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The FM local commercial radio licence for the town of Ashford, Kent and the immediately surrounding area was awarded on 20 January 2005 to Local Ashford Radio Kent Ltd (“Lark"), which will broadcast as KM-FM Ashford.

Ashford licence award decision

When the Ashford licence was advertised last July, we stated that, given the small population coverage afforded by the licence, Ofcom would be likely to place particular emphasis on the ability of each applicant to maintain its proposed service for the duration of the licence period (Section 105(a) of the 1990 Broadcasting Act).

As a 'smaller' licence serving a locality which is not the sole focus (in editorial terms) of any existing service, we also said that Ofcom was likely to consider speech content more important than music proposals in assessing Section 105(c) - the extent to which each applicant would broaden the range of local commercial radio services available in the area, and that 105(c) might be considered less significant overall than Section 105(b) - the applicants' ability to cater for local tastes and interests.

Finally, in respect of Section 105 (d) - the extent to which there is evidence of local demand or support for a proposed service - we said that non research-based evidence of local support would be likely to be considered of equal importance to evidence of demand, although applicants were advised that a limited number of carefully-selected expressions of support were likely to be considered more meaningful than volumes of repetitious letters or petitions.

In considering the applications, Ofcom's Radio Licensing Committee (RLC) did indeed place particular importance on Section 105(a) of the Act. It was felt that the majority stake held in the business by the Kent Messenger (KM) group meant that Lark would benefit from a stable ownership structure and access to significant resources through a company which has a proven track record of investing in local radio in Kent. Lark's audience and revenue forecasts were considered to be based on a realistic expectation of population coverage, and were in line with the current revenue and ratings performance of existing small stations in nearby areas and elsewhere in the UK. Lark was also able to ensure a relatively low cost base for its proposed service through utilising a considerable amount of resource sharing with neighbouring KM-FM stations and the Ashford offices of the Kentish Express newspaper. In short, the RLC believed that Lark offered the best chance of providing Ashford with a financially secure and well-resourced local radio service.

In relation to Sections 105 (b) and (c), RLC members felt that Lark's 25% commitment to speech output, which includes Format commitments to broadcast two extended local news bulletins per weekday and the provision of local news bulletins on both weekend days, would clearly increase and improve Ashford-specific news and information provision in the area. Significantly, the proposals were felt to be practically deliverable within the resources available to Lark, which include nine Kentish Express journalists based in Ashford and 14 news editors/readers at the KM News Centre in Canterbury. It was also felt that, musically, Lark’s mix of contemporary and classic hits would extend listener choice by occupying a gap in the local radio market between the two existing commercial radio services available throughout the new licence area, Invicta FM and Capital Gold, and would appeal to a very broad audience (crucial in a small market such as this).

The RLC considered that, in relation to Section 314 of the Communications Act 2003, Lark's programming proposals contained a suitable proportion of local material and locally-made programmes.

With regard to section 105(d), it was noted that the winning applicant group may have caused some confusion by continuing to brand itself in its marketing activities as “Lark FM" (the name it had used for a number of temporary broadcasts in the area). However, Lark’s research satisfactorily demonstrated evidence of demand for many of its key proposals, and a number of Lark's public support letters (mainly those from potential advertisers) made positive references to the Kent Messenger Group's involvement in the application.

The following pages set out the statutory requirements relating to radio licensing, and the licensing process. Further information about these, and detailed information relating to the applications for the Ashford licence, can be found in Related Items.

Statutory requirements relating to radio licensing

In carrying out all of its functions, Ofcom is required to have regard to the general duties set out in Section 3 of the Communications Act 2003. In addition, under section 85(2)(b) of the Broadcasting Act 1990, it is the duty of Ofcom to do all that it can to secure the provision within the UK of a range and diversity of local radio services.

'Localness'

In carrying out its functions in relation to local commercial radio services specifically, Ofcom is required (under section 314 of the Communications Act 2003) to act in the manner that it considers is best calculated to secure:

• that programmes consisting of or including local material are included in such services but, in the case of each such service, only if and to the extent (if any) that Ofcom considers appropriate in that case; and
• that, where such programmes are included in such a service, what appears to Ofcom to be a suitable proportion of them consists of locally-made programmes.

For the purposes of the licensing process, Ofcom does not consider it appropriate to prescribe an amount of local material or a proportion of locally-made programming that new services should contain, as such matters may well vary greatly between different types of service. Rather, it is for applicants to set out in their application the amount of local material and the proportion of locally-made programming they propose to provide, supported, as appropriate, by evidence of demand or support for such proposals. Ofcom will then consider on the basis of the application whether the amount of local material included is appropriate, and whether the proportion of locally-made programming is suitable, for that particular service proposal.

Specific local licence award criteria

In considering the applications it receives for local commercial radio licences, Ofcom is required to have regard to each of the statutory criteria set out in section 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990. These are as follows:

1. the ability of each of the applicants for the licence to maintain, throughout the period for which the licence would be in force, the service which he proposes to provide;
2. the extent to which any such proposed service would cater for the tastes and interests of persons living in the area or locality for which the service would be provided, and, where it is proposed to cater for any particular tastes and interests of such persons, the extent to which the service would cater for those tastes and interests;
3. the extent to which any such proposed service would broaden the range of programmes available by way of local services to persons living in the area or locality for which it would be provided, and, in particular, the extent to which the service would cater for tastes and interests different from those already catered for by local services provided for that area or locality; and
4. the extent to which there is evidence that, amongst persons living in that area or locality, there is a demand for, or support for, the provision of the proposed service.

The legislation does not rate these requirements in order of priority, but it may be that Ofcom will regard one or more of the criteria as being particularly important in view of the characteristics of the licence to be awarded and the applications for it.

Process for assessment of applications

The Ashford licence was advertised on 23 July 2004. By the closing-date of 21 October 2004, six applications were received, as follows:

A-Ten FM Ltd
Ashford FM Ltd
Ashford Local Radio Ltd
East Kent Radio Ltd
Local Ashford Radio Kent Ltd (KM-FM Ashford)
Time FM (Ashford) Ltd

All six applications proposed broadly full-service Formats including local news and information provision specifically for the Ashford area, although there was some variance in the demographics targeted by each service.

The membership of Ofcom's Radio Licensing Committee (RLC) for this licence award was as follows:

Kip Meek, Senior Partner, Competition & Content (Chair)
Ian Hargreaves, Ofcom Board member (Co-chair)
Peter Bury, Director of Strategic Resources
Martin Campbell, Head of Content & Standards Radio Team
Pam Giddy, Content Board member
Matthew MacIver, Content Board member
Neil Stock, Head of Radio Planning & Licensing

The applications were circulated among all members of the RLC as well as among relevant Ofcom colleagues. Copies of the non-confidential sections of the applications were made available for public scrutiny on the Ofcom website, and public comment on the local radio needs of listeners in the area, and the type of programme service required, was invited both at the time of the licence advertisement and on the day after the applications were received. The Radio Licensing Committee took all replies into account when reaching its decision.

The Radio Licensing Committee had an initial discussion of the applications at its meeting on 25 November 2004. This comprised an initial presentation by a member of Ofcom's Radio Planning & Licensing team, summarising the proposals put forward by each applicant as they relate to the statutory criteria, followed by an opportunity for the RLC members to highlight any questions of clarification and/or amplification they wished to be put to the applicants.

Shortly after this meeting, each applicant was invited to respond, within a two-week period, to written questions of clarification and/or amplification on aspects of their proposals. The non-confidential questions and responses were subsequently made available for public scrutiny on the Ofcom website.

In line with Ofcom's published procedures, each application was awarded a score (of between 0 and 10) for each of the four statutory criteria contained in section 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990. These scores provided an indicative picture of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of each application, and were used for guidance only. A summary of the scores was presented to the RLC at its 20 January 2005 meeting, as part of a paper which summarised the issues of relevance for each application under each of the statutory criteria. The information included in this paper was drawn both from the applications and the subsequent responses to questions of clarification and/or amplification.

Points for future applicants

1. Applicants for licences in other areas need to note that this licence award was made based on the particular characteristics of the Ashford market and the applications which were submitted. Although criterion 105(a) was accorded significant weight on this occasion, each licence award will be made on an individual basis, with regard to the factors which, in the view of Ofcom, are particularly relevant to that case. Where possible, the likely weight accorded to each of the statutory criteria will be signalled as part of each licence advertisement.
2. As has been the case in respect of previous licences, some of the applications for the Ashford licence were far longer than necessary, and included lengthy responses to certain questions and a large number of pictures and/or illustrations. As has been stated before, this is contrary to the published guidance for the submission of applications, which states that applications should be clear, concise and simple in layout and style, and structured in accordance with the outline provided. Although this was not a factor in the Ashford licence award decision, we would like to once again re-emphasise that applications should comprise only concise responses to the specific questions asked, and should be in accordance with the published guidance as regards their format.

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