The Radio Authority (RA) chief executive, Tony Stoller, today told the Birmingham Radio Festival how the Authority plans to make the award of radio licences a more open and transparent procedure.
Following criticisms from some figures in the industry, from the Autumn the RA will make public its reasons for the choice of successful applicants for independent local radio (ILR) licences. Currently the reasons for granting the award to one group over another are not announced.
However, Stoller has decided not to release details of why applicants were not successful as this could be potentially damaging to the groups involved.
As part of this move toward ‘openness’ the Authority will also release technical data relating to broadcasters’ licences and applications. Both of these new procedures will be in play when the RA starts an eight year re-advertisement of all 223 commercial ILR licences in the country.
The promise of performance, which determines what format a station must take, is also to be reassessed by the RA in order to preserve the essential character of a station without becoming bogged down in details. A consultation on this change will begin in the Summer.
After a year long experiment, the RA will also begin to issue long-term, low powered AM licences to be used by student and hospital radio services, and other non-commercial organisations.
Stoller said: “It is rare for a regulator to be in a position to announce five major initiatives at the same time, all of which go to the heart of the system. However, this is a measure of the determination of the Radio Authority to continue to facilitate the growth and health of independent radio on the widest front.”
The RA has also launched its own website which can be accessed at http://www.radioauthority.org.uk/.
Radio Authority: 0171 405 7058
