Women’s Radio Rival Bidders

The Radio Authority is due to close bidding for the AM London licences on Tuesday with a last minute applicant submitting its proposal yesterday.

The new female consortium, headed by TV presenter Joan Bakewell, has the financial backing of Emap – already majority shareholders in Kiss FM. The group consists of Felicity Kendal,Sarah Greene and Liz Kershaw, all of whom are in favour of setting up an AM station aimed primarily at women.

Rival bidders, Viva, who are also plan- ning a female orientated station, are unphased by their new competitors with Jazz FM sales and marketing director Katy Turner claiming this morning that the Jazz led consortium is “very confident” in its bid, having worked on the idea for some time. Although the two proposals coincide in some areas she points out that Viva is aimed specifically at women whereas the new consortium will only have tendencies towards a female audience.

Licences to be renewed include Jazz FM, Kiss FM, LBC Newstalk, LBC Talkback, Melody Radio and Spectrum.