Vale Radio?

[robf]

I would imagine the club will stay with Valiant Player. Firstly, I suspect there is a Football League-wide contract in place that commentary online (on the web) has to be through that, while the commentary on local radio is with Radio Stoke.

 

So, I don't think there would be the possibility of a live commentary as the rights are already taken. Without match commentary would it be worth a radio station at all? We already have lots of news coverage on Radio Stoke, Signal, Six Towns Radio, Valiant World and the club's YouTube channel, after all.

 

Secondly, the club does make money from subscriptions to Valiant Player. Would it make the same from a radio station? Even without the equipment/start-up costs that a Vale station would incur, commercial radio stations are finding it hard enough to bring in enough advertising to make a profit ,so I would doubt whether a new venture with limited audience and limited content would find it easy.

 

There's also the equipment cost of setting up a radio station and finally, I know that Six Towns Radio are only now trying for a FM licence. That suggests it's pretty difficult to get one and would be the same for Vale.

 

In an ideal world, it would be a nice idea, especially from a fans-perspective - but in the new common-sense world of Vale, I reckon there would need to be a definite revenue benefit in doing something like this. And I personally, don't think there is.

[marky mark]

The costs are really minimal so long as you don't play music.

 

A podcast could be the way to go to start with, see what the take up is and then take it from there. Getting mobile streaming just like online streaming is fairly simple, FM transmission is easy however you need a licence to broadcast on FM and a transmitter - which can be expensive.

[robf]

The costs are really minimal so long as you don't play music.

 

A podcast could be the way to go to start with, see what the take up is and then take it from there. Getting mobile streaming just like online streaming is fairly simple, FM transmission is easy however you need a licence to broadcast on FM and a transmitter - which can be expensive.

 

But how will the club make a profit on those 'minimal' costs? The club are only going to consider it if it makes them money. Personally, I can't see how a podcast would generate enough to cover the set-up costs let alone bring in a steady extra income.

[marky mark]

Six towns want a local temporary FM licence. They are hard to get as you have masses of paperwork to complete to ensure that your output meets the rules of the licence. Its also expensive to broadcast on FM, the rule of thumb is the more power you need to broadcast, the greater the cost. That is why local FM for events tends to be cheap as they do that on a very low power transmitter.

[marky mark]

Fair point Rob - it's going to have to be subscription or advertising funded.

[Fosse69]

How many people would listen though? I really don't think it'd be many except maybe on a match day. Knot's show goes out on a Sunday night and interactive via the Oatcake, Twitter, e-mail and the phone and it works a treat. Having a Vale radio station just seems ott to me.

OTT at the Vale? You are having a laugh!

[Robert Dawson 1876]

As others have said I dont think a whole radio station would work but I've always wondered why there is no Port Vale related podcast. Could feature chat on latest matches, goings on, interviews with old players etc. A real gap in the market there in my view. I doubt the costs of doing that would be too high (I may be wrong), I listen to alot of obscure podcasts on things much less mainstream than our beloved Vale.

[The French Connection]

The real strength of something Vale related is that it has a targeted and focused audience. The problem with the smaller community efforts is that they don't really have a defined audience and are more a hobby. The only community station that has some decent audience figures and focus is Moorlands Radio - however all should be commended for the effort they put in.

 

Thought that last add on was an excellent recovery!

[marky mark]

Podcasts are really simple to produce and get pushed out on iTunes etc.

 

With a podcast the only cost is the kit to produce it - I'm sure there are plenty of local students who would love to put something together for the club. I guess you could even put it on the YouTube channel as quite a bit of audio seems to appear on that site these days.

[For Us All]

I could fill it up with bo****** pretty much on my own ;)

 

You and I could perhaps perhaps do a weekly 'press review'? :D