Formal complaint by Cornwall local commercial radio station 'Pirate FM' submitted to United Kingdom broadcast regulator Ofcom arguing that the broadcast output of competitor 'Heart Cornwall' had not complied with the requirements of its licensed Format, written by Grant Goddard for UKRD Group Ltd in June 2013.

1. COMPLAINT BY 'PIRATE FM' TO
OFCOM THAT THE BROADCAST
OUTPUT OF 'HEART CORNWALL'
HAS NOT COMPLIED WITH THE
REQUIREMENTS OF ITS LICENSED
FORMAT
GRANT GODDARD
June 2013

2. BACKGROUND
Atlantic FM launched in 2006 with an Ofcom licence that defined its Format
as:
 "A full service local station specifically for Cornwall, with speech an
important part of the content. It will feature locally-focused news,
information and speech content, mixed with adult-orientated popular music
for a broad audience with particular appeal for listeners aged 25-54"
[emphasis added].1
Atlantic FM's application to Ofcom for its licence had stated:
 "We are committed to specifically Cornwall-focused content. Events
and issues from elsewhere in the South West will only be featured insofar
as they are of relevance to listeners in Cornwall. The station will not
directly target listeners outside Cornwall or attempt to create a 'region' from
the unintended but unavoidable overspill of coverage into Devon.
 All Atlantic FM programming will be produced independently in
Cornwall. We define local production as production within Cornwall rather
than within the wider Measured Coverage Area" [emphasis added].2
The licence application committed the station to broadcasting significant
proportions of speech content in its weekday output:3
0545-1000 Breakfast 40-45%
1000-1500 Daytime 25-30%
1500-1900 Afternoon 30-35%
1900-2100 Specialist 15-35%
2100-0000 Late and Live 40-45%
weekday speech as % of non-commercial
airtime
This commitment to speech content was subsequently reflected in the 'detail'
section of the radio station's Format:
 "Speech content averaged across weekday daytime will not exceed 50%
of non-commercial airtime nor typically fall below 30%".4
In March 2012, Atlantic FM was acquired by Global Radio Limited, which
immediately applied to Ofcom to request changes to its licence for:
 locally-made programmes to be reduced from (a minimum of) 10 to 7
hours per day on weekdays
 locally-made programmes that had, until then, been entirely produced at
Atlantic FM to be produced at Heart FM stations in either Plymouth, Exeter
& Torbay, Barnstaple, South Hams or Cornwall.5
Global Radio argued that:

3.  "the proposed increase in local news provision, and associated reduction
in locally-made hours … will not substantially alter the character of the
service"
 the "provision to share all programming with Heart stations in the South
West region" will "provide flexibility for our programming team" [emphasis
added].6
In its request to Ofcom, Global said it was "mindful of the station’s particular
Character of Service obligations" and that, "pending any agreed change to the
station’s Character of Service", it promised that:
 "the station will therefore continue to provide a high level of local news and
more speech content than other stations in the Heart network"
 "as well as broadcasting some news bulletins produced specifically for the
station, some local programming made in Exeter will be produced
specifically for the station and not shared with other Heart stations in the
South West".7
Ofcom approved this request, having agreed with Global Radio that "the
departure would not substantially alter the character of the service".8 The
station's name was changed to 'Heart Cornwall'.
In July 2012, Global Radio submitted a request to Ofcom to:
 remove the "full service" requirement from the station's format
 replace the phrase "locally-focused news, information and speech
content" with "locally orientated music and information station" within the
station's format
 remove the phrase "with speech an important part of the content" from
the station's format.9
Ofcom refused this request on the grounds that it "would remove, or
significantly dilute, most, if not all, of the Format requirements which make
Heart Cornwall's Format distinctive from that of Pirate FM".10
In Q2 & Q3 2012, Global Radio continued to publish RAJAR audience data for
the station under the name 'Heart Cornwall (was 105-107 Atlantic FM)'.
However, from Q4 2012, Global elected to publish only combined RAJAR
data for all stations in its 'Heart South West' cluster, an indication that the
Cornwall market was no longer being offered as a distinct advertising
opportunity.
The original Atlantic FM Format continues to define the station's format as "full
service … specifically for Cornwall", despite the approved amendments now
permitting the station's entire output to be produced outside of Cornwall.
Ofcom's own definitions are useful in understanding the terminology employed
within a station's Format. According to Ofcom:

