Oneword still after analogue licence

Oneword, the digital radio station devoted to book serials and discussion programmes, still plans to extend into analogue radio despite pulling out of an auction for the Atlantic 252 long-wave radio licence. The licence is expected to be won by sports media group Teamtalk.

Ben Budworth, Oneword managing director, said the station would remain in competition for the licence if the Teamtalk deal was not completed. "We are very keen to explore all sorts of platforms for Oneword, but we are not prepared to pay over the odds for a licence."

Mr Budworth said that Oneword was considering all routes into conventional analogue radio by either buying another station, applying for one of the licences to broadcast or providing elements of Oneword's programming to other stations.

He added that Oneword was not aiming to compete with spoken word publishers. "We provide a valuable shop window for publishers and booksellers," he said.