Plymouth Sound in 1979 

2 December 2017 tbs.pm/13413

Plymouth Sound・19 May 1975
96.0MHz・261m・1152kHz

Plymouth Sound Ltd, Earls Acre, Alma Road, PLYMOUTH PL3 4HX
Tel: 0752 27272. Telex: 45682

Directors The Earl of Morley, DL, JP (Chairman); R B Hussell (Managing Director); J A D Campbell; D J Cherring-ton; J A Constable; G E H Creber; S J Day; Mrs J Doyle; S Edgcumbe; T T Fleet; B V C Harpur; RKL Hill; Mrs E Sitters; J H Trafford.

Executives T D Bassett (Programme Controller); R B Hussell (National Sales Director); J M Carroll (Head of News & Public Affairs); Louise Churchill (Head of Women’s & Children’s Programmes); T Mason (Chief Engineer); M Allen (Local Sales Manager).

IBA Local Advisory Committee for Independent Local Radio in Plymouth D Aldous (Chairman); Mrs W Cuff; T D Healey; Cllr F Milligan; Mrs J Mutton; S Scott; Mrs D Weeks; Cllr Mrs J Woodcock; Cllr D Yeates.


‘Miss Plymouth Sound’ was launched at the beginning of summer as part of a major effort to draw the attention of holidaymakers to the existence of the station.


Plymouth Sound has been referred to as ‘the upside-down’ station because of its unusual programming approach. With a high proportion of speech content it appears to fly in the face of commercial radio practice.

But it works as the 1978 JICRAR research proves. Plymouth Sound has the highest weekly ‘reach’ with 63 per cent.

During the past year the station has received much praise for its work in the community. The Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall presented his coverted Good Neighbour Award to the station. The Plymouth Lions’ Club also made an award to the station for inspiring the hugely successful Christmas Appeal for the Underprivileged Children of Single-Parent Families which in six hours one Sunday evening raised over £3,000.

The station still has basically the same staff with which it started in 1975. In the three years only ten members of staff have left the station and the permanent establishment has grown by only three part-time employees – there are still only 27 full-time staff.

The station’s record during the blizzards of early 1978 received much generous praise nationally – and made good radio as well! The station was able to track down three bus-loads of school children who were lost between Bristol and Plymouth and put the minds of anxious parents at rest.

During the summer months Plymouth Sound made an all-out assault on the beaches of South Devon and Cornwall. With nearly three million visitors passing through the signal area every summer the holidaymaker is a valuable additional listener.

By acquiring an open-top bus, a 40 mile-an-hour power boat (and persuading the City Fathers to allow them to put coloured umbrellas across the previously sacrosanct Plymouth Hoe) the station increased its awareness to the considerable benefit of its listeners and advertisers alike.

Throughout the year the station has received commendation from advertisers for the outstanding response to their commercials and has reinforced its already considerable reputation among national advertisers for successful ‘test’ launches.

Less than half Plymouth Sound’s eighteen-hour broadcasting day is music. The two open-line shows in the morning and mid-afternoon have been constant since the station went on air and enable so many interesting topics and guests to meet the listeners in debate.

Additional features added during the year include a daily Police ‘crime-time’ spot at 5.30 p.m. each Monday to Friday, repeated Tuesday to Saturday at 7.15 and 8.15 a.m. Sailing on a Saturday morning during the summer months; Parliamentary broadcasting and first-night local theatre reviews.

And the next year? Simply to do what we have been doing since day one that little bit better.

IBA Transmitters
VHF Transmitter
(FM with stereo capability)
Plympton (NGR: SX 531 555)
96.0 MHz
Max erp 1 kW
Circular polarisation
Aerial ht. 513 ft aod

MF Transmitter
(medium wave, mono only)
Plumer Barracks (NGR: SX 490 585)
261 m (1152 kHz)
Transmitter power 0.5 kW
(MF omnidirectional aerial)

Air Date: 19.5.75

VHF COVERAGE. The map shows the area within which most listeners should obtain satisfactory mono reception on VHF and, with adequate aerials, good stereo reception. Medium wave coverage is designed as far as possible to match VHF.

A Transdiffusion Presentation

Report an error

Author

Independent Broadcasting Authority Contact More by me

Your comment

Enter it below

A member of the Transdiffusion Broadcasting System
Liverpool, Thursday 28 March 2024