Eight Applications Received For Liberty Licence

The Radio Authority has confirmed that eight applications have been made for the Greater London ILR licence currently held by Liberty Radio. As well as a re-application by the existing licensee, there have also been a number of applications from stations catering for the Asian community, two for children’s stations and one from Saga radio, which caters for older audiences.

The licence covers an area with a potential adult audience of above 4.5 million, which is why it has to be competitively re-advertised. Liberty’s service, which aims at a female audience with a mixture of classic hits and speech programming, has averaged audiences around 30,000.

Applications to provide services for London’s Asian community have come from Asian Talk Radio Ltd, Club Asia, Planet AM and Tap Radio. The first would be a speech based station, the rest propose music based content aimed at 15-34 year olds.

Abracdabra Radio’s application to provide a children’s service was reported on NewsLine earlier this week (see Young Versus Old In Battle For Liberty Licence). Its bid to provide a service for London’s under-15s is joined by Takeover Radio, which proposes a mix of pop music with “exciting and refreshing speech and interactive educational programme making in schools”, aimed at children, teens and a family audience.

The new licence will be awarded for eight years from 3 July 2003. Comments are invited on the proposals, which are available for scrutiny from the Radio Authority. A decision on the award is expected in Autumn this year.

Radio Authority: 020 7430 2724 www.radioauthority.org.uk

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