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<body class='hmmessage'><div dir='ltr'>As I have first-hand experience in this area of our Industry for 18 years and experience in the technology going back some 60 years, can I offer you my current view on this?<br>Ofcom originally said that the onus was on the Applicant to specify his Community and how he proposed covering it.<br>That inevitability involved the location and power required to produce viable coverage.<br>Very subtly they then introduced this concept of "typically a 5km radius" which is not as far as I can see laid down in legislation anywhere - and was essentially a guide for the uninitiated.<br>Ofcom now however seems to be trying to use it - quite wrongly I submit - as a statute of limitation.<br>The fact speak for themselves:<div>Of the 229 CR FM stations currently on air, 38 (17%) have been allocated power in excess of the 25 + 25 "norm" - either because they put in a sound case for it - or were awarded it by Ofcom by virtue of taking over an existing allocation or in compensation for illegal broadcast activity in their area.</div><div>Of the remainder, 209 are using 25W vertical, but only 48 (21%) have taken the sound step of employing a horizontal component in addition.<br>The sad truth is that very few CR Licensees are sufficiently clued up on how best they should be serving their audience - and 83% have not achieved more than the the basic "offer".</div><div><br><div><div style="color:rgb(34, 34, 34);font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:1;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="3"><b>Ian Hickling</b><br></font></div><font style="color:rgb(34, 34, 34);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:1;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);font-size:12pt;" size="3"><font style="color:rgb(34, 34, 34);background-color:rgb(255, 255, 255);">Partner</font></font><br><br><a href="http://www.transplanuk.com/" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(17, 85, 204);"><img alt="" src="https://ci4.googleusercontent.com/proxy/2SkDsnIzSZgRbNnNKBSiwxiFhFQWRGV55mTjVL23fulnJpstZmYxeKrrYefY4qxiSgkMrAETld64XINLXCsujE_zI5gAsQyWeCWvHixcrNYtar3Sij4YlVBgN2NSQ-n2DsgZvrnpWZlfwCQ=s0-d-e1-ft#http://www.transplanuk.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/transplan_UK_weblogo_190x60.png"></a><div style="color:rgb(34, 34, 34);font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:1;word-spacing:0px;"><i><font size="3">Office: 01635 578435 (7am-11pm UK time)</font></i></div><div style="color:rgb(34, 34, 34);font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:1;word-spacing:0px;"><i><font size="3">Carphone: 07530 980115 (only responds when driving)</font></i></div><div style="color:rgb(34, 34, 34);font-family:arial, sans-serif;font-size:12.8000001907349px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;line-height:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;widows:1;word-spacing:0px;"><i><font size="3">6 Horn Street, Compton, NEWBURY, RG20 6QS</font></i></div></div><br><br><div><hr id="stopSpelling">From: tlr@gairloch.co.uk<br>To: cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk<br>Date: Wed, 9 Dec 2015 11:29:33 +0000<br>Subject: Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ accounts<br><br>
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<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Well for our licence they certainly looked at the
business plan, and went out on a limb to award a licence even though a hard look
at the figures would have had an accoutant shaking his head. The assessment of
our licence application included this:</font></div>
<div><font face="Tahoma"></font> </div>
<div><span style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;WIDOWS:1;TEXT-TRANSFORM:none;TEXT-INDENT:0px;DISPLAY:inline !important;FONT:medium 'Times New Roman';WHITE-SPACE:normal;FLOAT:none;LETTER-SPACING:normal;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);WORD-SPACING:0px;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><em>"Members recognised that financing the operation of the
service could prove challenging over the long-term. However, the financial model
proposed by Two Lochs Radio is similar to other rural Scottish services which,
although run on minimal budgets, and with unconventional operating arrangements,
have a good track record in sustaining local radio
services."</em></font></span></div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;WIDOWS:1;TEXT-TRANSFORM:none;TEXT-INDENT:0px;DISPLAY:inline !important;FONT:medium 'Times New Roman';WHITE-SPACE:normal;FLOAT:none;LETTER-SPACING:normal;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);WORD-SPACING:0px;"></span></font> </div>
<div><span style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;WIDOWS:1;TEXT-TRANSFORM:none;TEXT-INDENT:0px;DISPLAY:inline !important;FONT:medium 'Times New Roman';WHITE-SPACE:normal;FLOAT:none;LETTER-SPACING:normal;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);WORD-SPACING:0px;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Which we thought was pretty pragmatic and recognized the
realities. Happily, so far we have proved their assessment correct (it
certainly is challenging!).</font></span></div>