4.  "a 'full service' station stands apart from more mainstream stations by
virtue of its wide appeal and its generous, creative speech content"
[emphasis added].11
Ofcom also states that:
 "if a service is described as 'locally focused' or 'locally orientated', we
would not expect hour after hour to pass by with no local content"
[emphasis added].12
Heart Cornwall's licence continues to describe its Format as "full service"
and "locally-focused", making these two requirements mandatory for the
station.13

5. COMPLAINT
In the October 2012 statement explaining its rejection of Global Radio's
request to amend Heart Cornwall's Format, Ofcom set out its current
interpretation of the station's Format:
 "The requirement that the station is 'specifically for Cornwall'. This
commitment means that the station should feature significant amounts of
Cornwall-specific (as opposed to more general) speech content, and is
a reflection of the requirement contained in the station’s original long-form
Format that: 'The purpose of this station is to provide a Cornish rather
than regional approach to the needs of local listeners'".
 "The requirement that 'speech [is] an important part of the content'. This
obligation means that we would expect the levels of speech on Heart
Cornwall, particularly during weekday daytime hours, to be reasonably
substantial".
 "While a specific percentage of speech is no longer included in the Format
description, we would expect the amount of speech to be broadly in
keeping with that previously stated explicitly [between 30% and 50% of
weekday daytime output], in order to keep within the spirit of the licence".
 "The requirement that Heart Cornwall 'will feature locally-focused news,
information and speech content'. While the minimum number of hourly
local news bulletins the station is required to broadcast is set out in the
‘local news’ section of its Format, this commitment contained in the
Character of Service reflects the importance placed upon local news,
information and speech in relation to the output of the station as a
whole" [emphasis added].14
Our analysis of the weekday daytime output of Heart Cornwall on four random
occasions subsequent to this Ofcom statement demonstrates that, in our
opinion, the station was not operating in compliance with its Format. In
particular, it was evident from the monitored output of Heart Cornwall that the
station [using quotes excerpted from Ofcom's Format stipulations]:
 did not appear to be "specifically for Cornwall"
 did not "feature significant amounts of Cornwall-specific (as opposed to
more general) speech content"
 did not "provide a Cornish rather than regional approach to the needs of
local listeners"
 did not broadcast "levels of speech … during weekday daytime hours"
that were "reasonably substantial"
 did not broadcast an "amount of speech ... broadly in line with that
previously stated explicitly"
 did not "reflect the importance placed upon local news, information and
speech in relation to the output of the station as a whole" [emphasis
added].15
On the contrary, it was evident that Heart Cornwall's output comprised
predominantly:

6.  content produced in Devon by Heart Devon primarily for broadcast on
Heart Devon
 content produced outside Devon or Cornwall for broadcast on Heart
stations across the UK
 amounts of speech that fell below the 30-50% proportion required within
weekday daytime programmes.
Our analyses of Heart Cornwall output:
 aggregated the number of mentions of 'Cornwall', of places within
Cornwall, of 'Devon' and of places within Devon that were broadcast in
each hour of output (excluding advertisements, station identifications and
programme trails).
 aggregated the proportion of speech monitored within the non-commercial
content of each hour broadcast (data were missing for three individual
hours).
These analyses are attached for reference (off-air recordings are available on
request). The results are summarised below.
The Breakfast Show (0600 to 1000)
This show is broadcast on the Barnstaple, Cornwall, Exeter, Plymouth, South
Hams and Torbay 'Heart' stations, collectively referred to as 'Heart South
West' by the Heart web site.16
Evidence from all four dates suggests that the show's local content was
structured purposefully to tick 'localness' regulatory boxes, rather than to
creatively or spontaneously fulfil the interests of listeners in Cornwall:
 the show was evidently not "specifically for Cornwall"
 the show did not "provide a Cornish rather than regional approach to the
needs of local listeners"
 presenter chat included minimal "Cornwall-specific speech content"
which focused mostly on a single place name in a particular show
 "Cornwall-specific speech content" was achieved predominantly by
repeated mentions of Cornwall towns within travel updates
 each morning's weather forecast repeatedly mentioned two selected
Cornwall towns
 location references within news bulletin scripts were mostly structured to
mention the region rather than a place name (for example, one bulletin had
replaced an earlier scripted reference to "Plymouth" with "Devon and
Cornwall")
 a limited amount of listener interaction was exclusively with callers from
Devon

