News story about an accusation by UK media regulator Ofcom that major record companies are funding pirate radio stations in London, written by Grant Goddard in July 2006 for The Radio Magazine.

1. NEWS: OFCOM ACCUSES
MAJOR RECORD LABELS OF
DIRECTLY FUNDING LONDON
PIRATE RADIO STATIONS
by
GRANT GODDARD
www.grantgoddard.co.uk
July 2006

2. UK media regulator Ofcom has accused major record companies of directly
funding London pirate radio stations to provide exposure for their artists who
are not receiving airplay on legal radio.
Robert Thelen-Bartholomew, head of field operations at Ofcom, said: “We
have two major record labels that are currently funding two illegal broadcast
stations with considerable amounts of money in order to airplay new artists,
find out what the penetration is, and find out what the demand is for their
music. It is looking pretty likely that this is the case.”
Thelen-Bartholomew joined Ofcom last year to head its reorganised 'pirate-
busting' unit and manages three teams in London and one in Birmingham,
whose operations remove between 30 and 40 pirate transmitters per week. He
estimated that there are 80 illegal FM stations in London alone and said that
Ofcom will publish a regularly updated Spectrum Pollution Index [SPI] on its
website from September to show the extent of unlicensed use of FM Band II
channels. As an example, he explained that Peckham currently has an SPI of
42, meaning that pirate stations are audible on 42 FM channels in the borough.
“The solution isn’t one of just going out and prosecuting people,” said Thelen-
Bartholomew. “There may be other approaches and other issues and so, in
order to prepare that, we have just started some audience analysis for illegal
broadcasting. That causes the research team at Ofcom a little bit of difficulty
because we then have to do research about an illegal broadcaster and the
attitudes that are there within the listening community, who may not exactly
want to talk about the fact that they listen to pirate radio.”
Although this research will not be completed until October, Thelen-
Bartholomew admitted: “The emerging findings are quite worrying. There is a
considerable audience that is easily comparable to one of the larger
[commercial] FM stations in London.”
Thelen-Bartholomew posed a question to the commercial radio industry: “Is
there room to bring the content of illegal stations into the fold? One way or
another, whether we like it or not, we have a large population out there
listening to illegal radio. Why do they listen? We are trying to find out. But, if
you listen to the stations, they are producing slightly different content and
output [from legal stations]. Some of it is very high quality. Some of it is very
interesting. So, what options are there for bringing some of that content into
mainstream radio?”
He said that Ofcom needed to examine this issue and assess the options for
action. Ofcom often finds that, after raiding a pirate station’s transmitter, it
returns to the air within a few hours. “It’s a very market-driven market. Ofcom
should be proud of it,” said Thelen-Bartholomew. “I believe the first spectrum
trade was an illegal broadcaster who sold the frequency they were occupying
to another station.”
He predicted that piracy will move to DAB frequencies “eventually” because it
will offer stations the ability to reach portable devices including mobile phones.
News: Ofcom Accuses Major Record Labels Of Directly Funding London Pirate Radio Stations page 2
©2006 Grant Goddard

3. News: Ofcom Accuses Major Record Labels Of Directly Funding London Pirate Radio Stations page 3
©2006 Grant Goddard
Ofcom is participating in a pirate radio 'summit' to be organised jointly by the
Department for Culture Media & Sport, the Department of Trade & Industry and
the Commercial Radio Companies Association.
[First published in 'The Radio Magazine' as 'Record Labels Fund Pirates', #745, 19 July 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