<div><span style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;WIDOWS:1;TEXT-TRANSFORM:none;TEXT-INDENT:0px;DISPLAY:inline !important;FONT:medium 'Times New Roman';WHITE-SPACE:normal;FLOAT:none;LETTER-SPACING:normal;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);WORD-SPACING:0px;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font></span> </div>
<div><span style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;WIDOWS:1;TEXT-TRANSFORM:none;TEXT-INDENT:0px;DISPLAY:inline !important;FONT:medium 'Times New Roman';WHITE-SPACE:normal;FLOAT:none;LETTER-SPACING:normal;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);WORD-SPACING:0px;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma">That is not to detract from your general point about
transmission power.</font></span></div>
<div><span style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;WIDOWS:1;TEXT-TRANSFORM:none;TEXT-INDENT:0px;DISPLAY:inline !important;FONT:medium 'Times New Roman';WHITE-SPACE:normal;FLOAT:none;LETTER-SPACING:normal;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);WORD-SPACING:0px;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font></span> </div>
<div><span style="TEXT-ALIGN:justify;WIDOWS:1;TEXT-TRANSFORM:none;TEXT-INDENT:0px;DISPLAY:inline !important;FONT:medium 'Times New Roman';WHITE-SPACE:normal;FLOAT:none;LETTER-SPACING:normal;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);WORD-SPACING:0px;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma">Alex</font></span></div>
<blockquote style="BORDER-LEFT:#000000 2px solid;PADDING-LEFT:5px;PADDING-RIGHT:0px;MARGIN-LEFT:5px;MARGIN-RIGHT:0px;">
<div style="FONT:10pt arial;">----- Original Message ----- </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial;BACKGROUND:#e4e4e4;"><b>From:</b>
<a title="alan.coote@5digital.co.uk" href="mailto:alan.coote@5digital.co.uk">Alan Coote</a> </div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial;"><b>To:</b> <a title="cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk" href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a>
</div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial;"><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, December 08, 2015 11:40
PM</div>
<div style="FONT:10pt arial;"><b>Subject:</b> Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ accounts</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Alex, </div>
<div><br></div>
<div>As far as I’m aware Ofcom don’t verify the estimates from sponsorship and
advertising. If they did I’m confident they would see that the revenue per
listener from most 25W community stations isn’t enough.
</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>The question should be, ‘Given the type, location and competition from
other radio stations, what is the desired coverage to deliver a sustainable
service ?’</div>
<div><br></div>
<div>Answer; significantly greater than 25 Watts! </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Alan </div>
<div><font size="2" face="Tahoma"></font><br></div><span id="ecxOLK_SRC_BODY_SECTION">
<div style="BORDER-BOTTOM:medium none;TEXT-ALIGN:left;BORDER-LEFT:medium none;PADDING-BOTTOM:0in;PADDING-LEFT:0in;PADDING-RIGHT:0in;FONT-FAMILY:Calibri;COLOR:black;FONT-SIZE:12pt;BORDER-TOP:#b5c4df 1pt solid;BORDER-RIGHT:medium none;PADDING-TOP:3pt;"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">From: </span><<a href="mailto:cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l-bounces@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a>>
on behalf of "<a href="mailto:tlr@gairloch.co.uk">tlr@gairloch.co.uk</a>"
<<a href="mailto:tlr@gairloch.co.uk">tlr@gairloch.co.uk</a>><br><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">Reply-To: </span>"<a href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a>"
<<a href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a>><br><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">Date: </span>Tuesday, 8 December 2015 at
17:09<br><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">To: </span>"<a href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a>"
<<a href="mailto:cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk">cma-l@mailman.commedia.org.uk</a>><br><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold;">Subject: </span>Re: [cma-l] 4ZZZ accounts<br></div>
<div><br></div>
<div>
<div style="FONT-FAMILY:Calibri, sans-serif;WORD-WRAP:break-word;COLOR:rgb(0,0,0);FONT-SIZE:14px;">
<div><font size="2"><em>Alan Coote wrote: I’ve long contended that Ofcom have a
responsibility to only license stations that stand a fair chance of being
financially sustainable. </em></font></div>
<div><font size="2"><em></em></font> </div>
<div><font size="2">Isn't that a legal obligation on Ofcom when awarding
licences, Alan? It certainly is a primary consideration when
licensing commercial stations. In fact, while they aren;t in orde rof
priority, it happens to be the very first of the criteria laid down in
the Broadcasting Act, Section 105, which says:</font></div>
<div>
<font color="#800000" size="2">Ofcom is required to have regard to...<br>(a)
the ability of each of the applicants for the licence to maintain, throughout
the period for which the licence would be in force, the service which he
proposes to provide;...</font><BR></div>
<div><font size="2">Maybe it's not the same for community licences, I haven't
checked, but I thought it was.</font></div></div></div></span></blockquote>
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