[cma-l] 5km: limit or no limit

Sat Jan 16 17:59:06 GMT 2016

Nick,

I can back up your experience with mine during the time I set up and ran The Bay for Poole and Bournemouth. The conurbation is around 350,000 people. At every stage Ofcom believed they knew more about them and the area than we did.

I’m pretty sure Ofcom’s community radio section never bothered getting a map out. If they had they would have found the boundaries and terrain are such that it’s impossible to cover with 25Watts. A fact we pointed out very many times.

We we’re very frustrated to see the commercial station was given an increase from 100Watts to 1000Watts ERP to solve the very same issue we raised with Ofcom.

My strong advise to anyone applying for a community radio license of 25Watts is don’t! Unless, that is, you're happy broadcasting to a very small town or village.          

Alan

From:  <cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk> on behalf of Thread <office at thethread.org.uk>
Reply-To:  "cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk" <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Date:  Saturday, 16 January 2016 at 12:54
To:  "cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk" <cma-l at mailman.commedia.org.uk>
Subject:  Re: [cma-l] 5km: limit or no limit

Amigos ----- Listen up everyone por favor

This is all well and good, but sadly we climb back onto the merry-go-round again.

This whole sh-bang falls down at Hurdle (numero cuatro) Number 4 on Ians list ------------- which actually ought to be at the first Port of call if Number 1 on Ians list is correct. I am not disagreeing with any of this I am merely pointing everybody towards what we call in the Business (reality)

I quote     :-   ‘’tell us your Community and how you propose to cover it’’ ???

Ah ???    hmm ???     problems here before we even get in the starting blocks let alone get out of them :-

1)       We did tell them our Community and not beating about the bush it ended up where they seemed to know our Community better than we did. In otherwords it wasn’t our Community, when actually it was, because our Community is nearer to 9 Miles as opposed to 5km.

2)       So far as us telling Ofcom / DCMS on how we propose to cover it, yet again technically we did, but the Man from Del Monte went against the norm’ and on this very important occasion ‘’he say NOPE !’’

Here endith the lesson, please try hard to register this, because this is the reality, these are the facts, this is what really happened, it is not a Hans Christian Anderson fairytale. The traffic in our case was clearly being direct partly due to the restrictions and the extra restrictions that we had upon us.

I am virtually 99% certain that all the knowledge we have gained over the past 12 years there is actually only one reason as to why the local commercial Station has more listeners than us in the immediate 5 mile vicinity ----- it isn’t because they are better than us, or deliver a better service (anything but to be honest)   the fact of the matter is, there are lots and lots and lots and lots of local folk who would like to listen to us, but can’t, because they can’t hear us. Basic facts that have rumbled on for years and years and here we are still stuck in a hole and soldiering on.

I hope this helps.

I shall now wander back to our 5km snap crackle and pop with Real Wales coming over the top of us 1 mile up the road and where you can’t pick us up inside buildings in Macclesfield which is only 4 Miles away as the crow flys. …………reality dear Watson and yes    sorry everyone a bit sarcastic but tongue in cheek.

Just trying to help, that’s all

J

Let’s stick to the facts and not the fantasy and yes, it is a miracle that we have about 250 Stations still broadcasting. We have been up against the odds. Really that number should be about 6

Well done to everyone, keep battling on, we’ll get there, we’ll get the level playing surface in the end.

Regards

Nick

From: cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk [mailto:cma-l-bounces at mailman.commedia.org.uk] On Behalf Of John Walton
Sent: 15 January 2016 19:42
To: The Community Media Association Discussion List
Subject: Re: [cma-l] 5km: limit or no limit

It may be of interest that at Lincoln City Radio Ofcom reduced our ERP from 25 to 13 watts before we began broadcasting.  Probably something to do with the fact that our antenna is on the top of Lincoln Cathedral.  (Our transmitter's in the Bell Tower.)

On Mon, Jan 11, 2016 at 4:24 PM, Ian Hickling <transplanfm at hotmail.com> wrote:

5km was never a limit - it was offered as a typical case.
As I've pointed out many times, 37 of the current 236 stations on air have more that the "standard" 25 + 25 Watts.

Stations with larger powers have proved to Ofcom that it was necessary.
The original offer was "Tell us your Community and tell us how you propose to cover it"
It is always best to ask for enough power when you submit your Application than to ask later.
If you are refused the power you believe you need then tell Ofcom you will assess what they have assigned.
If you can show that cover of your Licensed area is inadequate once you are on air then you have the best weapon in "I told you so".
If Ofcom refuses to offer more power - for any reason - against proof that what it has assigned is inadequate for the area in the Licence then you have good cause to take it higher.
A strong well-composed letter from your MP to the DCMS is the way to start.

