Note Of The 32nd Meeting On 8th February 2007

Chairman’s Introduction

1. The Chairman welcomed Members to the 32 nd meeting of the Radio Licensing Committee. All members were present and 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 11 th January 2007 were agreed as an accurate record.

Matters Arising

3. There were no matters arising.

Local commercial radio licence award: Manchester

3. 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 RockTalk 106.1, which is wholly-owned by the Guardian Media Group. It was noted that 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.

Item 4: Local commercial radio licence award – Herefordshire/ Monmouthshire

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 Herefordshire & Monmouthshire Classic Hits, which is 60% owned by Laser Broadcasting, with 20% held by Hereford Local Radio, and 20% by Monmouth Local Radio. It was noted that 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.

Item 5: Applications for South Wales local commercial radio licence: First discussion

5. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed the eight applications received for the South Wales licence. The Committee was scheduled to make its final decision at the April 2007 meeting.

Item 6: Community radio licence awards: Southwest England and South Wales (Batch 2)

6. After a full discussion of the applications in the respective 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 applicants:

BRfm, Brynmawr, Blaenau Gwent;
Radio Tircoed, Tircoed Forest Village , Swansea ;
Soundart Radio, Dartington/Totnes, Devon ;
Somer Valley FM, Midsomer Norton, Somerset;
A39 Radio, Falmouth & Penryn, Cornwall ; and
Radio St Austell Bay , St Austell, Cornwall.

7. The Committee decided not to award a community radio licence to Lyneham Radio, which was proposing to serve RAF Lyneham. Discussion of the application proposing to serve the Barry area was postponed until full frequency information became available.

Item 7: List of approved Format changes

8. The list of approved Format changes was noted.

Item 8: Any other business

9. It was noted that the West Lothian local commercial radio licence had been revoked at the licensee's request.

Item 9: Date of Next Meeting

10. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday 8 th March 2007.

11. There being no further business the Meeting closed.