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Three community radio licence awards: June 2008

Ofcom's Radio Licensing Committee ('RLC') has awarded three community radio licences in June.

All community radio services must satisfy certain 'characteristics of service' which are specified in Article 3 of the Community Radio Order 2004. The RLC was satisfied that each of the applicants awarded a licence met these 'characteristics of service'. In addition, each application was considered having regard to the criteria set out in section 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 ('BA 1990') (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004). A summary of these criteria is set out below. The key considerations in relation to these criteria, which formed the basis of the RLC's decisions to award licences to particular applicants, are also set out below. Where applicable, the relevant subsection of section 105 (1) of the BA 1990 is noted in brackets. (Please see specific community radio licence award criteria, set out below, for full details of each subsection.)

Applicants awarded a licence

Ofcom's Radio Licensing Committee made licence awards to the following applicants in locations in Leicester (in no particular order):

EAVA FM (Leicester)
Demon FM (Leicester)
Kohinoor FM (Leicester)

Each of these services will be licensed for a period of five years from the date of their launch.

The RLC was satisfied that each group awarded a licence should be allowed to seek up to 50% of their respective annual income from the sale of advertising or programme/station sponsorship if they so wish, in accordance with section 105(6) BA 1990, and that none of the new services would prejudice unduly the economic viability of any other local service (section 105(3) BA 1990).

EAVA FM (Leicester)

EAVA FM will serve the East African community in Leicester . The station’s directors have experience in broadcasting and it has secured funding from a range of sources (1a). The station’s programming would cater to the tastes and interests of its target community (1b) and would broaden choice locally (1c). By serving an underserved community and offering training opportunities, the station will deliver social gain (1e). The station’s accountability proposals include an elected board and an open membership scheme (1f), access to the station by the target community will also be helped by the station’s location at the St Matthews Community Solution Centre (1g).

Demon FM (Leicester)

This station will serve young people in Leicester , particularly between the ages of 16 and 30. The station has a good track-record of short-term RSL broadcasting locally, a strong funding base (1a) and is able to call upon a large volunteer base (1d). Social gain provision includes various sensible proposals for "the facilitation of discussion and the expression of opinion" as well as for the provision of education and training (1e) The accountability proposals put forward by this group, including directly elected board-level representation, are of above average quality (1f).

Kohinoor FM (Leicester)

This station will serve the Panjabi speaking community of Leicester . With a firm resource base and a financially conservative operational cost base, this station also has useful local broadcasting experience at board level and within its advisory committee (1a). Programming proposals are both appropriate for the target community and broad-ranging (1b), as are its social gain proposals, (1e). The station will use a variety of methods to ensure its accountability (1f) and takes a sensible approach to ensuring access to its facilities and for training in their use (1g).

Statutory requirements relating to community radio licensing

The following pages set out the statutory requirements relating to community radio licensing, and details of the licensing process. Further information about these, and detailed information relating to community radio, can be found at:

http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/

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) BA 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.

The characteristics of a community radio service

In respect of the licensing of community radio services in particular, all community radio licensees must satisfy 'characteristics of service' requirements which are specified in Article 3 of the Community Radio Order. The characteristics of community radio services are:

That they are local services provided primarily for the good of members of the public, or of particular communities, and in order to deliver social gain, rather than primarily for commercial reasons or for the financial or other material gain of the individuals involved in providing the service;
That the service is intended primarily to serve one or more communities (whether or not it also serves other members of the public);
That the person providing the service does not do so in order to make a financial profit by so doing, and uses any profit that is produced in the provision of the service wholly and exclusively for securing or improving the future provision of the service, or for the delivery of social gain to members of the public or the community that the service is intended to serve;
That members of the community it is intended to serve are given opportunities to participate in the operation and management of the service;
That, in respect of the provision of that service, the person providing the service makes himself accountable to the community that the service is intended to serve.

Article 2 of the Community Radio Order includes four mandatory “social gain” objectives. ”Social gain” means the achievement, in respect of individuals or groups of individuals in the community that the service is intended to serve, or in respect of other members of the public, of the following objectives:

the provision of sound broadcasting services to individuals who are otherwise underserved by such services,
the facilitation of discussion and the expression of opinion,
the provision (whether by means of programmes included in the service or otherwise) of education or training to individuals not employed by the person providing the service, and
the better understanding of the particular community and the strengthening of links within it.

Article 2 also includes a number of other objectives of a social nature which may be considered to represent "social gain".

Specific community radio licence award criteria

There are seven specific selection criteria set out in section 105(1) BA 1990 that Ofcom must have regard to when considering whether to make a community radio licence award. In summary these are:

The ability of each applicant to maintain its proposed service over the licence period (section 105(1)(a));
The applicant’s ability to cater for the tastes and interests of the target community (section 105(1)(b));
The extent to which each applicant would broaden the range of local radio services available in the area, and have a content distinct from those services (section 105(1)(c));
The extent to which there is evidence of local demand or support for a proposed service (section 105(1)(d));
The extent to which the service would deliver social gain benefits to the public or relevant community (section 105(1)(e));
Provisions for making the operator of service accountable to the relevant community (section 105(1)(f));
Provisions for allowing access by members of the public or the relevant community to the station facilities, and the provision of training in the use of those facilities (section 105(1)(g)).

Considering whether, or to whom (and on what conditions), to grant a community radio licence, Ofcom must also have regard to the need to ensure that any service provided under that licence does not prejudice unduly the economic viability of any other local service. Sections 105(4) to (6) BA 1990 require Ofcom:

not to grant a community radio licence which would overlap with a commercial radio service serving no more than 50,000 persons of 15 years or older;
to prohibit paid advertising and sponsorship of programmes in respect of any community radio service where that service overlaps with any other local radio service serving between 50,000 and 150,000 persons of 15 years or older; and
in all other cases, to prohibit any community radio service from receiving an appropriate proportion (at least 50%) of relevant income from paid advertising and sponsorship of programmes.

For the avoidance of doubt, programme sponsorship includes station or channel sponsorship.

Ofcom is also prohibited, by subsection 2 of section 105, from granting a licence to any applicant who proposes to receive from any one person (or company) more than 50% of its annual funding.

Process for assessment of applications

On 10 October 2007 Ofcom invited applications for licences to provide community radio services in locations in the west Midlands, east Midlands and Lincolnshire. These licences were offered for the provision of services on either the FM (VHF) or AM (medium wave) wavebands, with the exception of the City of Nottingham , the Gedling District in Nottinghamshire, Telford & Wrekin Unitary Authority and the City of Wolverhampton Metropolitan District, for which licences were only available on AM.

Ofcom received 31 applications, the non-confidential sections of which were made available for public scrutiny on our website.

19 applications were considered by RLC at its February, March, April and May meetings, with a further six at its June meeting. This leaves a further 6 applications from this region still to be considered for licence award.

The invitations did not specify the locations of services, but left it for applicants to decide where they wanted to be located.

The membership of the RLC for the licence awards detailed above was as follows:

Philip Graf, Ofcom Deputy Chairman (Chair)
Joyce Taylor, Content Board Member for Scotland
Pam Giddy, Content Board Member
Peter Bury, Director of Strategic Resources
Peter Davies, Director, Broadcast Licensing & Radio Policy
Stewart Purvis, Partner - Content and Standards

A summary and assessment of each application was presented to the RLC at its meeting on Tuesday 24 June 2008. These papers summarised the proposals put forward by the applicants as they relate to the statutory criteria, and highlighted any issues of relevance under those criteria.

June 2008