7.  the phrase "Devon and Cornwall" was used regularly to imply 'localness',
although presenters' mispronunciation of Cornwall place names was
evident.
Specifically, the 8 November 2012 four-hour show included:
 0 mentions of Cornwall and 5 mentions of Cornwall place names ('St.
Teath' mispronounced as 'Saint Teeth') within presenter chat
 6 mentions of Cornwall and 4 mentions of Cornwall place names (Padstow
and Redruth each mentioned twice) within weather forecasts
 5 mentions of Cornwall and 37 mentions of Cornwall place names (St.
Austell and Truro each mentioned 8 times) within travel updates
 9 mentions of Cornwall and 7 mentions of a single Cornwall place name
(Royal Cornwall Hospital) within news bulletins.
The 10 December 2012 four-hour show included:
 0 mentions of Cornwall and 7 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Camborne mentioned 3 times) within presenter chat
 7 mentions of Cornwall and 8 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Falmouth and Liskeard each mentioned 4 times) within weather
forecasts
 0 mentions of Cornwall and 44 mentions of Cornwall place names (St.
Austell, Truro and Redruth each mentioned 8 times) within travel updates
 4 mentions of Cornwall and 20 mentions of Cornwall place names (Treliske
Hospital and Newquay Airport each mentioned 7 times, Royal Cornwall
Hospital mentioned 5 times) within news bulletins.
The 8 January 2013 four-hour show included:
 4 mentions of Cornwall and 10 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Falmouth mentioned 4 times) within presenter chat
 4 mentions of Cornwall and 4 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Falmouth and Camborne each mentioned twice) within weather
forecasts
 2 mentions of Cornwall and 32 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Torpoint Ferry mentioned 9 times) within travel updates
 13 mentions of Cornwall and 11 mentions of Cornwall place names (St.
Austell mentioned 7 times) within news bulletins.
The 15 March 2013 four-hour show included:
 10 mentions of Cornwall and 16 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Twowatersfoot mentioned 8 times) within presenter chat
 7 mentions of Cornwall and 4 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Penzance and Dobwalls each mentioned twice) within weather
forecasts
 6 mentions of Cornwall and 42 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Torpoint Ferry mentioned 10 times) within travel updates

8.  10 mentions of Cornwall and 16 mentions of Cornwall place names
(Launceston mentioned 7 times) within news bulletins.
These detailed data are itemised because of the significance of the breakfast
show in attracting a radio station's largest audience of the day and generally
offering listeners a greater volume of pertinent local information than later
dayparts.
08-Nov-12 10-Dec-12 08-Jan-13 15-Mar-13
0600-0700 45% 45% 49% 47%
0700-0800 48% 42% [missing] 44%
0800-0900 43% 47% 49% 51%
0900-1000 14% 17% 13% 19%
weekday speech as % of non-commercial
airtime
Whilst the first three hours of the breakfast show complied with Ofcom's
requirement for speech content to be between 30% and 50% of non-
commercial output, the final hour fell consistently below the threshold.
Morning Show (1000 to 1300) &
Afternoon Show (1300 to 1600)
Both shows are broadcast on Heart stations across the UK and are produced
outside of Cornwall and Devon.17
Evidence from all four dates suggests that the shows' 'local' content was
inserted purposefully to tick 'localness' regulatory boxes, rather than to
creatively or spontaneously fulfil the interests of listeners in Cornwall. In detail:
 the shows were not at all "specifically for Cornwall"
 the shows did not "provide a Cornish rather than regional approach to
the needs of local listeners"
 "Cornwall-specific speech content" was entirely limited to news
bulletins and weather forecasts
 some individual hours achieved no more than two mentions of Cornwall
and no mentions of place names in Cornwall
 no travel bulletins concerning Cornwall
 no presenter chat concerning Cornwall
 one weather forecast per hour mentioned Cornwall
 hourly news bulletins were structured to include an average two news
stories that mentioned 'Cornwall' and two stories that mentioned place
names in Cornwall.

