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SAVE Planet Rock

2105 Signatures
  • Start Date:
    2-11-2008
  • Last Signed:
    5-9-2008

Description:

Planet Rock Logo

 

 

 

It was announced on 11th Feb 2008, that GCap Media, (the owners of Planet Rock) were to CLOSE this radio station by the end of March 2008. This has now been extended until end April, pending negotiations to sell Planet Rock.

(Update: They have now closed theJazz and will be handing back various local XFM licenses they hold, or selling them off).

More info here (their Press Release, on their website) and here's some background stuff, regarding their reasons (not making enough profit), here (PDF):

So, please SUPPORT this petition to show OUR support for this station, in the hope that we can impress upon someone to BUY it and keep it going.

Feel free to cut and paste this exact code, to add a SAVE Planet Rock "banner advert" to your website:

<a href="http://www.saveplanetrock.co.uk"><img src="http://www.saveplanetrock.co.uk/savePR.gif" alt="Save Planet Rock" />/a>

You'll also find loads of stuff at our website: SAVE Planet Rock

There is also a petition on the UK Prime Minister's website, where UK residents can pledge their support - over 1,000 have already - so please sign up over there as well !!

Sat 3rd May 2008

The following has been put on Brian May's website today..... (see here for original posting)

[quote]

MISSION TO SAVE PLANET ROCK

In response to many of your kind enquiries .... yes, those few words on the Soapbox about Planet Rock DID lead to me getting involved in mounting a rescue operation to save the station. I can't tell you who I am 'in league' with, but I am part of a small group of people who have great hopes that we will succeed in taking over the station, and putting it on a firm footing, for the benefit of its growing audience.

I regard Planet Rock as rather more than just a radio station - it is a symbol of free radio ... radio which is not run by large corporate organisations for the purpose of making tons of money, and has a free choice of what it plays. I'm not going to run down any particular radio station - this country has some talented and dedicated people working in music radio ...

But I do feel that, for a healthy climate for music in this country, we need to allow small independent stations to exist alongside the huge FM giants. I listen to radio in my car, one of the few times I am 'in my own space' - and, for me, who grew up with Zeppelin, the Who, Hendrix, Traffic, AC/DC, Van Halen ... THE BEATLES ..... tell me, where can you hear music from these kinds of artists these days ? You'll have a hard job finding "Kashmir" flicking through the channels in the UK.

DAB Radio has had a brave start, and can provide freedom from domination by commercially minded programming, but it might, at this point, slip between the cracks. I believe this cause is worth supporting ... and will be doing my best to put my money and expertise) where my mouth is ! We hope to be able to make an announcement soon. In the meantime, of you agree with me ... Demand your Planet Rock !! Demand your DAB !!! !

Cheers
Bri

© brianmay.com

[/quote]

So there you have it......! Let's keep our fingers crossed that Brian and his fellow investors can take over Planet Rock.

Friday 25th April 2008

OFFICIAL PLANET ROCK NEWS UPDATE

We'd love to be able to announce that the deal to buy Planet Rock is all one and dusted but I'm afraid that we have to keep holding our breath for yet another month. The deadline for the sale completion has been extended until 30th May, while the interested parties continue their negotiations with GCap Media.

Thank you all for your continued messages of support, your passion for Planet Rock has been an inspiration. We should have more news very soon. In the mean time we hope you'll enjoy at least one more month of Planet Rock.

Keep Rockin'

 

Thursday 10th April 2008

Planet Rock has scooped THREE nominations in the recently announced Sony Radio Academy Awards for 2008.

More news from: Sony Radio Awards website

More news from Planet Rock here

Hopefully, this great news will help to ensure the continuance of Planet Rock, despite GCap's planned withdrawal from the digital radio business and the subsequent takeover of GCap by Global radio.....

Monday 31st March 2008

Global Radio offer to buy GCap Media for £375m has been unanimously accepted. What this means for Planet Rock is unclear at present - some say Planet Rock is excluded from the sale....so, we have to wait for clarification as to what will happen to Planet Rock, theJazz and the various XFM licences that GCap owns currently. Likewise, we'll see whether Global Radio will retain GCap Medias' stake in Digital One - the national commercial DAB network operator.

More news here

(GCap had planned to sell off it's stake in Digital One (to Arqiva) and to close down Planet Rock and theJazz).

