Bassetlaw radio station Trax FM is moving out of town. Owners Lincs FM Group applied to Ofcom to co-locate the station with Doncaster's Trax FM, and cut the hours of local programming each day in half. Now, just four hours a day are aimed at Bassetlaw but will be hosted in Doncaster.
This is just the latest in an emerging trend of local radio stations moving out of their own broadcast area.
In applying for the Format change, the company says the move will not "substantially alter the character of the service," even though only four hours a day will be local rather than the current seven.
Lincs FM argued that because the Bassetlaw service only has a potential audience of 36,000 adults, it would not be viable to continue on its own, and has previously been funded by the success of the Doncaster station.
News on both services have always been networked, and the musical Format for each station is the same. And although Bassetlaw is Nottinghamshire and Doncaster is part of South Yorkshire the connection between the two areas is strong, says the request-to-change-Format document.
Other radio stations to move out of their own area include Connect FM Kettering moving to Lite FM in Peterborough and Bridge FM (Bridgend) moving into Swansea Bay Radio. Click [link=https://radiotoday.co.uk/e107_plugins/wrap/wrap.php?12]here[/link] for more co-location requests.
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