News story about a letter published by UK media regulator Ofcom in response to frustrations voiced by community radio licence applicants about processing delays of up to one year, written by Grant Goddard in January 2006 for The Radio Magazine.

1. NEWS: OFCOM RESPONDS WITH
LETTER TO COMMUNITY RADIO
LICENCE APPLICANTS
FRUSTRATED BY YEAR-LONG
DELAYS
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
January 2006

2. Ofcom has published an official response to the recent disquiet expressed by
several community radio groups who have waited more than a year for their
licence applications to be processed. Following a meeting last week between
Diane Reid, director of the Community Media Association, and Ofcom staff to
discuss the delays, a 660-word letter was released from Soo Williams, the
regulator’s senior executive of radio licensing.
The letter listed the factors that Ofcom says have delayed the decision-making
process, but it made no apology for the difficulties caused to community radio
groups in the meantime. Williams said that she “recognises” that the waiting
period for some applicants has “been a long one” and that this “may have had
an impact on the funding arrangement of some applicants”, but she offered no
immediate solution to the delays. Instead, her letter cited several reasons,
including the number of applications (194) received that are “time-consuming
to assess”; the “detailed requirements” of the community radio legislation; the
“significant impact” on engineers’ work to identify suitable frequencies; and the
“extremely limited” availability of spectrum in some areas.
The letter explained that, “due to the very large number of applications
received, Ofcom’s engineers have needed to undertake in the past fourteen
months an amount of work equivalent to planning well over a hundred new
commercial services (a process which ordinarily would take several years),
often with limited transmission site details upon which to base their analysis.”
The message concluded: “I hope this letter is helpful in explaining some of the
factors which have contributed to the time it has taken to process the first
round of applications received for community radio licences, and also
reassures your members that these factors include Ofcom’s wish to license as
many applicants as possible whose proposals are considered to warrant a
licence award.”
The lack of a timetable for completion of the licensing process is unlikely to
satisfy many applicants. Matthew MacDonald of the Community Radio
Capacity Building Project at St Martin’s College, Lancaster said: “As the
timescale slips (and slips ...) the possibility of funding claw-back rears its head,
not because of the quality of the project. This would put an organisation with
25 years experience of community project delivery in jeopardy. Could Ofcom
not at least contact those who are still waiting, in writing, to let them know what
is going on?”
Martin Bancroft of North East Derbyshire Community Radio, commented: “I
think some explanation should be given from Ofcom as to how they got the
licensing process so badly wrong.”
Jason Anderson, of Hartlepool Community Broadcasting, said his group was
“worried that we may lose precious funding that we have secured due to
Ofcom’s licensing process taking so long.”
Richard Lace, community radio project manager at Preston Community Arts
Project, said that it was now possible that the outcome of the group’s licence
application might not be known until the project’s funding from regeneration
News: Ofcom Responds With Letter To Community Radio Licence Applicants Frustrated By Year-Long Delays Page 2
©2006 Grant Goddard

3. News: Ofcom Responds With Letter To Community Radio Licence Applicants Frustrated By Year-Long Delays Page 3
©2006 Grant Goddard
and European Union budgets had already expired. “Without the certainty about
when things are likely to happen,” Lace said, “it's difficult to renegotiate
timescales with funders or look for additional cash. Worse is the fact that,
whilst we sit and wait, Ofcom have found time to identify two spare frequencies
for a new commercial licence in our area.”
Daniel Finnan of The Hillz Radio in Coventry said: “I'd really like to know why
Ofcom didn't anticipate this volume of work with additional staffing. Why didn't
they put out a warning once the deadline had closed, indicating that it might
take longer than expected? Who becomes accountable for Ofcom's
implementation of the Community Radio Order – the DCMS? And, what
comeback do community radio stations have if Ofcom's licensing process is
fatally detrimental to the financing they obtained?”
[First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'Ofcom Answers CR Applicant Complaints', #719, 18 January 2006]
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