Radio Authority Publishes Assessment of Local Licence Award For Glasgow

118/03

20 November 2003

Radio Authority Publishes Assessment of Local Licence Award For Glasgow

The Radio Authority has today (20 November) published the details of its assessment of the new local licence award for Glasgow. The Authority awarded the licence to Saga 105.2 FM on 6 November 2003.

A copy of the full assessment is attached.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

1. 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.

2. Towards the end of this year, the Radio Authority will cease to exist, and its responsibilities for licensing and regulating independent radio will pass to Ofcom, the new converged regulator for the communications sector. See the Ofcom transitional website at www.ofcom.org.uk for more details.

LOCAL LICENCE AWARD: GLASGOW

ASSESSMENT OF SUCCESSFUL APPLICATION

BY SAGA 105.2 FM

Applications were invited on 20 March 2003. By the closing date of 1 July 2003, thirteen applications were received, as follows:

The Arrow (The Arrow [Glasgow] Ltd.)

Base FM (Base FM Scotland Ltd.)

Clyde Asia Radio (Alpine Media Ltd.)

Glasgow Gold (Glasgow Gold Ltd.)

105.2 Glasgow's Magic FM (Glasgow's Magic FM [Radio] Ltd.)

Go-FM (Glasgow FM Ltd.)

105.2 My-FM (Absolute Radio Scotland Ltd.)

Saga 105.2 FM (Saga Radio [Glasgow] Ltd.)

Smooth FM (Smooth FM Ltd.)

FM 105.2 The Storm (The Storm [Glasgow] Ltd.)

Sunrise Radio Scotland (Sunrise Radio [Scotland] Ltd.)

3C (3C Glasgow Ltd.)

Virgin 105.2 (Virgin Radio Glasgow Ltd.)

The licence was awarded to Saga 105.2 FM on 6 November 2003, to run for a licence term from the date the service commences broadcasting.

Assessment of the winning application

The local licence for Glasgow attracted a large number of high quality applications offering a diversity of formats for the city and surrounding parts of west Central Scotland. After lengthy consideration, Members concluded that Saga Radio Ltd.’s proposals most fully satisfied the requirements of the section 105 criteria (see below), in catering for a large section of the population, and one which is less well served by the area's existing Independent Local Radio stations.

Saga plans to provide a similar format, comprising easy listening music and a relatively high speech level aimed at those aged over 50, to those which it has established with its two existing regional FM licences in the West and East Midlands, although Members noted that Saga had made genuine use of research in tailoring its proposed output to cater for the tastes and interests of listeners in Glasgow. In addition to a broad range of specialist programmes scheduled for the weekends, Saga's music output during the day will also provide a substantial broadening of choice by including tracks drawn from a wide range of genres, at least half of which are not readily available on any of the existing ILR services in the area. Members considered that the applicant’s proposals for speech content, which will form 30-40% of weekday daytime output and comprise a wide range of features including health/lifestyle matters (which will include phone-in interaction), and items reflecting the cultural diversity of the area, were likely to appeal to the target audience. There will be a locally-mixed 18-hour daily news schedule, with bulletins of four minutes duration on the hour, extended to five minutes during peak-time and at lunchtime, with headlines on the half-hour during breakfast and drivetime. Members considered that the appropriate level of resources had been provided by Saga to deliver the comprehensive speech and news proposals.

Members took the view that Saga Radio was well able to establish and maintain the proposed service, and noted the parent company's depth of experience in marketing to the target age group. They considered that the board contained a good balance of local non-executive directors with experienced Saga executives. The group had supplied many hundreds of letters of support for its application, from local organisations and individual listeners.

Background

When licensing Independent Radio services, it is the duty of the Authority under the Broadcasting Act 1990 ("the Act") to do all that it can to secure the provision within the UK of a range and diversity of local services (section 85(2)(b) of the Act). Furthermore, under section 85(3) of the Act the Authority must discharge its functions in the manner which it considers is best calculated to:

(a) facilitate the provision of licensed services which (taken as a whole) are of high quality and offer a wide range of programmes calculated to appeal to a variety of tastes and interests; and

(b) ensure fair and effective competition in the provision of such services and services connected with them.

Under section 105 of the Act, the matters to which the Authority shall have regard when determining whether, or to whom to grant a local licence are :

(a) the ability of each applicant to maintain the proposed service throughout the licence period;

(b) the extent to which the 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 so cater;

(c) the extent to which the proposed service would broaden the range of programmes available by way of local service to persons living in the relevant area or locality, and, in particular, the extent to which the service would cater for tastes and interest which are different from those already catered for by existing local services in the area; and

(d) the extent to which any application is supported by persons living in that area.

While the requirements of sections 85 and 105 of the Broadcasting Act 1990 will invariably form the basis of all awards, each licence award will be made on an individual basis, with regard to the factors which, in the view of the Authority, are particularly relevant to that case.

When it advertised the availability of the Glasgow licence the Authority invited public comment on the radio needs of listeners in this area, and the type of programme service required. Copies of the non-confidential sections of the applications were made available for public scrutiny in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow and at the Radio Authority’s offices in London. A notice was issued on 1 July 2003 inviting public comments on the applications. The Authority took all replies into account when reaching its decision.

All thirteen applications have been considered carefully by the Authority in accordance with the Act, and as against the advertised criteria set out in the Authority’s Notes of Guidance for Local Licence Applicants and the coverage brief for this licence, issued at the date of the licence advertisement. The applicants were invited to respond to written questions on programming, audience and support, and finance. Telephone interviews were conducted on the composition and history of the applicant groups.

Contact:
Press enquiries:
Tel: 020 7887 4292
Public enquiries:
Tel: 020 7887 4290

Revised: November 20, 2003