News story about UK media regulator Ofcom issuing Bristol local commercial radio station 'Star FM' with a 'yellow card' due to its breach of an obligation to play black music in its licensed Format, written by Grant Goddard in August 2006 for The Radio Magazine.

1. NEWS: OFCOM WARNS BRISTOL
RADIO STATION 'STAR FM' WITH
'YELLOW CARD' FOR BREACH
OF BLACK MUSIC OBLIGATION
IN LICENSED FORMAT
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
August 2006

2. Following Ofcom’s decision to issue Bristol station 'Star FM' with a 'yellow card'
for breach of its Format, the station’s owner UKRD Limited took the unusual
step of publicly warning other radio stations that they must stick to “difficult
Formats” policed by the regulator.
As part of its ongoing content sampling initiative, Ofcom monitored four days of
Star’s output in July and found that the requirement within its Format to
broadcast “a black music programme of up to five hours duration” and a
“speech-orientated three-hour sequence for the multicultural community” was
unfulfilled. Ofcom said that its sampling “revealed a lack of speech during the
speech-orientated three-hour sequence for the multicultural community and
the absence of a definitive black music programme”. It also noted that the
station’s 'Club Classics' show was a “dubious interpretation of the Format
requirements” and that the overall music policy could “only be described as
‘soulful’ in the broadest terms”.
UKRD group programme director Phil Angell admitted that Star’s format had
“strayed over the line” but said that he had subsequently introduced a Sunday
evening show entitled 'Soul & Motown Sunday' within the schedule. He added
that Star’s Format presented UKRD with a commercial challenge, as Bristol’s
ethnic community was only 5% of the population, and he asked Ofcom to
provide more flexibility in such circumstances.
Star is the only local commercial radio station in Bristol presently required to
serve the city’s ethnic community. Former black music pirate 'For The People'
had been licensed to serve the Afro-Caribbean community in 1990, but the
Radio Authority relinquished the licensee’s responsibility to the ethnic
community in 1991 when the station was sold to Chiltern Radio plc and
became 'Galaxy FM'.
Similar situations exist in other markets where the regulator has approved the
dilution of stations that had originally been licensed to serve ethnic
communities. 'Choice FM' won a Birmingham licence in 1995 for its black
music format but was sold in 1998 to Chrysalis plc to become another 'Galaxy'
station. The Radio Authority instigated a public interest test, but approved the
takeover, leaving Galaxy’s Birmingham outlet with a Format that still describes
it as “a rhythmic-based music and information station primarily for listeners of
African or Afro-Caribbean origin”. There is no evidence that Galaxy has been
required to demonstrate to Ofcom the proportion of its audience that is Afro-
Caribbean or to explain the appeal of its dance music format to this target
demographic.
[First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'Star FM Warns Of "Difficult Formats"', #750, 23 August 2006]
News: Ofcom Warns Bristol Radio Station 'Star FM' With 'Yellow Card' For Breach Of Black Music Obligation In
Licensed Format page 2
©2006 Grant Goddard

3. News: Ofcom Warns Bristol Radio Station 'Star FM' With 'Yellow Card' For Breach Of Black Music Obligation In
Licensed Format page 3
©2006 Grant Goddard
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