Chorley FM - Request to change key commitments

  • Start: 29 January 2015
  • Status: Statement published
  • End: 25 February 2015

A request from Chorley FM Limited, the holder of a community radio licence for Chorley, to change the Key Commitments of Chorley FM was discussed by Ofcom's Broadcast Licensing Committee (BLC) at its meeting on 28 April 2015. The BLC declined the request.

Chorley FM’s target community, as set out in its Key Commitments, consists of “young people (15-25 years of age) and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of Chorley.”
Chorley FM requested a number of changes to its Key Commitments.

These are under the headings “community to be served”, “character of service”, “programming” and “social gain objectives”.

A copy of Chorley FM’s current Key Commitments with the requested changes ‘tracked’ into it was reproduced in Ofcom’s consultation document dated 29 January 2015(-1-).

Statutory and policy criteria

Ofcom may consent to a departure from the character of a licensed community radio service (a “Key Commitment change”) in accordance with section 106(1A) of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as modified by the Community Radio Order 2004) only if it is satisfied in relation to at least one of the following criteria (the “statutory criteria”):

  • “the departure would not substantially alter the character of the service” (section 106(1A)(a));
  • “the departure would not narrow the range of programmes available by way of relevant independent radio services to persons comprising the relevant community” (section 106(1A)(b));
  • “there is evidence that, amongst persons comprising that community, there is a significant demand for, or significant support for, the change that would result from the departure” (section 106(1A)(d));
  • “the departure would not be prejudicial to the access by members of that community to the facilities used for the provision of the service and for training in the use of those facilities” (section 106(1A)(e)); or
  • “the departure would not be prejudicial to the delivery of social gain resulting from the provision of the service provided” (section 106(1a)(f)).

Under section 106ZA of the Broadcasting Act 1990, Ofcom must consult on a change that is not considered by Ofcom to satisfy the first of these criteria.

On initial review, Ofcom considered that the cumulative effect of the changes would represent a substantial departure from the character of the service of Chorley FM. This cumulative view included consideration of the proposed changes to the target community, changes to programming and social gain objectives, a proposed reduction in required speech output and proposed changes to the description of music played by the station.

We therefore published a public consultation, which ran from 29 January until 25 February 2015. We received 132 responses, of which 125 were in favour of the change and five opposed. The responses (or, where requested by the respondent, a short summary) may be found here: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/consultations/chorley-fm/.

Where Ofcom is satisfied that the proposed change would meet one of the statutory criteria, it still has discretion as to whether or not to agree to the change. Ofcom has published guidance about how it generally expects to exercise its discretion(-2-). This guidance specifically refers to the following factors (the “policy criteria”):

  • Whether the proposed change conflicts with the community radio ‘characteristics of service’ set out in the legislation. We consider that such a conflict would run counter to the legislation.
  • The time elapsed since the licence commenced. We propose that a station should be operating under its agreed Key Commitments for at least one year before we will consider a change to Key Commitments.
  • The reason for the change. It may be appropriate for us to take account of the kind of environment within which the station operates and that in the light of experience a station may need to adjust its commitments to better serve its target community.
  • The extent of the impact of the change on the character of the service. A judgement will need to be made on the basis of the overall sound of the station, as well as whether the change is likely to affect the delivery of an appropriate service to the stated target community, and what effect the change will have on the delivery of off-air activity such as social gain objectives.
  • The avoidance of ‘format creep’. We will be alert to the possibility that a series of small changes could result in a substantial alteration, and we will therefore take into account the effect of any proposed change in the context of previous changes.

Ofcom’s decision

Statutory criteria

As noted above, Ofcom was not satisfied in relation to section 106(1A)(a), as it considered that the cumulative effect of the changes was likely substantially to alter the character of the service.

With regard to section 106(1A)(b), the effect of the proposed changes (in particular, the proposed removal from the Key Commitments of practically all references to the “LGBT community” and “young people”) was considered likely to narrow the range of programmes available to the relevant community i.e. the community to be served as referred to in the Key Commitments: “young people (15-25 years of age) and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community of Chorley.” Ofcom was therefore not satisfied in relation to this criterion.

