Several presenters on Bauer's AM stations in Scotland are thought to have lost their jobs as Bauer introduces networking on their Scottish medium wave stations from Monday.
The five stations, Clyde 2, Forth 2, Westsound, Tay AM and Northsound 2 have until recently enjoyed mostly local programming, but from Monday will be networking for 14 hours per day, leaving only local overnight and breakfast slots.
The new network will be managed by Radio Tay Station Manager Ally Ballingall who has been promoted to the newly created position of Director for AM Scotland for Bauer Media’s Big City Network.
Some presenters have been on their local stations schedule for decades, including Bill Smith who has been with Clyde 2 for 35 years and Father Monaghan who first hosted a show on Forth 2 in 1979.
Commenting on Ally's new position, Graham Bryce, Managing Director for Scotland at Bauer Media, said: “Ally is passionate about the future of Scottish radio and knows exactly what listeners want. He is simply the best person for this new role which will allow him to focus his energy and passion on the listener experience and deliver broadcasting excellence for the AM output."
Ally said: “I am really delighted to be taking up this new challenge and am committed to bringing quality local programming to listeners across Scotland. Commercial radio in the UK today is more competitive today than ever, so my vision is to create stations which will be at the heart of the local community for many years to come. We are broadening listener ship with new programmes which we are sure will delight audiences around the country.”
The changes will take place just a day before Lord Carter's report on digital Britain is due to be published, which is expected to open the gate for further networking and co-location for stations such as these.
