[comradio-l] Ofcom launches new round of community radio licensing

[CMA-L]

Ofcom has today opened the door to a fresh intake of applications for
community radio licences. This comes in response to significant
interest expressed by more than 270 individuals and community groups
wanting to take to the air and provide services for their local
community.

Community radio stations typically cover a small geographical area
with a coverage radius of up to 5km and are run on a not-for-profit
basis. They reflect a diverse mix of cultures and interests. For
example, you can listen to stations which cater for urban or
experimental music, while others are aimed at younger people,
religious communities or the Armed Forces and their families.

This is the third wave of licensing since the first community radio
station took to the airwaves in 2005. Since then, a new community
radio station has launched, on average, every 10 days. To date, 228
community radio licences have been issued and around 11 million people
are now able to tune into community radio stations across the UK. This
figure is up 17% year-on-year and an increase of more than a third
(36%) since 2008.

Ofcom Director of Radio Content and Broadcast Licensing, Peter Davies,
said: “Over the past six years community radio stations have provided
a voice for hundreds of local communities across the UK. Our postbag
has been inundated with a high level of interest for new licences,
which gives a strong indication of the likely level of demand in this
licensing round.”

Applications process
++++++++++++++++
Applications for new licences will open on a region by region basis,
starting today with Wales and south west England. There are seven
regions in total. Scotland is second in the process, with applications
opening before the end of 2011. This will be followed by Northern
Ireland in the first half of 2012 and then four English regions – one
every six months – that finish with the South East (see table below).

Potential applicants should note that there are large parts of the UK
where there are no suitable FM frequencies available. This is mainly
in major towns and cities.

Small scale radio is highly valued
+++++++++++++++++++++++++
Recent Ofcom research reveals that these stations are highly valued by
listeners, offering unique benefits that cannot be delivered through
other media. According to listeners, being informed and keeping
up-to-date is one of the most useful things about small scale local
radio stations. They are the preferred source for local information,
with 8 out of 10 listeners tuning into their local radio station first
before any other media to find out what is going on in their local
area.

Regions and timetable:
+++++++++++++++++
1 	South west England and Wales
        Open: Friday 1 April 2011
        Close: Thursday 21 July 2011
2 	Scotland
        Open: End of 2011
        Close: 3 months after opening date
3 	Northern Ireland
        Open: First half 2012
        Close: 3 months after opening date
4 	Northeast England and Cumbria
        Open: Second half 2012
        Close: 3 months after opening date
5 	Yorkshire and the Humber and the north west of England
        Open: First half 2013
        Close: 3 months after opening date
6 	West Midlands, East Midlands (including  Lincolnshire) and the east
of England
        Open: Second half 2013
        Close: 3 months after opening date
7 	South east England
        Open: First half 2014
        Close: 3 months after opening date

The full statement is available here:
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/radio-broadcast-licensing/community-radio/apply-for-licence/

Source: http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/04/01/ofcom-launches-new-round-of-community-radio-licensing/

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