans and distributing car stickers
and station publicity. The commercial radio industry was still in its infancy
then and we knew that, to make Beacon a success, we had to do
everything possible to develop relationships with both our listeners and
our local advertisers. None of us had our sights set on anything other
than creating a really successful local company for the immediate area. It
was hard work, but we were quickly rewarded with the kind of loyalty that
most new businesses can only dream of. By 1978, one in three of everyone
in our area was listening to Beacon, for an average ten hours a week.
New local commercial radio stations like ours were phenomenal success
stories during these times.
When I was promoted to Managing
Director of Beacon, I asked the
authorities for permission to extend the
station's coverage to Shropshire, so that
we could bring commercial radio to the
county for the first time. For a while, this
created a distinct service for Telford and
Shrewsbury, though this has largely gone
now. A lot has changed since then.
Listeners' choice of radio stations has widened considerably and
technology has brought us more things to distract us, such as the
internet, mobile phones and home entertainment systems. At the same
time, the quirky feel of local stations like Beacon has evaporated, largely
as a result of being bought by large media groups that own similar
stations the length and breadth of the land. Whereas, once, Beacon had a
very distinctive sound, different even from other local stations in our own
region, now it sounds quite similar to everybody else, playing the same
songs and using the same jingles you can hear in other cities. Those
changes have had an impact on audiences, although the station's
London-based owner still wonders why what used to be the marketleading station now reaches only one in five people, listening for less than
nine hours a week. To anybody who lives locally, the reasons are obvious.
I am leading Shrewsbury Local Radio's application for a licence because I
firmly believe that there is still a place in people's hearts for a station that
wears its “localness” proudly on its sleeve. Despite its status as a county
town, Shrewsbury has never had its very own, standalone local radio
station. When we organised a trial broadcast here in May last year, the
response from our listeners was amazingly positive, and we received a lot
of support from local businesses. Our market research showed us that
people loved the local news and information we gave them. I was
extremely gratified, but not completely surprised, by this public response.
All we did was put the “local” back into local radio - something that has
been missing for far too long. The whole business strategy of Shrewsbury
Local Radio is based upon those ideas of building a local company that
wants to be different from its competitors, of becoming part of the fabric
of the local community, and of accurately reflecting its needs and
concerns. That's what will make us successful and will bring us the kind
of listener loyalty that I have witnessed before. With the support of my
fellow directors and our experienced team, I am confident we will take
Shrewsbury by storm.
GGG
STATION SPOTLIGHT
Fresh Radio has recently joined the Laser stable.
Wherever you travel in the Yorkshire Dales, you are
likely to hear Fresh Radio - in shops, in offices, blaring
out of passing cars. Fresh can be heard across almost
the whole two thousand square miles of the Dales,
making it one of the UK's biggest local radio stations.
Since it opened in 1997 from its cosy studios in Skipton,
Fresh has made sure that it keeps the feel of a small
local business that is truly in touch with its listeners and
advertisers. If you visit the station on a Saturday
afternoon, you might find the owner of a local shop
paying for their next month's advertising with their
weekend takings, and all the coins counted out on the
reception desk. On a Sunday, you might find the
station's staff banging in the poles of the station's
promotional tent at a local folk festival. If there is
something significant going on in the Dales, you can
guarantee that Fresh will be there too, whether it is the
news team covering the story, or the marketing team
handing out stickers and information.
This commitment to excellence in local radio was
rewarded in January 2005 when Fresh won the Radio
Academy's prestigious “Radio Station Of The Year”
award for Yorkshire and the North East. Fresh Radio's
Managing Director Dave Parker says: “The award
recognises how we've improved the station and it
recognises the very hard work put in by our team. We're
thrilled that work has been recognised by the rest of the
radio industry - and we promise to improve the station
as much as we can.”
What makes Fresh unique is the station's determination
to reflect the interests of the local community in all its
programmes. In addition to hourly local news bulletins
in its daytime shows, the station broadcasts minifeatures throughout every day that focus on a particular
local organisation or interview an interesting local
person about their achievements. The end result is a
radio station that sounds like no other, a fact that
seems to be much appreciated by the local people. As
Dave explains: “We've made a determined effort to put
ourselves firmly at the heart of the community,
supporting the people of the Dales in their daily lives and hopefully keeping them entertained along the way.”
Fresh Radio can be heard on 936, 1413 and 1431 AM in the
Yorkshire Dales, as well as on the internet at
www.freshradio.co.uk
Fresh Radio at this month’s Skipton Medieval Festival
PROJECT DIRECTOR
Laser
Broadcasting
Project Director
Stuart Linnell
MBE explains
why radio
remains so
important to him
“Radio - Someone Still Loves You”
So sang Freddie Mercury and Queen in
1984, and it's true - there's something
about radio that inspires passion and
affection like no other form of media.
