Minutes of Forty Third Meeting of the Radio Licensing Committee Held on Tuesday 18 March 2008

Present

Philip Graf (Chair)
Peter Bury
Peter Davies
Pam Giddy
Stewart Purvis
Neil Stock
Joyce Taylor

In Attendance

Other Ofcom Colleagues

Apologies

Martin Campbell

Item 1: Minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday 19 February 2008 – RLC 42(08)

1. The minutes of the meeting held on Tuesday, 19 February 2008, previously circulated to the Committee, were approved as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

Item 2: Matters Arising

2. There were no matters arising to report.

Item 3: Local radio multiplex licence award: Mid & West Wales – RLC 09(08)

3. The Committee was briefed on the application received for the Mid and West Wales local radio multiplex licence.

4. After careful consideration, and having regard in particular to the factors set out in section 51(2) of the Broadcasting Act 1996, the Committee awarded the licence to MuxCo Wales Limited.

5. The Committee agreed to colleagues' recommendations set out in paper RLC 09(08) as to the commitments which should be included as conditions of Muxco Wales Limited licence when granted.

6. The Committee noted that a statement explaining the key factors which had led the Committee to its decision to award the licence to Muxco Wales Limited would be prepared by colleagues. It was agreed that the statement would be e-mailed to the Committee for perusal and comment prior to publication. It was also agreed that the authority for publication would be obtained from the Chair.

7. It was noted that the announcement regarding the winning licence application would be made at 5:00pm on 18 March 2008.

Item 4: Community radio licence awards: North Wales and Northwest England; West Midlands, East Midlands & Lincolnshire (Batch 1) – RLC 10(08)

8. The Committee was asked to consider eleven applications for services proposing to serve localities in North Wales and North West England, and in the West Midlands, east Midlands and Lincolnshire region. A paper summarising the applicants' proposals in relation to the statutory criteria had been prepared by the Radio Team to help the Committee in its deliberations

9. Following on from the initial discussion of the applications at the Committee meeting on 19 February 2008 (paragraph 12 of RLC Minutes 42(08) refers), the Committee was advised that a suitable FM frequency had now been identified for each of Peace Radio, NMFM and Bolton FM. The Committee therefore agreed to award a licence to each of these three applicants.

10. The Committee was advised that a suitable FM frequency had not yet been found for either Gaydio or Unity Radio, the two remaining applications from the North Wales and northwest England region which had first been discussed at the February meeting. The Committee agreed to place consideration of these two applications on hold for a period of two months whilst further frequency investigations were undertaken.

11. Six applications from the West Midlands, east Midlands and Lincolnshire region were presented for consideration by the Committee for the first time. 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 (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004), the Committee awarded a licence to the each of the following applicants:

Radio Lindum, Lincoln
Boundary Sound, Newark-on-Trent
Gravity FM, Grantham

12. The Committee was minded to award a licence to Takeover Radio in Sutton-in-Ashfield, subject to frequency availability.

13. The Committee decided not to award a community radio licence to each of the following applicants:

The Voice of North Lincolnshire, Scunthorpe/North Lincolnshire
Mansfield Community Radio, Mansfield

14. The Committee noted that a statement explaining the key factors which had led the Committee to its decision to award the community radio licence would be prepared by colleagues. It was agreed that the statement would be e-mailed to the Committee for perusal and comment prior to publication. It was also agreed that the authority for publication would be obtained from the Chair.

15. It was noted that the announcement regarding the successful applications would be made on 25 March 2008.

Item 5: DAB Digital Radio Update - RLC 13(08)

16. Peter Davies presented a paper which updated the Committee on the ongoing developments relating to DAB digital radio. The Committee NOTED the update.

Item 6: Community radio: review of station annual reports - RLC 12(08)

17. The Committee noted a paper which provided information about the community radio sector gathered from the annual reports submitted by 37 licensees.

Item 8: Any Other Business

18. The Committee was advised that the first local commercial radio licence re-applied for under the “fast-track” process (the licence for Kingston-upon-Thames) had been awarded to Radio Jackie last week.

19. The Committee noted that a consultation on proposed changes to the Formats of the Smooth FM analogue commercial radio services in London and northwest England had just started and would be considered by the Committee in due course.

Item 9: Date of Next Meeting

20. The next meeting would be held on Tuesday 22nd April 2008, Riverside House, Room 11.01, at 9.00am until 11.30am.