This hasn't been the best week for the spangly young upstart that is digital radio. Gcap Media's music station Core - bringing "fresh hits!" (I love that phrase; as if any station would promise "mouldy old hits!") to its target 16-24 audience for the past eight years - closes tonight, while UBC's spoken word station Oneword winds up operations tomorrow.
It's been a long time since I listened to Core, but it did have an initial winning liveliness about it, and was shot through with the kind of listener interactivity that has now become standard, especially for stations targeting younger audiences. But last year, it turned jukebox instead of radio, abandoning presenters presumably because, well, they cost money. I didn't tune in again.
Oneword attracted more attention in the early days of digital radio and was very much seen as representing the promise of digital broadcasting: niche radio (literary, speech-based programming with plays, audio books, reviews and bookish chat) you could dip in to alongside your established faves.
It covered some of Radio 4's territory, but extended its book-based output, and didn't sound like Radio 4. This was, among other things, a speech station offering a familiar way in (books, including non-fiction) for people who might normally only listen to music radio. A cracking idea. But then BBC7 came along and Oneword's sheen dulled a little: they weren't doing quite the same thing, but the BBC's unrivalled archive of drama and comedy totally eclipsed Oneword's profile.
I'll miss it, though, largely for nostalgic reasons: it was the first station I listened to on my brand new digital radio all those years ago. Oneword had 151,000 listeners in the last set of audience figures, so presumably someone will miss its accessible, literary mix. Will you?