Well, there is for me, anyway.
As a broadcaster, I have often envied the
longevity and the tangible nature of the
written word. I have been fortunate
enough to work on television and to
appreciate the peculiar relationship that
has to be developed with the camera.
Neither, however, holds a candle to the
sheer adrenalin rush, sense of
responsibility and creative opportunities
that are there every time I sit at a radio
microphone.
Just as a good education is based round
the three “R's”, so good radio focuses on
the three “I's”. It is immediate, intimate
and evokes imagination.
even if it is relying on a sound report to
carry the information as quickly as it can,
it still has to create a visual image of
some sort to accompany that sound.
Even if technology now enables that to
occur fairly fast, there remains an
unsatisfied element at play, because
television needs pictures. As the old
cliché says, on radio the pictures are
always better.
Every good radio presenter knows that
he or she is serving one person - the
listener. Hopefully, there are several
listeners in the audience but each one is
listening in isolation, often literally.
Gone are the days when families
gathered round the radio in the sitting
room each evening, thus rendering the
cheery “morning every one” that is still a
feature of heritage programming like
Radio 4's Test Match Special an
anachronism from radio's past. The
intimacy of the presenter's relationship
with his or her listener requires
understanding and respect.
When that relationship is at its best, the
presenter's ingenuity combines with the
listener's capacity to interpret the
programming into a meaningful if not
essential part of their lives.
The imagination of both enriches the
lives of broadcaster and listener in a way
that is simply denied to newspapers,
magazines, cinema, television and even
live theatre.
GGG
RESEARCH IN
ACTION
As part of its partnership with local
radio projects, Laser commissions lots
of market research in each area.
Because this work is contracted out to
qualified research professionals and the
results meet Market Research Society
standards, they give us an accurate
picture of what people want from the
radio in their particular town, as well as
what they like and dislike about existing
radio stations. What is surprising is that
there are some issues that seem just as
important to people, whichever part of
the country they live in. One of these is
the priority that listeners place on being
able to hear local news and information
on the radio.
In recent research for Warwick Local
Radio, people said that local news was
the most important thing for a new
radio station to broadcast, followed by
local weather forecasts, local what's on
information, local travel information
and discussion programmes about local
issues. Nationally orientated news,
weather and sports coverage scored
much lower on people's wants list,
probably because these things are
already readily available from high
quality national radio stations.
It was exactly the same story in
research for Shrewsbury Local Radio.
Almost three quarters of the target
Radio has the capacity to be organic,
audience aged 35 to 64 wanted to hear
dynamic and exhilarating. There is never
about issues concerning Shropshire.
an excuse for making it stodgy,
Ninety per cent of people said that it
repetitious and predictable. When that
was important for the radio station to
happens, it needs rescuing by someone
attend local events, while ninety-four
who cares for it - someone who still
per cent said the local station should
loves it.
support local charities and businesses.
Almost three quarters of people said that if talk items of local interest
were included in the station's programmes, they would be more likely
Laser Broadcasting recently appointed David Bickle to
to listen to it than their current favourite station.
its board as Finance Director. David is a
member of the Chartered Institute of
In Ipswich, the research told us that the items that people most
Management Accountants and the
wanted to hear, in order of importance, were regular local travel
Chartered Institute of Certified
bulletins, local what's on information, hourly local news bulletins
Accountants. For the last decade, he
during the daytime, and community billboard information for
has specialised in developing start-up
local organisations. The three trial broadcasts by Ipswich Local
companies and small or medium size
Radio included all these things, which probably helped the
enterprises, including the recent stock
station achieve awareness amongst two thirds of people in the
market flotation of a biotechnology
area.
company. David says: “Laser has a clear
strategy to build a number of radio station
Interestingly, recent research by the media regulator Ofcom found
investments across the UK. It believes in the strengths
exactly the same results. The word “local” appeared in two of the top
of local radio and is committed to building audience
four reasons that people listen to the radio (all radio, not just local
and then revenue. Its own research shows that even
radio) across the UK, regardless of their age or where they lived.
smaller stations can be profitable without losing the
When they were offered the choice of more local radio stations or
local character of the radio station.” David's skills will
more national stations, twice as many people opted for “local” over
further strengthen Laser's senior management team
“national”. More than any other research, this shows the incredible
and will ensure that the company's financial
value that communities all over the country place on truly local radio
projections are both realistic and attainable, based on
stations that give them regular local news and information.
industry benchmarks and detailed empirical data.
Radio can convey information - through
news bulletins, advertising messages,
traffic news, weather reports, new record
releases, sports updates and much more
- instantly and immediately in a way that
no other medium can imitate. The 24hour TV news and sports news channels
try to mimic that effect but television, by
definition, will always be slower because,