Hello everyone and thanks for the constructive comments.
As was said after the race last year we have taken the comments of all and we will try to incorporate them into the broadcast this year.
Just to answer a few specific points;
We experimented with numbers only update some years ago and were soundly ripped for it, given the nosiy environment it's too easy to miss the vital information (the number) whereas if the number, car and driver are being mentioned there are effectively three opportunities to identify the entry. Also most people have told us that car numbers alone mean nothing to them as they don't carry a programme. We have already commited to an uniterrupted rundown segment - just don't be complaining when a car goes up in flames as we start it and then we wait 3 mins to mention it! Actually I don't have a problem with that, it's always the case at Le Mans that over 90% of your audience can't see what you are talking about anyway. (They are at home or on different part of track) The car will either still be burning or will be put out when we get to it. Regardless we can still talk about what has happened! One of the many advantages of radio over TV who seem to feel the need to try and cut to everything as it happens...
The ratio of listeners at the track to listeners away from the track is over 10-1 in favour of those not at the track. Interestingly as many UK-based listeners now tune in via Sky satellite as use the Internet link. That's just under half a million UK listeners in total during the week. The bulk of the race week Internet audience (over 1.4 million visited the frontpage of the website and slightly more accessed the webstream as some went to it directly) are from the USA (over 70%) with the UK, Denmark, Japan and Australia making up the Internet top five.
In order to service the TK and Jan fans we have been asked to provide a Danish langauge update every hour. This is being sponsored by Danish companies. It will be about a maximum of 90 seconds per hour.
It's an unfortunate fact of life that the rising costs of staging the radio station - remember it's those costs that pushed publishing giant Haymarket to abandon the service in 2005 - can only be met by increasing the audience which broadly speaking means those away from the circuit as the on-track numbers are relatively consistant each year.
It's also true that while many of us would love to be able to have a similar type of broadcast as in the late 80s and early 90s the bulk of the audience does not remember those days and infact they demand a very much more sophisticated production as the proliferation of slicker sports broadcasts on TV and radio has raised the expectations of our listeners.
Radio Le Mans is run on commercial terms, and therefore sposnors require us to be professional and represent their brand values. We just wouldn't get the required financial support if we let standards slipand ended up sounding like a buch of amateurs. Of course regulations play a big part on advertising, format and content. We have to satisfy several different regulators who legislate across the platforms on which we broadcast and as we are available in so many different territories (103 last year) we have to be mindful of national guidelines too.
Radio Le Mans has evolved since it's early years, no doubt it will continue to do so. Unfortunately this process will not suit everyone and sadly I'm sure that we will leave some people behind. However it's very important that I make clear that now that our group hold the rights, certain essential precepts, some of which were discarded or under threat under previous administations, will be applied.
*Radio Le Mans will provide full race coverage, whenever the cars are on track
*Within the normal broadcasting boundaries of truth, decency and legality, Radio Le Mans will not accept editorial control or pressure for any reason or from any source
*Radio Le Mans will remain free-to-air to our listeners at the track and via the mediums on which we currently broadcast
Sorry this has been slightly longer than I intended... funny how that happens. I'll close with this;
Radio Le Mans was started by a group of dedicated enthusiasts. Big business stepped in and in fairness ensured the continuation of the service through some very lean years in the mid 1990s. However when time got tough again and RLM was no longer a profit centre it has been left to (some of the same) enthusiasts to ensure the survival of the station.
I'd like to thank all of you for your support - for this debate and your comments, whether good bad or indifferent. The fact that RLM can ignite this level of passion form the sporstcar community is one of the examples I use to prove to potential sponsors that the service is still relevant.
Kind regards to all
John Hindhaugh
On behalf of the team at Radio Le Mans
