Radio Plus gets license for Warsaw, new format to air next month

Radio Plus (RP) is planning to start broadcasting elements of its new format next month, ahead of its official relaunch in September. RP's revamped programming will be possible thanks to private equity group Dresdner Kleinwort Capital (DrKC), which signed a deal last month to invest $5 million in RP, Poland's largest radio network with 23 stations. The deal saves the station from financial problems that started almost two years ago. The deal is expected to be closed within days when Juliusz Braun, the chairman of the National Television and Radio Council (KRRiTV) signs a Warsaw broadcasting license for RP. DrKC's investment hinged on Radio Plus receiving a license to broadcast in the capital, the nation's biggest radio advertising market. Tomasz Arabski, the station's programming director, is putting the finishing touches on RP's new lineup. "All local stations will have one music format and produce news, both on a national and local level, under the same standard," Arabski said. Under its broadcasting license, Radio Plus cannot use more than 33% of its programming in all 23 markets and has an ad limit set at 15% of broadcasting time. "We'd like to complete this integration process in summer," Arabski said. "In the beginning, the morning block will be produced in the central studio (Warsaw) so that local stations can learn to later do it on their own within the same format." Radio Plus was set up in 1998 using feeds from the Warsaw-based Spółka Producencka Plus, a content producer owned by the Polish Episcopate. The station's programming consisted of a mix of news, talk, music and some religious content, aimed at 25-45 year olds. But Arabski's plans call for significant changes, stressing music and news.

"The old Radio Plus wasn't properly positioned and the music wasn't formatted at all," he said. "It was addressed to everyone, and the days when you had a mixture of various formats on one channel are gone. According to marketing analyses, it's mainly the music that makes people choose a specific radio station." Arabski said it was too early to reveal details of Radio Plus's new music format, though. "All I can say is that we'll have a precisely selected music format and the same applies to our target group," he said. "Like most Warsaw stations, RP will gear its programming toward young people, 20-40 years old, with a high-school/secondary or university education, to young families, and particularly to young women because they are the ones who make choices at home." RP's morning information block will be divided into 20-minute segments, each providing a full range of news and entertainment. "We also want to revive the morning interviews (mainly with politicians) we had on the old RP," Arabski said. "We're still looking for well-known media faces for that." Former Radio Plus celebrity Bogdan Rymanowski now works for TVN24, a TV news channel owned by ITI Group. "We won't have special programs about the church, although political or religious debates are planned, and we'll promote a positive view of the world and culture," Arabski said. But despite the deal with DrKC, it will be still the church that will have a decisive influence on the radio's programming. According to sources close to the company, DrKC will provide the company with financial know-how.

Now for the hard part According to Arabski, it's much more difficult to enter the market today than four years ago when there were only two radio stations with distinct formats: Radio Zet and RMF FM. "Today everyone knows that the music format is crucial," he said. "In Warsaw, where the competition on the radio market is especially tough, most stations are playing the so-called 'adult contemporary' mix of music and targeting young people, so I guess almost everyone will be our competitor." Arabski said the Polish radio market is subject to the same changes that swept the U.S. radio market 20 years ago, where 30 musical formats sprouted up. "In Poland, radio professionals are no longer afraid of formatting their stations by picking up music for a selected group of listeners," he said. "They know that playing music for everyone is like playing it for nobody. Take RMF FM (Poland's leading private radio station). It was properly formatted from the very beginning. It's focused on music and news." RP will have to compete not only with radio market veterans, which have 15 stations available in Warsaw alone, but also with the newcomers, such as Radio 94 and Pieniądze i nowoczesność (Money and modernity), a business station. PiN is owned by Softbank, one of the country's largest IT companies, whose minority shareholder is Prokom. It was also Prokom that invested in Radio Plus when it was started in 1998. Under last month's deal, DrKC and Prokom Investments will hold a majority stake in Agencja Reklamowa Plus (ARP), Radio Plus' advertising company, while the church will have 51% of voting rights in Spółka Producencka Plus, the station's programming supplier.