Home > About Ofcom > Corporate Structure and Governance > Radio licensing committee > Notes of RLC meetings > 12th December 2005

07|03|06

Notes 18th Meeting 12th December 2005

Chairman’s Introduction

1. The Chairman welcomed Members to the 18 th meeting of the Radio Licensing Committee. All members with the exception of Martin Campbell (see under 3. below) were present throughout. Other Ofcom colleagues were also present throughout or attended for part of the meeting:

Minutes of the previous Meeting

2. The minutes of the Radio Licensing Committee Meeting held on 7 th November 2005 were agreed as an accurate record.

Matters Arising

3. Martin Campbell had previously reported that he had a conflict of interest which excluded him from the discussions and the decision taking in respect of the Ipswich local commercial radio licence. The conflict was noted and he was therefore absent from the meeting for this item.

Local commercial radio licence award: Ipswich

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

Applications for Shrewsbury local commercial radio licence.

5. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed the four applications received for the Shrewsbury licence. The Committee was scheduled to make its final decision at the 9 th February 2006 meeting.

Community Radio licence awards: Various areas (Batch 3)

6. After a full discussion of eleven applications for various areas and having regard in particular to the factors set out in section 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004), the Committee awarded a licence to each of the following:

West Hull Community Radio ( West Hull )

Radio Reverb (Central & East Brighton )

Colchester Garrison FM ( Colchester , Essex)

Spirit of Plymouth ( Plymouth )

7. The Committee decided not to award a licence to:

Lowland Radio (Dumfries & Galloway)

8. The Committee will consider further the six other applications at a later date when further frequency details become available.

Community Radio licence awards: Greater London

9. After a full discussion of the forty-six applications for the Greater London and surrounding areas, and having regard in particular to the factors set out in section 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004), the Committee awarded a licence to each of the following:

Resonance FM (South Bank)

Desi Radio (Southall)

Sound Radio (Hackney)

10. The Committee decided not to award a licence to each of the following applicants:

BG London (Leytonstone)

2point4 FM (Brent)

Radio La Voz (Londonwide)

Demo FM (Streatham Hill)

ECO Radio (Wandsworth)

Gravesham Community Radio ( Gravesend )

Slough Asian Radio

Citizen Radio ( Slough )

Difusion FM (Wembley)

Link FM (Brent)

Brent Life (Brent)

TLS FM (Lambeth)

City Radio Clapham Park (Clapham)

Radio Peckham (Peckham)

GU1 ( Guildford )

Sussex Surrey Radio (Redhill & Reigate)

Raven Sound (Bromley)

Azhar Community Radio ( Forest Gate)

Betar Bangla (Tower Hamlets)

Akasamonah Radio (Hackney)

Break FM (Newham)

Gina FM (Newham)

From the Nam FM (Dagenham)

Red FM (Redbridge)

Shalom FM (Hendon)

City Radio Haringey

Edmonton FM

EAfm (Londonwide)

Avenues FM (Queen’s Park & Paddington)

Bounce FM ( Holloway Road )

Issue FM (Lambeth)

Hope Link Radio (Haringey)

11. The Committee will consider further the eleven other applications at a later date when further frequency details become available.

Unlicensed Broadcasters.

12. The Radio Licensing Committee received a presentation on the work of the Field Operations Team in tackling illegal broadcasters.

Output Regulation (Monitoring).

13. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed a paper on Ofcom’s intentions and the processes involved to move from input regulation to output regulation in accordance with the Radio Review Phases 1 and 2. The Committee noted that the paper would be brought back to the Radio Licensing Committee for decision at its meeting on 5 January 2006.

Requests for Format Changes.

14. The Radio Licensing Committee considered three Format change requests.

AOB

15. The Radio Licensing Committee noted the new licensing timetable, which had been updated on 1 December.

Date of next meeting

16. To be held on Thursday 5 January 2006 in London.

March 2006