New Voices on Access Radio

44/03

19 March 2003

New Voices on Access Radio

Access Radio promises to be a positive cultural and social development and should be introduced as a third tier of radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom. This is the main finding of Professor Anthony Everitt's report, 'New Voices', on his evaluation of the Radio Authority's Access Radio pilot scheme, which is published today (19 March).

In August 2001, the Radio Authority selected fifteen groups to take part in an Access Radio pilot project. In November that year Anthony Everitt was appointed as evaluator of the project, and started his evaluation before the end of 2001. It assessed to what extent each group was able to deliver on the promises made in its licence, as well as considering how Access Radio might be licensed, regulated, funded, promoted, and organised on a permanent basis. The fifteen groups involved in the pilot scheme, chosen by the Radio Authority from a field of 200 interested parties, reflect all four of the home nations, rural and urban areas, services for ethnic minorities in the Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities, a wide range of age groups from children to older people, religious stations, and a range of financial models. The evaluation was co-funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Radio Authority.

Welcoming the report, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, said:

"Access Radio has the potential to provide communities with something quite special, a unique radio service which they run themselves. A diverse range of people can work together to improve and regenerate their community, through this new type of radio. The Government has been fully supportive of the pilot study and this very useful and independent evaluation will provide a basis for decisions on the implementation of radio for the community on a not-for-profit basis."

Commenting on his study into Access Radio, Professor Anthony Everitt said:

"This is radio not simply for the people, but by the people. The pilot projects gave hundreds of local volunteers the chance to become broadcasters, and produced real social gains for their communities as well as some lively radio. I have little doubt that, if it is introduced, Access Radio promises towill be one of the most important cultural developments in this country for many years."

Anthony Everitt has studied the fifteen pilot projects in detail and his report sets out his proposals for the permanent introduction of this new tier of radio.

The main recommendations are that:

Access Radio promises to be a positive cultural and social development and should be introduced as a third tier of radio broadcasting in the United Kingdom.
Access Radio stations should have access to professional expertise in administration, fund-raising and community liaison (Chapter 5.4 and 5.5);
Ofcom, the new communications regulator, should satisfy itself that, in the case of a partnership-based Access Radio applicant, decision-making processes are clearly defined, transparent and robust (Chapter 5.6);
an Access Radio station should normally be permitted to receive up to half its income from advertising sales and sponsorship. In exceptional cases, Ofcom should be empowered to vary this rule in the event of a special case being made (Chapter 5.7);
where a small commercial radio station shares a comparable coverage area with an Access Radio station that sells advertising, an Access Radio licence could be offered only if the applicant can show that it will present little or no advertising sales and sponsorship competition (Chapter 5.7);
Access Radio licences should usually not be granted in areas where a commercial radio station's measured coverage area falls below 40,000 adults. However, at the time of ILR licence renewal, commercial and Access Radio applicants should be allowed to compete in such an area and Ofcom should either award a commercial or an Access Radio licence (Chapter 5.7);
the BBC should take an early opportunity to set out consultative proposals for collaboration with, and support for, Access Radio (Chapter 5.8);
Ofcom should conduct research into overall FM capacity across the entire spectrum and, in the light of its findings, determine allocations for Access Radio provision (Chapter 5.9);
Ofcom should determine whether spectrum presently administered by the BBC could be made available for Access Radio (Chapter 5.9);
Ofcom should commission a major research project with a view to assessing over a period of years the social and personal outcomes, both quantitative and qualitative, of Access Radio (Chapter 5.10);
the Government should establish an Access Radio Fund, which would support the fund-raising capacity of Access Radio stations and the employment of a station manager at a level of £30,000 per annum for three years to be equally matched from other sources (Chapter 6.1);
the possible creation of a Community Media Fund should be allowable in the new communications legislation after evaluation of the effectiveness of the Access Radio Fund (Chapter 6.1);
Ofcom should administer the Access Radio Fund (Chapter 6.1);
the evaluation of Access Radio licensees should be as follows:
an Evaluation Questionnaire to be completed by an Access Radio station applicant as a licence submission and a promise of delivery
an annual published report by the station of achieved outputs and outcomes
two open facilitated workshops of local stakeholders and residents, once half-way through the licence period and once in the last year of the licence, to be convened by the station, which would comment on the station's progress against its plan
the regulator only to intervene on complaint (as now), regarding serious failures to meet targets and on unsatisfactory outcomes of the mid-term open meeting: the end of licence open meeting to be taken into account in the event of a re-application (Chapter 6.2)
Ofcom should not award licences with large coverage areas. As was the norm for the pilot scheme, measured coverage areas should usually be up to a 5km radius;
Ofcom should not award Access Radio licences to stations that belong to chains (Chapter 6.2);
Access Radio licence applicants should be required to produce a viable fund-raising plan (Chapter 6.2);
Restricted Service Licences should be maintained as evidence of Access radio licence applicants'
commitment to social gain objectives
programming competence
closeness to its local community (Chapter 6.2)
if more than 50% of an Access Radio station's board, including the chairman, resign or are replaced at a general meeting, Ofcom should review the licence and either confirm or revoke (Chapter 6.2);
Access Radio licences should last for five years (Chapter 6.2).

