News story about explanations offered by UK media regulator Ofcom as to its recent local commercial FM radio licence awards in the markets of Manchester, Norwich and Ballymena, written by Grant Goddard in June 2005 for The Radio Magazine.

1. NEWS: OFCOM EXPLAINS ITS
LOCAL COMMERCIAL FM RADIO
LICENCE AWARD DECISIONS IN
MANCHESTER, NORWICH &
BALLYMENA
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
June 2005

2. UK media regulator Ofcom has admitted that the award of the new Manchester
FM licence proved a “particularly difficult decision” because of the large
number of applicants and the wide variety of formats they had proposed. The
regulator’s Radio Licensing Committee concluded that there was an “apparent
lack of a definitive market gap in terms of age group” for a new Manchester
station because the existing commercial services in the market are already
“designed to appeal to listeners of all ages”. The committee pointed to ratings
evidence that local commercial radio’s share of listening is greater in
Manchester than for the UK as a whole. Nevertheless, independent research
published in 'The Radio Magazine' [#670] showed that local commercial radio’s
39% share of listening in Manchester still falls below that achieved in
comparable metropolitan cities such as London (43%), Birmingham (45%) and
Glasgow (52%), where commercial stations are similarly numerous.
Ofcom concluded that, in Manchester, “listener choice” would best be
broadened by awarding the licensing to “a new format” aimed at an audience
“among whom a clear demand for such output could be demonstrated”. The
'Xfm' proposal appealed to Ofcom because of the “clear demand” the applicant
had demonstrated for its format, the strong support from the local music
industry, the comedy shows in its schedule, the commitment to 45 hours per
week of specialist music shows, and the live sessions for unsigned artists. The
Committee also liked Xfm’s plan to broadcast local news throughout daytime
shows and to produce 20 hours a day of the station’s output in Manchester.
Ofcom explained that it had decided to award the new Norwich licence to
'Crown FM' because of the applicant’s “credible business plan”, its
“understanding of the local marketplace” and the group’s “relevant radio
experience”. Shareholder Tindle Radio’s ownership of existing stations in two
neighbouring markets was viewed as a positive factor because Ofcom
believed that a combined rate card would “place the new service in a stronger
position” relative to 'Broadland 102', the twenty-year old GCap Media-owned
heritage station that achieves a 19% share in the Norwich market. Ofcom liked
Crown FM’s commitment to a 24-hour local news service, two extended daily
local news bulletins, and a music format that limited songs from the 2000’s to
40% of output. The applicant also made a commitment to “locally produced”
programming 24 hours a day.
For the Ballymena licence, Ofcom said that, although the revenue and cost
projections of winning applicant 'Seven Towers FM' were “ambitious”, this
factor was offset by the “particularly impressive level of funding” provided by
two local newspaper groups who had “direct experience of the local Ballymena
advertising market”. Ofcom felt that the group’s board offered “a good mixture
of business and radio experience”, particularly as two board members had
been involved in small-scale radio station launches in the Republic of Ireland.
The group’s plans to provide seven-day local news coverage, live sports
commentaries and half-hour specialist interest programmes would, according
to Ofcom, “improve the availability of Ballymena-specific news and other kinds
of information for listeners in the area.” Ofcom’s only criticism was that the
sample sizes used in some of the group’s market research were rather small.
News: Ofcom Explains Its Local Commercial FM Radio Licence Award Decisions In Manchester, Norwich & Ballymena
Page 2
©2005 Grant Goddard

3. News: Ofcom Explains Its Local Commercial FM Radio Licence Award Decisions In Manchester, Norwich & Ballymena
Page 3
©2005 Grant Goddard
[First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'Ofcom: Manchester Was "Difficult Decision"', #690, 29 June 2005]
Grant Goddard is a media analyst / radio specialist / radio consultant with thirty years of
experience in the broadcasting industry, having held senior management and consultancy
roles within the commercial media sector in the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. Details at
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk