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The FM local commercial radio licence for Manchester was awarded on 8 February 2007 to Real Radio Ltd (RockTalk 106.1).

Manchester licence award decision

In considering the applications in relation to section 105(a) of the Broadcasting Act 1990, Ofcom’s Radio Licensing Committee (RLC) felt that RockTalk’s business plan was ambitious but justifiable, given the editorial and commercial resources available to RockTalk’s parent company Guardian Media Group (GMG) in Manchester, and GMG Radio’s generally good record to date in meeting audience and revenue targets at the stations it operates.

With regard to section 105(b) the Committee felt that RockTalk’s proposals for a older-leaning rock service that would also feature substantial (at least 60%) locally-relevant speech content at weekday breakfast and drivetime, and at weekend breakfast, constituted a workable and coherent programming proposition that the applicant’s research showed would be likely to represent an attractive offering to its core target audience of 35-64 year-old males. It was also felt, in the context of section 105(c), that this format would extend choice in the Manchester local commercial radio market in two ways; firstly, through airing ‘older’ rock genres (in particular classic rock) that applicant monitoring demonstrated are generally under-represented in the Manchester market; and secondly by providing a comprehensive Manchester-focused news service and, at peak times, significantly more speech content – including current affairs, sports news and interactive debate – than is currently broadcast by (or required of) existing local commercial radio available in Manchester during these key listening dayparts.

In reviewing RockTalk’s submission in relation to section 105(d), the RLC acknowledged the applicant’s observations that local commercial radio’s share of listening in Manchester is significantly weaker at the older end of the market (and more so among men than women), where BBC Radio 2 is currently very popular. Although Manchester is a relatively crowded marketplace, RockTalk’s main quantitative research survey indicated that there were clear gaps for both classic rock and news/talk formats, with classic rock the most popular music genre it tested that is not already present in the market. The research findings suggested that a ‘hybrid’ station incorporating key elements of both formats would be likely to enjoy very similar levels of popularity among target 35-64 year-olds to a either a solus news/talk proposition or a music-intensive classic rock service. The research also demonstrated that speech content would be preferred during daytime hours rather than off-peak.

Finally, the RLC considered that, in relation to Section 314 of the Communications Act 2003, RockTalk’s programme proposals contained a suitable proportion of locally-made programming and local material. The station will be entirely locally produced and presented, and will feature a 24-hour local news service (including two extended 15-minute news bulletins each weekday daytime).

The following pages set out the statutory requirements relating to radio licensing, and details of the licensing process. Further information about these, and detailed information relating to the applications for the Manchester licence, can be found at:
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/

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 Manchester licence was advertised on 4 July 2006. By the closing-date of 5 October 2006, 11 applications were received, as follows:

106.1 The Arrow (The Arrow Manchester Ltd)
Citylife 106.1 (Manchester Citylife Ltd)
GMBC (GMBC Radio Ltd)
106.1 Jack FM (Manchester Radio 1061 Ltd)
Manchester Sound (Asian Sound Radio Ltd)
Masti Radio (Masti Radio Ltd)
MNR FM (Emmis Atlantic Radio Manchester Ltd)
Original 106 (Original Manchester FM Ltd)
Piccadilly Talk (Piccadilly Radio Ltd)
RockTalk 106.1 (Real Radio Ltd)
UK1 FM Manchester (UK1 FM Ltd)

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

Ian Hargreaves, Ofcom Board member (Chair)
Tim Suter, Partner, Content and Standards (Deputy Chair)
Peter Bury, Director of Strategic Resources
Martin Campbell, Chief Adviser, Radio
Peter Davies, Director of Radio and Convergent Media
Pam Giddy, Content Board member
Neil Stock, Head of Radio
Joyce Taylor, Content Board member for Scotland

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 7 December 2006. This comprised an initial presentation by a member of Ofcom's Radio 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.

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. The RLC was presented with a paper which summarised the issues of relevance for each application under each of the statutory criteria; this included a summary of the scores. The scores provided an indicative picture of the perceived strengths and weaknesses of each application, and were used for guidance only. The information included in the paper was drawn both from the applications and the subsequent responses to questions of clarification and/or amplification.

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