Why Kylie’s toast on radio Coast!

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Oct 30, 2008

THE region’s newest radio station went on air this morning promising to play no “Kylie, Boyzone or Madness” in a bid to attract over 40s listeners.

Coast 106 went live at 5.30am with veteran breakfast show host Matt Hopper at the microphone.

The station, formerly Original 106, promises more music and less chat for its target middle-aged audience.

The move comes after Canadian-owned Original sold the 106 frequency to UK entertainment giant Celador, at one time the owner of TV’s Who Wants To Be A Mill-ionaire? quiz show.

Celador, now one of the UK’s largest film producers, spent £1m in converting the Southampton-based station to Coast, which will keep a music policy aimed to appeal to the over 40s, and has vowed to axe all “pop pap”.

Original went off air at the start of the month to be replaced by a holding music only broadcast, ready for today’s launch of Coast. There have been seven job losses, with Coast staffed by 12 compared to Original’s 19.

Celador bought the frequency in August for an undisclosed sum and is now keen to win over the estimated 1.6m listeners in the region, which stretches from Poole to Chichester.

Managing director Kevin Stewart, former chief executive of the Tindle local radio group, said: “You won’t hear Kylie, Boyzone or Madness. The music will have a bit of a west coast feel to it. Eagles would be indicative of a west coast band – rock with a mellow edge.

“There will be no pop pap and presenters will be there to inform. They won’t be focussing on where they went at the weekend. It will be grown-up chat.”

Bosses plan to air two minutes of news an hour and have vowed there will be no “sung” jingles or anything “hard on the ear”. Advertising is also being kept to just six minutes an hour, just under half the typical quantity on a commercial station. Advertisers like M&S, Vauxhall and Hampshire Road Safety have already signed up. “There is no point coming into a market and saying ‘me too’”, said Kevin. “We believe that the over 40s are not well served at the moment.”

Source: Daily Echo

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