[Jon]

Possibly there is also the factor of Scotland having a large and very vocal separatist movement? Just a thought.

Wales also has a very vocal separatist movement and are very passionate about the Welsh language, but that doesn't mean English broadcasters can't have a successful career.  Smooth Scotland will continue to come from London outside of Breakfast, so there isn't the anti-English sentiment that is being used as an excuse to split programming.

In any case, while they're hiring presenters to broadcast from Glasgow, the playlist will be programmed by a music programmer in London along with national advertising still being sold also in London, it's also likely most of the liners will be written by a London based person. It's pure tokenism in an attempt to gain share in a market where Bauer owned local stations which are also networked within Scotland with late shows from Manchester continue to have the lion's share of that market.

It’s not tokenism if they think Scottish voices will play better with Scottish audiences. Obviously Smooth in Scotland will continue to be mainly London based but Heart and Capital are the two most important brands, so the fact they don’t feel the need to try the same thing with Smooth at this time is irrelevant. You might as well say the strategy is stupid because they’re not also putting a local version of Radio X on DAB. If it massively adds significantly to RAJAR, I’m sure they’ll think about doing same with Smooth but if it doesn’t they probably won’t bother.

I’d argue where the music is programmed, the generic scripts are written some of their advertising is sold is irrelevant to the listener. But the sense that the presenter has a similar accent to you and is at least in the same country is more important. 

The cynicism about them using this to try and gain market share is odd, because that’s surely what Global should be doing.

I just don’t understand the point you’re really trying to get at. 

No idea if this will pay off for Global but it’ll be the bottom line that matters. The fact it’s creating more jobs for Scottish talent should be a bonus.