When I last wrote to the shareholders I reported that Capital Radio PLC had made an offer to acquire the authorised share capital of our company. I am pleased to report that the transition took place smoothly and consequently DevonAir is now wholly owned subsidiary of Capital.
Members of the board of DevonAir had several meetings with the IBA who were determined to ensure the DevoAir maintained its programme integrity. Both DevonAir and Capital assured the Authority that this would indeed be the case and I am delighted that the Board of Directors unanimously elected to continue to serve the company to ensure that the station maintains the high standards of our listeners have come to expect.
We welcome Nigel Walmsley, Managing Director of Capital, to the board. His considerable experience in the industry will be invaluable as the company returns to profitability.
This year has seen a reasonable transformation in the financial situation of DevonAir. The loan from our parent company has eliminated bank borrowing and the reduction of interest charges has contributed towards a return to profit.
The company has in fact turned our loss of £91,000 in the previous year into a profit of £14,000 in the air ending 30th of September 1987. This has been achieved by holding operating costs and salaries to a 5% increase while turnover has increase by 20 percent.
We have been delighted at the performance of our national sales which have shown a dramatic improvement. Local airtime sales have been somewhat disappointing but local turnover has improved through our efforts in diversification. We generated significant cash flow from Exeter Air in 1987 and promoted outside our own area for the first time with Staverton Air 1987, where we co-operated to great advantage with Severn Sound.
The generation of additional cash flow has enabled us to undertake a major renovation of our Exeter building and we have entered a replacement programme for equipment and fixtures.
We have maintained the quality of our programme output and our current research shows that listeners are tuning in for longer than ever. Our current local listening hours are 50 percent up on what they were five years ago.
We have introduced several new programmes into our shedules which have met with excellent response from our listeners. The business line feature has established credibility within the business community and we have recently expanded the service by introducing ‘Talking Business’, a half-hour magazine programme. Our ‘Postcard From Strasborg’ is the only programme produced by a British radio station which reflects the activities of the European Parliament. The president of the Parliament, Lord Plumb, has written to us to express his appreciation of the programmes of our authoritive content.
DevonAir is taken the initiative in producing several radio series co-funded by major advertisers. Barclays Bank are now using our ‘Options at 16’ package as the definitive information pack for school leavers. Barclays also provided the funding which enabled us to produce the Devon Schools Quiz series which we co-presented with Plymouth Sound.
We have developed close ties with Devon schools through the pioneering work of Tim Arnold, Devon County Council’s Education Liaison Officer with local radio. Our programme ‘Street Level’ allows schools and colleges direct access to the station with self produced features.
Our work with the County Music Adviser producing and recording the Devon Schools Prom is particularly appreciated.
We have undertaken several major live music productions in the current year. The Texas Home Care Country Music Festival at the Plaza attracted 900 country music fans who were treated to six hours of the best British country bands and singers. However, perhaps the most significant music event of the year was the concert that we promoted in Exeter by Stan Getz, the legendary American saxophonist. We are looking forward to expanding this activity next year
This year has seen the expansion of our community service activity through DevonAir Plus, whose brief is to create social action via broadcasting. One major series on child abuse produce a massive phone response. The holiday action pack which was produced and distributed to libraries and schools throughout the County and numerous parents who called into the studio centres in Exeter and Torquay for copies. The total print run was 15,000. DevonAir Plus also made a significant contribution to the annual charity appeal which raised £25,000 which was used to provide transport for community groups in the transmission area.
Among all these positive achievements, there was one negative element which caused some problems. This was the direct exchange of our Exeter FM frequency with BBC Radio Devon. The new frequency placed us directly alongside BBC Radio Wales in spectrum and despite a power increase, our signal in East Devon now experiences increased interference. We will be asking the IBA to look at the possibility of providing a relay transmitter to give our East Devon listeners a satisfactory service.
This then has been a year of consolidation with the opportunity for major development over the next few years. I am very grateful indeed to all our staff who have worked so hard to ensure that our association with Capital got off to such a good start. In particular, I must emphasise the very great contribution that has been made by our Managing Director, David Cousins, throughout the air; in spite of the extra work created by the various negotiations, he has still continued to ensure that the usual very high standard of output of the station has been maintained. Our association with Capital is going well and I look forward to next year with confidence.
Ian Amory