We'll now have wait and see what happens next....

Tuesday 25th March 2008

OFFICIAL PLANET ROCK NEWS UPDATE

As I’m sure you are all aware, Planet Rock has been under the shadow of closure since GCap announced their strategy statement on Feb 11. We were given the deadline of March 28th to find a buyer or be switched off permanently.

Since that time, several parties have come forward and expressed an interest in buying the station, and negotiations are under way. Because of this development GCap have extended the deadline until the end of April to allow these talks to continue.

We’re not out of the woods yet, nor will we be until someone completes the purchase of the station. The good news is that there is hope, and at the very least, an extra month of Planet rock.

Thanks to each and every one of you who have sent messages of support, they have meant a great deal to all of us here at Planet Rock. When we have some more news you will be the first to know.

 

PETITION UPDATES:

22/03/08:

It has been announced that Planet Rock will continue for a further month, (beyond the previously announced deadline of 28th March) to allow time for discussions to take place with a potential buyer.

This is just the news we all wanted to hear, as it allows more time for further campaigning to support the station, while allowing for "due diligence" to be completed.....

We still need to be focused....and no deal has been done yet.....but the signs are that someone has come forward and is interested in keeping Planet Rock on air.

So, please continue to register your support....and let's show any potential new owner(s) that the listeners want Planet Rock to survive...

20/03/08:

More Rock Stars are now supporting the campaign....now includes:

Ian Gillan

Gary Moore

14/03/08:

A nice plug for the SAVE Planet Rock campaign has now come from the blog of one "David Gilmour". Thank you David !!

11/03/08:

News that GCap might have to delay selling it's stake in Digital One, while Global Radio is looking at GCap's accounts - there is a comment that talks have been ongoing with "a number of parties" interested in buying Planet Rock !! (link to Times Online website)

10/03/08:

You have GOT to see this: Fish in a Save Planet Rock t-shirt at a gig....(new window will open to display a large JPG - approx 680kb)

07/03/08:

More bands are now supporting the SAVE Planet Rock campaign, including:

Marillion

Magnum and Bob Catley

The Answer

Thunder

If supporters of this petition can contact (by email, post or SMS) their favourite rock band with news about the campaign to SAVE Planet Rock, then we would be glad to give them a plug in return for them displaying one of our banner ads on their website....

04/03/08:

The part of the campaign to PLEDGE funds to enable a listener-backed buy-out of Planet Rock has now closed. The idea was launched on the Planet Rock forum on 22nd Feb (following many comments from people suggesting such a buy-out), but after 10 days, unfortunately, only 117 people came forward to pledge funds, which, as of last night, totalled a mere £22,270 (and we really needed something like £2 million !!)

This clearly isn't enough to make a listener buy-out viable. It was worth a try, but without far more significant support in terms of pledgers and money, it has failed in it's objective. To those who did pledge your support, THANK YOU.

25/02/08:

Sign the petition that has now been accepted and published on the UK Prime Ministers website

 

19/02/08:

The SAVE Planet Rock website has been set up to act as a further reminder to people to SAVE Planet Rock and to act as a focus for all activity relating to the campaign, where you can get all sorts of additional info, such as petitions, web banners, animated GIF's, flyers, wallpapers, etc

More support information will be available soon...!

14/02/08:

Fish has kindly lent his support

Rick Wakeman (legendary keyboard maestro and Planet Rock jock) has also made his opinions known here

Brian May (Queen guitarist, in case you didn't know) has also come out in favour of Planet Rock here - he even asks if HE can buy it !!:

12/02/08:

More links for you to consider, the MOST important of which is the Planet Rock forum, where you can register to lodge YOUR opinion that Planet Rock is the BEST ROCK radio station in the world - see here:

Or you can email Planet Rock directly with your messages of support here

11/02/08:

Fish (of Marillion fame) has posted this on his forum !!:

best regards,

Tim

PS - I suggest we also involve as many rock musicians and fan clubs with this news and get them to support this petition - we also need to involve as many rock music fans on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace as we can....let's SHOW these people we want Planet Rock to continue.

Furthermore, an idea that was suggested on the Planet Rock forum, is to get the audience at every rock gig to sign a written petition, which can then be posted to Planet Rock. So, if you are a promoter or your building is used to stage rock gigs, or even if you are just a punter, standing in a queue going to a gig, please see that the audience are aware of the plans to shut down Planet Rock - and get them to sign the petition

PPS Please bookmark this page and tell ALL your friends - and let's SAVE this great radio station.

 

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Forum Discussion for SAVE Planet Rock

Fabulous station been listening as long as i've had a dab radio, nothing else compares to it. Why let the big boys rule what we can and can't listen to. Todays music bar a minute small number of "bands" will not stand the test of time. Who wants to continually listen to 3minute tracks. Only Planet rock plays 5-6-7-8 minutes on the radio now. Keep planet rock and keep us all sane!

Just got a DAB radio for my birthday...this is the channel i listen to all the time, so PLEASE SAVE IT. There are many commercial stations out there playing chart rubbish, we need to keep the stations that play great music..Planet Rock is such a station.

Everone needs planet rock xxx

Planet Rock is essential to us Heavy Rock/Metal fans around the world,ran by people who love our music and keeping us company through the netwaves.
If you want to have a go at it,check out Rush's "Spirit of Radio".Maybe then you'll get the point.
For the first time in many years I've listened to a radio station that doesn't make me go and change the music,it's almost exactly like in the case I had a radio station of mine,in my house.Most radio stations today play empty,fast food type music,empty of any interesting content and 100% market oriented (in a massively stupid way).

Please keep this station, I was so thrilled that Planet Rock was around, when I bought DAB. Great music, where else can we hear music like this, certainly not on ordinary stations... SAVE PLANET ROCK

At last there is a station that plays great music AND has Rick Wakeman...I thought there was a heaven. DON'T LET THEM DITCH PLANET ROCK!!

Planet rock is undoubtly the best rock radio station! with the variety of music, top DJ's, guests, interviews and special features it is second to none. Where else can you hear Alice Cooper with his funny facts, or Rick Wakeman with his words of wisdom on all that rocks. SAVE PLANET ROCK! I dont know what I'll do without it.

My only reason for buying a DAB radio was planet rock....it must be saved...every other radio station is cack...PLEASE SAVE PLANET ROCKKKK

I was a thejazz listener. When they closed my station down. I was depressed but I thought at least there is still planet rock. What is this BS about closing it as well? DAB is a new technology but no one is giving it a chance. DAB radios are only just getting affordable enough for everyone to get one but the whole reason for having one, good stations is disappearing. Don't take Planet Rock from us, we need it.

if planet rock is disbanded it just shows the continual discrimination shown to independant, creative, progressive media sources, which are constantly under pressure from the New World Order fascists who seem to think they can dictate our every thought, choice and even sources of musical entertainment..

Planet rock is the only DAB radio station , remove planet rock and there may as well be no DAB ,
I listen to planet rock everyday at work , i just cant handle bland music such as radio 1 etc etc ,

Keep on rocking!

you cant close planet rock, there is no other radio station we want to listen to.
my boyfriend takes he's DAB radio to work with him so he can listen to planet rock all day,playing all he's favorite songs is what makes him get through the day! if i could listen to the radio at work i would choose planet rock too. PLANET ROCK IS THE BEES BOLLOCKS!!! life without planet rock would be like a broken pencil...pointless!!!!!! C.J AND SIMON

Planet Rock the main reason that we now have four DAB radios. It's also the trigger for most of my iTunes, Amazon purchases.

Dave C

I only recently discovered Planet Rock. Would be devastated if it now closes

Greetings from Aruba! Are there any links to hear the radio station on the internet?

You can listen via the website at: http://www.planetrock.co.uk/default.asp

Or you can stream it to an internet radio.

just another example of corporate greed over art,shove it gcrap,james taylor(brother of the anorak)

Best station in the world

When I first discovered DAB, Planet Rock was always the station that I tuned into. Just the best music, good entertaining DJs, news and brilliant articles / interviews. If you let Planet Rock go you'll be removing a unique choice of station that just is not available anywhere, leaving many dissapointed listeners. If I had the money I'd buy the station but I'm not that wealthy. Rather than look at the balance sheet, why not think about a more robust marketing programme and tie in with record labels/music retailers and other digital businesses that can help to boost your advertising revenue?? Look, good luck with the project but don't let a **** good thing die.