Ian Hickling

Partner

Office: 01635 578435  (7am-11pm UK time)

Carphone: 07530 980115 (only responds when driving)

6 Horn Street, Compton, NEWBURY, RG20 6QS

Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 11:08:52 +0000
From: tlr at gairloch.co.uk
To: cma-l at commedia.org.uk
Subject: [cma-l] 5km: limit or no limit

In relation to our discussion in recent months about the 'typical' 5km service radius assumed for CR licensees, this story by James Cridland in his media.info today may be of interest:

Dales Radio licence challenged
media.info 8 Jan 2016

The licence of Dales Radio, a new community radio station in the Yorkshire Dales, has been challenged by a former director of a radio station based in Kirkby Lonsdale.
In its licence application, Dales Radio argued for a wider transmission area "normally considered by Ofcom". The resulting coverage area, including Sedbergh, Hawes and Leyburn, appears to have a radius of around 24km; yet Ofcom note that the general size of a community radio licence is 5km, with a special dispensation to go larger in rural areas "where there is greater availability of suitable FM frequencies (such as parts of Scotland and Wales)". The Dales Radio coverage appears to be five times as large as Ofcom's guidelines for licence applicants would normally permit.
In a letter sent to the DCMS, Paul Broadbent draws attention to his own community radio station, Indigo 106.6, which handed its community licence back to Ofcom November 2014 after it was unable to enlarge its transmission area to make it more financially viable. Ofcom told the station that it had refused the request because Indigo had not originally applied for such an extension; yet Indigo claim it had merely complied with Ofcom's own Guidance Notes. Mr Broadbent claims that Ofcom is showing "a lack of parity".
Nineteen community radio stations have handed back their licence since 2010.
Dales Radio is set to launch this Monday, 11 January, on 104.9FM, 103FM and 936AM.
_______________________________________
The letter in full
I note recent publicity given to the intended launch of Dales Community Radio station, originally awarded a licence in late 2013.
Firstly, I would seek clarification as to why it has been permitted a longer than usual period to achieve a Launch.
More importantly however, I write to question and challenge the legitimacy of the licence that it was granted on the basis that the coverage area (MCA) exceeds the criteria set down for all community radio stations in Section 5 (1) of the Notes for Guidance revised in May 2010.
In making their application, the group stated that (they) “fully understand that this proposal exceeds the transmission parameters normally considered by Ofcom for a Community Radio service. However, (they believed) that the only way to viably service this unique, sparsely populated and geographically challenging area, is with a multiple transmitter service”.
They added that; “The distance between the sites and the intervening terrain would prevent full coverage when travelling along the interconnecting roads but that distance also allows the same frequencies to be used without significant problems of interaction”.
Interestingly the OFCOM MCA list does not include that of Dales Radio, but given the eventual coverage area which ultimately has been granted to cover an area of the Yorkshire Dales national park to include “distinct” communities of Leyburn, Hawes, Sedbergh and Kirkby Stephen along with presumably other smaller yet “distinct” communities, in a geographical area far exceeding the general policy of 5Km radius, and therefore far exceeding the MCA given to the majority of community radio licencees. Nor can the intended station be described as serving a “community of interest” as described by Section 2(1) of the Order below.
I originally raised the legitimacy of this licence award with my own local MP, and now LibDem leader Tim Farron, back in 2014. I understood at that time that he took the matter up with the DCMS, but as yet, I am not aware of a response.
I therefore seek a review of the decision making process that led to the licence grant, before Dales Radio is permitted to launch, and also the legitimacy of the decision made. My conclusion is that the MCA granted is outwith what might be regarded as a reasonable extension and that therefore extraneous factors must have been taken into account. The question then is why these same criteria and extraneous factors have not been applied to other community radio applicants in similar geographically dispersed areas.
The latter point is significant because it goes to the very viability of rural community radio stations and it would appear that Dales Radio may have been given an unfair advantage of survivability simply because other station applicants did not ask the question at a time when OFCOM were being quite restrictive in their interpretation of the criteria.
Indeed in a letter dated 2nd February 2014 addressed to Ms Halstead Smith of OFCOM, and noting the arguments put forward by Dales Radio as to why it was appropriate for it to be licensed for a larger coverage area, and OFCOM’s decision, on its merits, to depart from the transmission parameters normally considered appropriate, I personally made an application for OFCOM to apply the same criteria to licence holder CR051 (INDIGO 106.6fm), the Voice Community Trust, a licence which I then held, in order similarly to depart from the transmission parameters normally considered appropriate. Ms Halstead Smith did not reply but subsequently Ms Soo Williams did make a technical response. She did not justify why Dales Radio had been permitted to exceed the 5Km radius, but justified a refusal to INDIGO on the basis that it had not originally applied for such an extension, It had not done so because it, in common with many other rural community stations, complied with the Guidance Notes, at a time when OFCOM were giving a restrictive interpretation to them.
Working within the constraints of the current geographic parameters for the six years 2008 2014, it had become increasingly clear that the constraints meant that it is not financially viable to operate the licence, and as such a CR station would not be financially viable,
It also had become clear that grants/advertising/sponsorship were simply not be obtainable and sustainable.
Therefore based on the precedent of Dales Radio accepted by OFCOM, INDIGO and the Voice Community Trust argued that it should similarly be entitled to submit for coverage of the South Lakes area, a synonymous geographic community, which is equally sparsely populated and geographically challenged.
The application was not granted and ultimately the licence for INDIGO, a regionally award winning station, was handed back in common with many other rural community stations in the past and others currently facing financial viability problems because of lack of parity exercised by OFCOM.
I understand that this is not sufficient justification to question a licence, but I do believe that some form of judicial review should be undertaken of OFCOM’s decision making and interpretation process with regard to the grant of Dales Radio licence and that until such time it should be prevented from launching as the ground for the grant of the licence is unsafe.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Broadbent LLB(Hons) MA(Econ).MA
Formerly director of Indigo 106.6fm - the first community radio station in the South Lakes
Interpretation
2(1) In this Order "the 1990 Act" means the Broadcasting Act 1990; "the 2003 Act" means the Communications Act 2003; "community" means (a) the persons who live or work or undergo education or training in a particular area or locality, or (b) persons who (whether or not they fall within paragraph (a)) have one or more interests or characteristics in common;

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