“whilst i appreciate your comments Mark, i view radio ads in the same way i view being buzzed by a fly...irritating! Most of us make decisions based on visual matter ie tv/papers etc. whilst I do shop at Tescos etc radio has not influenced me and I'm sure i'm not alone on that score. I find radio ads very annoying.
repetitive,uninformative,and jingly to the point of inaneness.How would you feel if your car passengers suddenly interrupted a conversation and started to sing an advert?! Exactly! Which is why when I do turn to a station it is invariably BBC Radio. If I want info on a prospective purchase I seek it out elsewhere. Lots of us managed perfectly well before lantern/heart radio came 'on the scene'. As for local news I feel we are adequately catered for with the Journal/ Gazette/Spotlight/Westcountry Tv /(or whatever they call themselves now)/ Yellow Pages/EX33 mag etc etc. As 'anon' from Braunton has said, many of us have MP3/4 (!) etc in cars and walkmans/mob phones elsewhere. If the police/traffic guys were to make full and up to date use of those wonderful new roadside signs then they too could give us traffic info....”

“On the BBC front I have heard friends moan about commercial radio because of the adverts and in the next breath praise the BBC for Radio 1/2 and BBC Devon (please note these are often the same people who moan about the license fee!).

We can't have it both ways. I endorse the BBC and think it a great organisation which could fill the gaps left by commercial radio across the UK but license fee payers are not going to support increased spending on BBC local radio.”

“This is sadly one aspect of a massive change that is happening in our society. We are (and have been for sometime) moving in to a global world and losing Heart/Lantern North Devon is one sympton of this.

As for your comment Sam- wait until the new Heart Devon network starts. North Devon will not exist on the Heart radar except to extract revenue from a few local organisations who continue to run/ support it and the occasional mention in the 60 second news bulletins (I use the term ¿news¿ loosely). It is no secret that Ashley Tabor (the man at the top of parent company Global Radio) wants the London Breakfast show across the network- and if you think this will never happen it will. Few thought 5 or 10 years ago that we would reach this stage in UK radio. Such a shift would mean the closure of the 15 regionals except as sales centres. This would eventually mean the closure of Heart Devon and I can tell you that all Devon content (which by that stage will only be ads) will come from a server/PC in a racks room in London. Yet the FM band will remain under the control of the government regulator.

Look at it like this...If you don't like the newsagent in your town (bar a few planning restrictions) it is possible to open a rival across the road. If you don't like Heart on FM it is impossible to launch a station on FM legally. Even if community licenses are given to North Devon they will be small and restricted to limited areas making it difficult to gain enough support and revenue from the communities.

Regarding adverts- I can guarantee Sam that you have been influenced by radio advertising- It works through brand awareness and brand recall. TV works along similar lines yet off the top of my head I would not say I go to Tesco because of the ads- but I can tell you heavy promotion of Tesco on the TV/radio has influenced my purchasing decisions.

(I have not or never worked for Lantern/Heart/Global but I do work in the UK radio industry)”

“It will be very difficult for any commercial radio station to survive in North Devon. Internet and digital radio is now the future listening with loads of choice and good sound quality. I listen to internet radio station 80s & More, great quality, no ads.”

“what? radio needed for school? what happened to mobiles and phones? with facebook/mob/emails/etc what has radio to offer? just ads!!is it really feasible to clog up airwaves with a duplicated local radio service? and before you say that heart ain't local it does provide local traffic info! has anyone actually asked joe public what they want/need? if so let's see these masses of supporters! local advertisers might want it for obvious reasons but I can quite happily manage without ads going on and on about 'go compare' insurance companies! not once has any radio ad influenced any purchase of mine.It's one thing to vent emotion and promise support but any radio station needs viable, sustainable and committed funding -and the listeners to support it.I don't doubt Ian's motives, but emotion will not keep airwaves open.Money talks and money listens.”

“sam , braunton

I know what you mean but you don't have to listen to it if you
don't want to, some people actually like that sort of thing.
I listen to Planet Rock, the bits between the ads is quite good.”

“Fully agree with Sam, I'd say that larger radio stations are more enjoyable to listen to, many people use MP3s or CDs in cars anyway. Radio Devon supplies snow updates, when we use them all one week of the year and traffic updates can be obtained through other means easily when on the road.
I really won't want another Lantern/Heart imitation in Devon.”

“Yes Sam we do! I am disabled and without this highly valued 'local' service, I would have to struggle painfully to school in the snow only to be sent home again. My teens would have to stand out in the cold & wet waiting for a bus service that may not be running to colleges that may not be open.
Those that drive to work would not have the local traffic news.
This has nothing to do with ego. Ian has listened to the people and what they 'need' & we all massively appreciate the hard work he is putting into to try and keep our highly valued & widely used service.”

“do we really need or want a local radio service? apart from traffic info what point is there? just another way to shove unwanted and incredibly repetitive ads into our ears.Is this more about ego rather than need? I listen to bbc radio devon...without adverts!”