'News: Ofcom Explains Award Of Local Commercial FM Radio Licences In Northallerton And Swansea' by Grant Goddard
•
0 likes•158 views
News story about explanations published by UK media regulator Ofcom for its award of new local commercial FM radio licences in the Northallerton and Swansea markets, written by Grant Goddard in November 2005 for The Radio Maagazine.
![News: Ofcom Explains Award Of Local Commercial FM Radio Licences In Northallerton And Swansea Page 2
©2005 Grant Goddard
Ofcom has explained its decisions to award The Local Radio Company plc
[TLRC] and Town & Country Broadcasting Limited [TCB] the new local
commercial radio licences in Northallerton and Swansea respectively.
For the Northallerton licence, the regulator considered that TLRC had “a strong
degree of financial stability” and “extensive experience of operating smaller
stations in similar markets”, while the proposed eight hours per weekday of
local programming would benefit from sharing resources with the group’s
neighbouring stations. It was noted that TLRC already uses this model of a
local opt-out for its 'Yorkshire Coast Radio' licence in Bridlington that also
produces eight hours per weekday of local programming. The Northallerton
station will thus become an opt-out of York-based 'Minster FM', which is
already available in the south of the service area through a Thirsk-based FM
relay.
For Swansea, Ofcom recognised that the TCB application would enable the
company “to form a new local cluster” with its neighbouring South Wales
stations that would “benefit from synergies in terms of both programming and
sales”. The regulator said that it “welcomed the fact that this group showed a
clear understanding of the local marketplace and has previous experience of
competing against the existing local commercial and BBC services.” The new
Swansea station will become a news “hub” intended to service TCB’s existing
stations – 'Radio Pembrokeshire', 'Radio Carmarthenshire' and 'Scarlet FM' –
and 'Bridge FM' that is presently owned by Tindle Radio.
[First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'Northallerton And Swansea Decisions', #711, 23 November 2005]
Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of
experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy
roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
More from Grant Goddard
More from Grant Goddard (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
'News: Ofcom Explains Award Of Local Commercial FM Radio Licences In Northallerton And Swansea' by Grant Goddard
- 1. NEWS: OFCOM EXPLAINS AWARD OF LOCAL COMMERCIAL FM RADIO LICENCES IN NORTHALLERTON AND SWANSEA by GRANT GODDARD www.grantgoddard.co.uk November 2005
- 2. News: Ofcom Explains Award Of Local Commercial FM Radio Licences In Northallerton And Swansea Page 2 ©2005 Grant Goddard Ofcom has explained its decisions to award The Local Radio Company plc [TLRC] and Town & Country Broadcasting Limited [TCB] the new local commercial radio licences in Northallerton and Swansea respectively. For the Northallerton licence, the regulator considered that TLRC had “a strong degree of financial stability” and “extensive experience of operating smaller stations in similar markets”, while the proposed eight hours per weekday of local programming would benefit from sharing resources with the group’s neighbouring stations. It was noted that TLRC already uses this model of a local opt-out for its 'Yorkshire Coast Radio' licence in Bridlington that also produces eight hours per weekday of local programming. The Northallerton station will thus become an opt-out of York-based 'Minster FM', which is already available in the south of the service area through a Thirsk-based FM relay. For Swansea, Ofcom recognised that the TCB application would enable the company “to form a new local cluster” with its neighbouring South Wales stations that would “benefit from synergies in terms of both programming and sales”. The regulator said that it “welcomed the fact that this group showed a clear understanding of the local marketplace and has previous experience of competing against the existing local commercial and BBC services.” The new Swansea station will become a news “hub” intended to service TCB’s existing stations – 'Radio Pembrokeshire', 'Radio Carmarthenshire' and 'Scarlet FM' – and 'Bridge FM' that is presently owned by Tindle Radio. [First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'Northallerton And Swansea Decisions', #711, 23 November 2005] Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk