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03|08|05

Notes 12th Meeting 9 June 2005

THE OFCOM RADIO LICENSING COMMITTEE HELD AT RIVERSIDE HOUSE, 2a SOUTHWARK BRIDGE ROAD, LONDON

Chairman’s Introduction

1. The Chairman welcomed Members to the 12 th meeting of the Radio Licensing Committee. All members were present, with the exception of Pam Giddy who had sent her apologies. Rosemary Kelly, ( Content Board Member for Northern Ireland), also sent her apologies in connection with Item 5 of the Agenda (local commercial radio award for Ballymena). Neil Gardner. (Radio Executive, Content & Standards) Gwen Morgan (Legal Advisor), and Glenis Rylance (Assistant Secretary to the Corporation) were present throughout. The following colleagues attended for part of the meeting: Lawrie Hallett (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing), Jon Heasman, (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing), Eva Koekelbergh (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing), Francesco Lamanna, (Legal Advisor), Will Jackson (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing), John McInnes, (Legal Advisor) Judith Ross (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing), Soo Williams (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing).

Minutes of the previous Meeting

2. The minutes of the Radio Licensing Meeting held on 9 May 2005 were agreed.

Matters Arising

3. There were no matters arising which were not covered elsewhere on the Agenda.

Local Commercial Radio Licence Award: Manchester

4. After a full and careful discussion of each licence application and having regard in particular to the factors set out in sections 85 and 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 and section 314 of the Communications Act 2003, the Committee awarded the licence to Xfm Manchester Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Gcap Media. The announcement regarding the winning licence application would be made on the same day and a statement explaining the factors which led to its decision was scheduled to be published in due course.

Local Commercial Radio Licence Award: Norwich

5. After a full and careful discussion of each licence application and having regard in particular to the factors set out in sections 85 and 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 and section 314 of the Communications Act 2003, the Committee awarded the licence to Crown FM Limited, which was owned by Provincial Radio Limited (47%), TCB (43%) and four individuals (10%). The announcement regarding the winning licence application would be made on the same day and a statement explaining the factors which led to its decision was scheduled to be published in due course.

Local Commercial Radio Licence Award: Ballymena

6. After a full and careful discussion of each licence application and having regard in particular to the factors set out in sections 85 and 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 and section 314 of the Communications Act 2003, the Committee awarded the licence to Seven Towers FM (Ballymena Broadcasting Limited), owned by the Alpha Newspaper Group (22%), Irish News Limited (16%) and other individuals (62%). The announcement regarding the winning licence application would be made on the same day and a statement explaining the factors which led to its decision was scheduled to be published in due course.

UTV/TWG: Change of ownership between award and grant of local commercial radio licence.

7. The Committee considered the proposed acquisition by UTV of TWG and noted the potential effect that acquisition would have (triggering the ‘relevant change’ provisions of the Broadcasting Act) on the Edinburgh FM licence as the acquisition was likely to occur between the award of the licence to TWG and the grant of the licence.

Community Radio licence awards: Solent Area

8. The Committee discussed the four applications in the Solent area. After a full and careful discussion of the applications and having regard in particular to the factors set out in sections 85 and 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004), the Committee awarded a licence to each of the following:

Express FM ( Portsmouth)

Skyline Community Radio (Hedge End, West End and Botley, near Eastleigh)

Unity 24 ( Southampton)

Angel Radio ( Newport, Isle of Wight)

9. The Radio Licensing Committee noted that a statement explaining the factors which led to its decision to award the community radio licences and an announcement would be published in due course.

Community Radio licence awards: East Midlands

10. The Committee discussed the eleven applications in the East Midlands Area. After a full discussion of the applications and having regard in particular to the factors set out in sections 85 and 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004), the Committee awarded a licence to each of the following:

The Eye FM (Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire)

Radio Faza – Asian Women’s Project ( Nottingham)

Takeover Radio ( Leicester)

Faza FM – Karimia Institute ( Nottingham)

Harborough FM (Market Harborough, Leicestershire)

NBC Live ( Nottingham)

Radio Ikhlas (Normanton, Derby)

11. The Committee agreed not to award licences to Carillon Radio, Voluntary Action Kesteven, Raajcomm and DCFM ( Derby).

12. The Radio Licensing Committee noted that a statement explaining the factors which led to its decision to award the community radio licences and an announcement would be published in due course.

Community Radio licence awards: Glasgow

13. The Committee discussed the nine applications in the Glasgow Area. After a full discussion of the applications and having regard in particular to the factors set out in sections 85 and 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004), the Committee awarded a licence to the following:

Revival Radio (Cumbernauld)

VIP on Air ( Central Glasgow)

Sunny Govan Radio ( Central Glasgow)

Awaz FM ( Central Glasgow)

The Committee agreed not to award licences to Celtic Music Radio, East End Broadcast, Gorbals Initiative, Clyde Asia and Radio Asia ( Scotland).

14. The Radio Licensing Committee noted that a statement explaining the factors which led to its decision to award the community radio licence and an announcement would be published in due course.

Community Radio licence awards: Greater Manchester

15. The Committee discussed the seven applications in the Greater Manchester Area. After a full and careful discussion, the Committee agreed to widen the number of stations to be included in the Greater Manchester grouping, to include applications submitted for Bollington (near Macclesfield) and Chorley and that any licence award decisions would await the outcome of discussions around frequency availability.

Community Radio licence awards: West Yorkshire

16. The Committee discussed the ten applications in the West Yorkshire Area. After a full and careful discussion, the Committee agreed that any licence award decisions would await the outcome of discussions around frequency availability.

Any other business

17. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed the current progress of the Radio Review.

18. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed the possibility of adding a new Liverpool licence to the licensing timetable. Negotiations regarding frequency issues were currently ongoing with the BBC.

Date of next meeting

19. To be held on Monday 4 July 2005 in London. There is also an additional meeting scheduled on Monday 25 July 2005 to consider more community radio applications.

July 2005