With regard to section 106(1A)(d), the Committee took into account the expressions of support for the service received in response to the consultation. However, it also noted that there did not appear to be significant support for the proposed changes from persons comprising the current target community of young people and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. It noted that Chorley FM said changes were based on feedback it sought from the target community, but the consultation responses did not conclusively support this position. Given that the Committee was satisfied in relation to one of the other statutory criteria (below) it was not, however, necessary to reach a final view in relation to this one and the Committee did not do so.

In relation to section 106(1A)(e) the Committee considered Chorley FM’s assertion that the changes would not be prejudicial to the access by members of its (current) target community to the service’s facilities or training. However, the Committee also noted that the service proposes to no longer offer a focus on the youth and LGBT communities, and proposes to remove practically all references to young people and the LGBT community from its Key Commitments. As a result, the Committee considered that young people and the LGBT community may be less likely to engage with the station and wish to access it. On balance, therefore, Ofcom was not satisfied in relation to this criterion.

In relation to section 105(1A)(f), the Committee considered the changes would tend to reduce the amount of certain types of content and social gain commitments primarily targeted at youth and LGBT communities. However, Chorley FM maintains that its “ability to deliver social gain will be further enhanced by these proposals”, and the licensee’s view is supported by a number of local organisations. As a result, and because this statutory criterion does not specifically refer to the delivery of social gain to the current (i.e. before any proposed changes) target community, the Committee was satisfied in relation to this criterion.

Policy criteria

Having been satisfied in relation to one of the relevant statutory criteria (that in section 106(1A)(f)), the Committee then considered this request under Ofcom's policy criteria. As noted above, the legislation gives Ofcom discretion as to whether or not to consent to a proposed change, if one of the statutory criteria is satisfied. Unlike with the statutory criteria, where only one need be satisfied to allow Ofcom to move on to consider the policy criteria, Ofcom reaches a view in the round when considering a request in relation to its policy criteria.

In relation to the third policy criterion, namely The reason for the change  in the light of experience a station may need to adjust its commitments to better serve its target community” the Committee noted the large number of responses supporting such a change, particularly from the wider population that it was proposing to serve, but also took into account that the service was currently licensed to serve the youth and LGBT communities. While the Committee recognised that the station could be inclusive of young people and the LGBT community within the context of a broadened target community, the proposed changes could not be seen as guaranteeing that Chorley FM would be able to “better serve” the youth and LGBT communities.

In considering the proposed changes in relation to the fourth policy criterion, namely “The extent of the impact of the change on the character of the service” and “whether the change is likely to affect the delivery of an appropriate service to the stated target community”, the BLC considered that the likely cumulative effect of the changes would be to affect the delivery of an appropriate service to the stated target community, and have a significant impact on the character of service in a number of respects.

While Ofcom recognises that it is possible for a community radio station to broaden or otherwise modify the way it defines its target community and still provide an appropriate, if not better, service to its stated target community, it did not consider that this would be the case in respect of the changes requested by Chorley FM. This was because, in particular, the Committee noted that Chorley FM proposed to remove every reference to the LGBT community, and all but one reference to youth/young people, from its Key Commitments. This made it difficult for the Committee to conclude that the changes would not have the potential to be detrimental in terms of the service provided to the target community.

The Committee also considered that the proposed changes to music and speech output, and in particular the reduction in the variety of music genres during daytime that would result from the changes, would serve to reduce Chorley FM’s distinctiveness and its ability to cater for different tastes and interests from those catered for by existing local services.

The Committee considered and did not have any concerns in relation to the first, second, and fifth policy criteria.

On balance, considering all policy criteria in the round, the Committee did not consider it was appropriate to consent to the proposed changes.

The conclusion of the BLC, therefore, was that the proposed changes should be rejected, for the policy reasons set out above.

May 2015

1.-http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/chorley-fm/summary/condoc.pdf

2.- http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/radio-ops/kc-changes-guidance.pdf


Main documents

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Responses

Responder name Type
Age_UK_Lancashire.pdf (PDF File, 7.9 KB) Organisation
Barnes_Mr_A.pdf (PDF File, 7.4 KB) Organisation
Barnet_S.pdf (PDF File, 7.9 KB) Organisation
Baron_Mr_D.pdf (PDF File, 7.1 KB) Organisation
Beckett_Co_Solicitors.pdf (PDF File, 8.0 KB) Organisation
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