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07|12|06

Ofcom awards new FM commercial radio licence for Preston

Ofcom today announces the award of the new FM local commercial radio licence for Preston.

By the closing date of 7 September 2006, Ofcom received four applications for the Preston licence. After giving careful consideration to each of the applications submitted, the Ofcom Radio Licensing Committee has decided to award the licence to:

Proud FM Limited, 9-10 Eastway Business Village, Oliver's Place, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 9WT.
Contact: John Barnett Tel: 07831 677 965 Email: info@proud.fm

Proud FM Limited is wholly-owned by UTV Radio (GB) Limited. It will provide: “a local speech and music station for Preston and the surrounding area, featuring local news, information and community-orientated programming and a broad, varied and engaging mix of music from the 1960s to today”.

The licence is for a service to cover Preston, Leyland and Chorley, which has an adult population (aged 15+) of around 270,000. However, the exact coverage will be determined by the location of the transmission site and other technical characteristics. The proposed frequencies, 106.5 MHz and 96.3 MHz, are subject to international agreement on radio spectrum usage.

Ofcom expects Proud FM to begin broadcasting at the earliest opportunity and no later than two years from this award date.

Ofcom will publish a statement setting out the key determining factors for the award of this licence shortly.

The licence will be issued for a twelve year period.

Ends.

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