Notes 10th Meeting 7 April 05

Chairman’s Introduction

1. The Chairman welcomed Members to the 10th meeting of the Radio Licensing Committee. All members were present, with the exception of Matthew MacIver who had sent his apologies. Gwen Morgan (Legal Advisor) and Glenis Rylance (Assistant Secretary to the Corporation) were present throughout. The following colleagues attended for part of the meeting: Lucy Byers (Legal Advisor), Lawrie Hallett (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing), Jon Heasman, (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing), Eva Koekelbergh, (Senior Associate, Radio Licensing), Franscesco Lamanna (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 7 March 2005 were agreed.

Matters Arising

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

Local Commercial Radio Licence Award: Durham

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 Durham FM Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Local Radio Company. 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.

Applications for Manchester local commercial radio licence

5. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed the nineteen applications received for the Manchester licence. The Committee was scheduled to make its final decision at the June 2005 meeting.

Applications for Norwich local commercial radio licence

6. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed the three applications received for the Norwich licence. The Committee was scheduled to make its final decision at the June 2005 meeting.

Community Radio: licence award process

7. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed the process for the assessment and award of community radio licences.

Community Radio licence awards: Staffordshire

8. The Committee was asked to consider three applications in the Staffordshire area

9. After a full and careful discussion of the licence 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 Radio Licensing Committee awarded a licence to Cross Rhythms Radio City Radio (Stoke on Trent). The two other applications in Staffordshire, from FORward Radio (Stoke on Trent) and Smart Radio (Stone) were considered, but were not awarded a licence.

10. 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: Solent Area

11. The Committee was asked to consider seven applications in the Solent area.

12. After a full and careful discussion of the licence 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 Radio Licensing Committee awarded a licence to Angel Radio (Havant). Two other applications in the Solent area, from The Island’s Play (Isle of Wight) and The Radio Foundation (Chichester) were considered, but were not awarded a licence. A further four applications may be awarded licences at a later date conditional on frequencies becoming available.

13. 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: Pontypridd/Neath-Port Talbot

14. The Committee was asked to consider two applications in the Pontypridd and Neath/Port Talbot areas.

15. After a full and careful discussion of the licence 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 Radio Licensing Committee awarded a licence to both applicants, GTFM (Pontypridd) and AfanFM (Neath and Port Talbot).

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

FM Commercial radio: Proposals for additions to licensing timetable.

17. The Radio Licensing Committee was provided with a schedule setting out a rolling forward plan for the advertising of new FM commercial radio licences, the contents of which were noted and approved.

Any other business

11. The Radio Licensing Committee discussed community radio and decided that two extra Radio Licensing Committee Meetings would be required in July and September in order to assess all the applications. The Radio Licensing Committee also discussed the current progress of the Radio Review, and one Format change request which had now been put out to consultation.

Date of next meeting

26. To be held on Monday 9 May 2005 in London.

Apr 2005