Single copies of Anthony Everitt's report, 'New Voices', are available (free of charge) on request from the Radio Authority's Press Office. Click here to view an online version of the report.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

Photographs of Anthony Everitt (evaluator), Tony Stoller (Chief Executive of the Radio Authority), and participants in the pilot scheme are available on request.

Anthony Everitt is a Visiting Professor in performing and visual arts at Nottingham Trent University and Visiting Lecturer in arts and cultural policy at City University. He is Arts Consultant for the British Federation of Festivals for Music, Drama and Speech. He was Secretary-General of the Arts Council of Great Britain. His published work includes Joining In (1997) and Cicero - A Turbulent Life (2001). He was appointed independent Evaluator for the experiment in November 2001.
The Government gave the Radio Authority the go ahead to set up a number of experiments in Access Radio in March 2001. The first pilot service for this new third tier of radio (first tier BBC, second tier commercial services) started broadcasting in February 2002 with the remaining services coming on-air throughout the year. Licences for the pilot scheme were initially granted for one year. However, the piloting period has now been extended to 31 December 2003.
A total of fifteen projects have been taking part in the Access Radio experiment. These are: Angel Radio (Havant, Hampshire); Awaz FM (central Glasgow); Bradford Community Broadcasting (Bradford inner-city); Cross Rhythms City Radio (Stoke-on-Trent); Desi Radio (Southall, West London); Radio Faza (within Nottingham); Forest of Dean Community Radio (Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire); GTFM (Pontypridd); Manchester Community Radio Group - providers of two services: Wythenshawe FM (Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester) and ALL FM (South Central Manchester); New Style Radio (within central Birmingham); Northern Visions Radio (Belfast); Resonance FM (Southbank & Bankside in London); Shine FM (Banbridge, Co. Down); Sound Radio (East London); and Takeover Radio (Leicester). Contact details are available online at www.radioauthority.org.uk (radio stations/Access Radio).
Clause 258 of the Communications Bill (as amended in Standing Committee E), currently before Parliament, allows the Secretary of State to introduce Access Radio by Order. Government has been awaiting the outcome of the pilot, and the publication of the evaluation, in order to inform it on how this scheme might work on a permanent basis. Clause 352 of the Bill allows for the possible introduction of an Access Radio Fund. The licensing of Access Radio, if introduced, will be the responsibility of Ofcom.
The Office of Communications, Ofcom, is to be the new regulator responsible for broadcasting, telecommunications, and spectrum in the UK. The Communications Bill, which is likely to become an Act in the summer of this year, will transfer the functions of five existing regulatory bodies currently responsible for these sectors, the Radio Authority, the Independent Television Commission, the Broadcasting Standards Commission, the Office of Telecommunications (Oftel), and the Radiocommunications Agency, to Ofcom. Ofcom is due to become fully operational by the end of the year.
The Radio Authority is responsible for licensing and regulating Independent Radio in accordance with the statutory requirements of the Broadcasting Acts 1990 and 1996. It plans frequencies, awards licences, regulates programming and advertising, and plays an active role in the discussion and formulation of policies which affect the Independent Radio industry and its listeners.

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