All Rock, the round-the-clock rock radio station celebrated its first anniversary last week. Throughout the year, All Rock has positioned itself as Malta’s leading digital-only radio station, broadcasting 24 hours of non-stop rock and specialised programmes hosted by Malta’s top rock jocks.
All Rock plays a selection of classic tracks and new sounds covering all rock sub-genres – from metal to indie and alternative as well as progressive, psychedelia, folk rock, Americana and the Blues.
In its first year, the station has also supported local rock bands, venues and events, among them The Malta Doom Festival and Xirka Rock. All Rock broadcasts on Malta’s digital platform DAB+ and online at allrockmalta.com.
Station manager Noel Mallia looks back on an exciting year and why it can only get better.
One year on, what challenges has All Rock faced?
The main challenge facing All Rock and all other digital stations is persuading radio listeners to switch over from FM to DAB+ and consequently purchasing a DAB + radio or DAB+ car stereo.
Apart from this fundamental problem, radio talent is thin on the ground. All Rock faces even greater difficulty in that we do not just consider one’s radio personality but also the person’s knowledge of rock and its history. Despite this, we now have a pool of eleven presenters. Some arrived with years of experience with top radio stations, others we trained from scratch. We are pleased with all our presenters’ contribution. For them it’s a labour of love.
How much of an impact do you feel All Rock has had among radio listeners with its dedicated rock music policy?
The feedback is positive. We’ve had a lot of people tell us they’d been waiting for such a station for years. Some listeners are really hooked onto the station while others tune in casually.
A privately-conducted survey put All Rock at the top of digital-only radio stations in Malta, which is encouraging, but obviously we need to grow.
What has the response of the Maltese public been to the introduction of the DAB platform overall?
DAB has been in Malta for only three years and recent surveys show that nearly 12 per cent of the population tune in via DAB, which is equivalent to 25 per cent of radio listeners. In fact, a shift of five per cent from DAB to FM use has been registered in the same survey, which is the first time such surveys are showing a shift from FM to DAB. This strongly suggests that DAB is here to stay.
Incidentally, there are 40,000 units in circulation, making take-up of DAB in Malta one of the fastest in the world.
The biggest obstacle is the fact that the amount of radio listeners in Malta is less than 50 per cent and therefore DAB has the potential to reverse that trend.
Part of All Rock’s strategy was to offer one more reason to buy a DAB+ radio and this was more important in the initial stages than offering advertising space, which will come later.
Comparing a DAB radio to an FM radio is like comparing a smartphone to a landline, both can be used for the same reason, but the former offers more advantages.
Having said that, the take-up of DAB is gaining momentum internationally and this is pushing the price of radio sets further down. Germany’s launch of a national DAB+ multiplex pushed car manufacturers to offer DAB+. As a result, from this year European car manufacturers have started installing DAB+radios in their vehicles while branded stand-alone DAB+sets are also available in Malta.
Is the plan to start live broadcasts still on the cards or do you feel the recorded programme strategy proved to be adequate?
The recorded programme strategy has so far been sufficient, but we need to get closer to our listeners, so we’ll have to introduce live programming soon.
http://allrockmalta.com