RA Receives 14 Applications North-East ILR Licence
The Radio Authority has announced that it received fourteen applications for the Independent Local Radio (ILR) licence for the North-East region of England. The licence will cover the areas Tyne & Wear, Cleveland and Durham together with some parts of Northumberland and North Yorkshire. The population of the area served is around 2 million.
The RA says it will need to conduct at least one ‘public interest test’ in respect of any application for this licence. The following groups have applied for the ILR:
- Crash FM (Duncan Bannantyne, 01325 356 677): an alternative rock and dance station for 15-34s in the North East.
- Crystal FM (Kath Worrall, 0171 689 1020): a broad mix of ‘contemporary easy’ music, featuring ‘melodic’ music from a wide range of eras and genres, combined with concise, authoritative and targeted news, information and speech.
- Fun Radio (Richard Park, 0171 766 6106): a music-led, interactive service targeting children aged 4-14 and their young parents, featuring new fun music, with news, information and features designed to entertain its audience.
- Galaxy FM (Mark Flanagan, 0117 901 0101): a fun, upbeat, lifestyle-led dance station, playing a mix of contemporary and classic dance music, together with news and information that matters to its target audience of 15-29 year olds.
- Ice FM (Bill Midgley, 0191 244 2204): a dance and ‘dance related’ music station for the youth of the North East, at the forefront of new music trends and tastes, with local youth information and regional, national and international news/
- Jazz FM North East (Richard Wheatly, 0171 706 4100): jazz, soul, blues and rhythm & blues, with speech and information relevant to the region.
- North East News Radio (Nigel Reeve, 0171 312 8500): the first commercial 24-hour news and newstalk station for the North East, providing a mix of regional, national and international news, travel, finance, sports, entertainment and weather.
- N.E. Rock (Steve Askew, 0191 296 1917): the finest classic and contemporary rock, indie and blues music, with national and local news, information, sport entertainment news and arts related information.
- The Point (Giles Squire, 0191 286 0000): specialist in appeal, a progressive and vital young dance and alternative music station, offering 15-30 year olds a constantly evolving environment of youth culture … for a generation disaffected and dissatisfied with the same old voices and choices.
- Rock 105 (Peter Mitchell, 0191 261 0077): a 24-hour music station featuring current and classic rock tracks from the past four decades designed primarily for a 25-44 audience.
- Route FM (Tom Steele, 0131 475 1202): today’s country music, complemented by a service of headline regional news, weather and travel for the North East.
- State FM (Lorna Moran, 0191 261 6940): a greater variety of MOR/AC music from the ’60s to the present day, relevant to the over 35 age-group, with a blend of lifestyle features and a daily news service that will give listeners the North East world in three minutes.
- Vibe FM (Rob van Pooss, 01702 333 711): a fresh classic and contemporary dance music station serving people in their teens and twenties.
- Virus Radio (Pete Waterman, 0161 833 3630): a sparkling new radio service featuring the very best of new music with interesting and provocative speech elements, aimed at young people.
Copies of these applications can be viewed by the public at the main public libraries of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Sunderland, Middlesborough and Durham, as well as the RA’s headquarters in London. The RA welcomes public comment and expects to announce the award of the licence in early Autumn.
Radio Authority: 0171 405 7058