A request from Swansea Bay Radio Limited (SBR), the holder of a local FM licence for Swansea, to change the Format of its 'Nation 80s' (now called 'Nation Hits!) service was discussed by Ofcom's Broadcast Licensing Committee (‘BLC') at its meeting on 26 February 2013. The Committee decided to reject the request, meaning that the station's Format will remain unchanged.
The Character of Service (as set out in the existing published Format document for Nation Hits!) is as follows:
A LOCAL SPEECH AND MUSIC STATION FOR THE SWANSEA AREA, WITH 24-HOUR NEWS, INFORMATION AND COMMENT AIMED PRIMARILY AT THE 35+ AGE GROUP, WITH A PREDOMINATELY GOLD AND EASY LISTENING MIX OF MUSIC, REGULARLY REFLECTING WELSH CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
The new Character of Service proposed by SBR was:
A STATION FOR THE SWANSEA AREA, AIMED PRIMARILY AT THE 35+ AGE GROUP WITH A PREDOMINATELY GOLD AND EASY LISTENING MIX OF MUSIC, REGULARLY REFLECTING WELSH CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
Given that the proposal would affect the principal requirements of Nation Hits! to be a "local speech" station "with 24-hour news" broadcasting "information and comment" and would require a significant rewording of its Character of Service, Ofcom determined that the request, if granted, would represent a significant change to the character of the station's existing service. In line with statute, the proposed changes were therefore subject to a public consultation which ran for four weeks until 13 December 2012.
We received four non-confidential responses (one name withheld) to the consultation. Of these, three were against the change being permitted, arguing that the potential reduction in speech content, which would be replaced by more music, would leave listeners without provision of local information about the Swansea city area. One of these respondents was Ofcom's Advisory Committee for Wales (ACW). The ACW cited the reasons given by Ofcom on award of the licence in November 2005, which drew extensively on how the content proposed by SBR for the new service would broaden choice for listeners in the area, and the ACW also noted that since the launch of SBR's service in November 2006 there had been little significant change in the nature of the radio services available in the Swansea area. A response (name withheld) supporting the Format Change Request gave examples of the station's current output as being agreeable, adding that "as a result of the reduced talk time, the news, weather and local guide information messages tend to stand out more and not get lost in the mess of messages." The Format Change Request sought to reduce further this present requirement.
Ofcom has the ability to consent to Format changes under conditions included in each local analogue commercial radio licence, in accordance with Section 106(1A) of the Broadcasting Act 1990, if it is satisfied that at least one of the following criteria is met:
a. The departure would not substantially alter the character of the service
b. The change would not narrow the range of programmes available in the area by way of relevant independent radio services
c. The change would be conducive to the maintenance or promotion of fair or effective competition
d. There is evidence that, amongst persons living in the affected areas, there is a significant demand for, or significant support for, the change
e. That the change would result from programmes in the licensed service ceasing to be made at premises in the area, but those programmes would continue to be made wholly or partly at premises within an area approved by Ofcom.
For the reasons already noted, Ofcom did not consider that the request met criterion (a). In addition, in considering the request following the consultation, the BLC took the view that criterion (e) was not relevant as there was no proposal to change the location where programmes included in the service are made, and criteria (c) and (d) were not applicable as SBR had not submitted any evidence to make a case under these criteria. Consequently, the BLC's discussion focused around whether it was satisfied in relation to section 106(1A)(b), as it was required to be so satisfied, before it could decide whether or not to agree to SBR's request.
At the outset of its discussion, the BLC noted the Character of Service requirements contained in the Formats of the "relevant independent radio services" in the area: The Wave (Swansea), Swansea Sound, Real Radio, Nation Radio and, additionally, community radio service Radio Tircoed. In particular, it was noted that among these existing services, only Swansea Sound had a specific Format requirement relating to the provision of speech content specific to the Swansea area.
In this context, it appeared to BLC members that SBR's request would remove, or significantly dilute, most of the Format requirements which make the service distinctive in the market, namely its requirements to be a "local speech and music station with 24-hour news, information and comment". In particular, the BLC felt that the loss of these speech elements from the Nation Hits! Character of Service would lead to an overall reduction in Swansea-specific speech content to such a significant extent that it would result in a narrowing of the range of programmes available in the area.
Further, BLC noted that the licensee's proposed changes would result in a loss of speech content to such a degree that it would make it extremely difficult for SBR to deliver on its requirement of "regularly reflecting Welsh culture" in its programmes, and that the licensee had not given any explanation as how this important aspect of programming would be safeguarded.
The conclusion of the BLC, therefore, was that the proposed changes should be rejected by Ofcom, on the basis that the departure from the existing Format would narrow the range of programmes available to listeners in Swansea by way of independent radio services.
Given that the BLC did not consider that any of the relevant statutory criteria had been satisfied, it did not need to consider the request in relation to Ofcom's published policy criteria.
