Chrysalis radio are planning a brave move as part of the relaunch of London new station LBC, which they acquired earlier this year. The station will go off air for the twelve days preceding the station’s relaunch on 6 Jan. Sister rolling news service, formerly News Direct and now LBC News, will broadcast on both the station’s FM and AM frequency over the Christmas period. On 6 Jan the new look LBC will arrive on FM, with the rolling news programme switching over to AM.
Part of a move to separate the new look LBC from the current output, some industry insiders fear the station may lose even more of its declining listenership in those twelve days.
But MD Mark Flanagan told Media Guardian: "LBC News will run between Christmas and the new year to allow us to dry run the new programming. It’s quite usual to close a station down for rehearsals. We have talked to the radio authority about it and agreed it was the most sensible thing to do."