9. 08-Nov-12 10-Dec-12 08-Jan-13 15-Mar-13
1000-1100 11% 6% 11% 9%
1100-1200 10% 6% 14% 10%
1200-1300 6% 5% 12% 12%
1300-1400 7% 6% 10% 9%
1400-1500 6% 6% 11% 10%
1500-1600 9% 6% 13% 13%
weekday speech as % of non-commercial
airtime
None of the individual hours within these two shows, on the four days
analysed, achieved anywhere near Ofcom's requirement for speech content to
be between 30% and 50% of non-commercial output.
Drivetime Show (1600 to 1900)
This show is described by the radio station web site as "for Cornwall".18
Evidence from all four dates suggests that the show's 'localness' derived from
it having a different presenter than other Heart stations in this timeslot, rather
than it creatively or spontaneously fulfilling the interests of listeners in
Cornwall:
 "Cornwall-specific speech content" was achieved predominantly by
repeated mentions of Cornwall towns within travel updates
 location references within news bulletin scripts were structured to mention
the region rather than a place name
 music played was identical to that played on Heart Devon
 listener interaction was not evident
 the phrase "Devon and Cornwall" was used regularly to imply 'localness',
although presenter's observed mispronunciation of Cornwall place names
was evident.
08-Nov-12 10-Dec-12 08-Jan-13 15-Mar-13
1600-1700 23% 33% 25% 20%
1700-1800 21% 29% [missing] 22%
1800-1900 23% 28% [missing] 21%
weekday speech as % of non-commercial
airtime
Only one of the individual hours within this show, on the four days analysed,
complied with Ofcom's requirement for speech content to be between 30%
and 50% of non-commercial output.

11. CONCLUSION
Our opinion is that, in aggregate, this combination of programmes did not
convey the overall impression on any of the four days monitored that Heart
Cornwall, in the words of Ofcom's statement of October 2012:
 "is 'specifically for Cornwall.'"
 "feature[s] significant amounts of Cornwall-specific (as opposed to more
general) speech content …"
 "'provide[s] a Cornish rather than regional approach to the needs of local
listeners.'"
 includes "levels of speech … during weekday daytime hours" that were
"reasonably substantial"
 includes an "amount of speech ... broadly in line with that previously
stated explicitly"
 "reflects the importance placed upon local news, information and speech
in relation to the output of the station as a whole" [emphasis added].19
As a result, in our opinion, it would appear that Heart Cornwall, on the days
monitored, failed to comply with either the letter or the spirit of its licensed
Format.
© 2013 Grant Goddard
Published by Radio Books
http://www.radiobooks.org
http://www.grantgoddard.co.uk
1
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiolicensing/formats/al296.doc
2
http://licensing.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/radio/applications/atl.pdf
3
ibid.
4
ibid.
5
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/broadcast/radio-ops/formats/Atlantic_FM.pdf
6
ibid.
7
ibid.
8
ibid.
9
ibid.
10
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/heartcornwall/statement/Heart_Cornwall_statement.pdf
11
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/formats-content/about-formats
12
ibid.
13
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/heartcornwall/summary/Heart_Cornwall.pdf
14
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/heartcornwall/statement/Heart_Cornwall_statement.pdf
15
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/heartcornwall/statement/Heart_Cornwall_statement.pdf
16
http://www.heart.co.uk/southwest/on-air/breakfast/
17
http://www.heart.co.uk/on-air/toby-anstis/ & http://www.heart.co.uk/on-air/nick-snaith/
18
http://www.heart.co.uk/cornwall/on-air/schedule/
19
http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/heartcornwall/statement/Heart_Cornwall_statement.pdf