The only reason I got a DAB radio was to hear Planet Rock.If Planet Rock closes,what is the point of having a DAB because all the other radio stations are crap,its as simple as that.Planet Rock is the greatest thing ever to happen to radio because it plays the greatest music by far.I have heard rock radio in America & some of it is good but none of what I have heard there is a patch on Planet Rock mainly because they tend to ignore British bands unless they are called Led Zep.If I had the money I would buy it without hesitation so lets hope I win the lottery this week!Planet Rock has to survive for all our sakes.
Mark Jude Hornchurch Essex

Like many other I think that the closing of Planet Rock sends a terrible message to the world - that we do not know how to ROCK!!!!!!
Lets hope that the powers that be realise music is not all about Duffy, Adele, Amy etc and remember that Rock is mighty.

Seems I'm not the only one who bought their DAB radio to pick up Planet Rock. I now have a DAB tuner for the hi-fi, a DAB radio for the bedside and one in the kitchen (which is on Planet Rock as I write - Argent / Hold Your Head Up.....).As one of the jingles said, this is the soundtrack to life for many of us and not just people of a certain age. (OK, I'm 53 and love my seventies rock - who else plays Bells of Berlin by Lone Star?). It would be a crying shame to lose a station that means so much; Radio 1 just doesn't interest me, R2 seems to be R1 from a few years ago, R3 can be obscure, R4 is great if you want war and/or politics, I don't follow sport much so R5 is never on, local radio is cr** and most of the alternatives (available in UK anyway) are VERY poor. Incidently, I love jazz (very hard to find) and metal (Bruce ****inson on R6 seems to have disappeared). HELP! I have an extensive collection of CDs and vinyl so I can play anything at any time, BUT, the beauty of a good radio station, for me anyway, is the spontaneity of hearing a track you'd almost forgotten, along with a bunch of favourites together with the banter of Alice or the worst jokes in the world from Rick W! I could go on and on.........If there's any justice around Planet Rock will survive: if you read this, add your comments please and maybe we can do something good in this increasingly bland, 'product' driven world. Dave R, Sussex.

IF PLANET ROCK GOES,
I DUMP THE DAB!!!

Planet Rock potentially closing is literally one of the saddest things I have ever heard in broadcasting !!!!

IT SIMPLY MUST BE SAVED !!!!!!!!!! It's one of the last bastions of defence we have against the production line of ****e we have in Pop Idol, X Factor etc. that seems to pollute the airways on most other stations.

I play Planet Rock as loud as possible whenever the opportunity arises - It is quite simply the best radio has to offer in music and entertainment (especially Rick Wakeman on Saturdays ! - one of the highlights of the week !!)

Come on Ozzy, Mick, Gary, Slash etc. etc. etc. Do something to help us - YOUR FANS !!!

Steve C.

Dab was invented for Planet Rock its the only reason i bought 2 Dab radios and one is the exellent Pure Highway for the car.I listen to the station when ever possible, so come on all you rich rockstars you cant let this radio history die.If i won the lottery today it would be the first thing to do,Save Planet Rock.
Last of all; Shame on you GCAP Or is that G Crap as i will call it if it happens.

Planet Rock MUST be SAVED! It is simply the best radio station on the air waves, digital AND analogue included.
It gives an opportunity to listen to great music that is simply not played on other stations.
It would be a cultural loss to this country if Planet Rock is allowed to go the way of the Dinosaurs.

Planet Rock must be saved, it is quite simply the best radio station around, Gcap doesn't deserve to be associated with such a great radio station,all they want is to have the likes of crapital radio, so lets hopefully find a buyer who is passionate about real music and not just after a quick buck.

Please! Keep Planet Rock in orbit(good line or what?)
No, but seriously-WAY too many good stations have already been closed within the last year-Capital Disney, Core, theJazz, Capital Life, BFBS Radio, so we CANNOT allow another great specialist staion close! SAVE PLANET ROCK!

There is already plenty of manufactured dross on the radio. The biggest selling music mag’s are the likes of Classic Rock, which means there is a market on the radio for rock music, perhaps the station just needs to be marketed better. Many people I know, never know of the station, when I told them about it have purchased DAB radio & are now full time listeners.

Classic music great station

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