OFCOM - Annual Report on the Sector: 2008/2009

8/3/2019 OFCOM - Annual Report on the Sector: 2008/2009

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Community RadioAnnual report on the sector: 2008/2009

Statement

Publication date: 18 November 2009


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Main Heading

Contents

Section Page

1 Executive summary 12 Sector overview 43 Community Radio Stations Income 114 Community Radio Stations Costs 225 Community Radio Stations Key Commitments and Social Gain 25

Annex Page

1 Stations Completing an Annual Report in 2008/09 35


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Community radio annual report 2008/2009

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Section 1

1 Executive summary

1.1 Community radio stations are a new type of not-for-profit radio service, designed tooperate on a small-scale and to deliver community benefits (social gain) to one ormore communities. The legislation to enable community radio services to be licensedwas introduced in 2004, and the first station launched in November 2005. This isOfcoms second annual report on the sector.

1.2 Ofcom has now licensed 214 stations over two rounds of licensing. 159 of these arebroadcasting, 12 have either decided not to launch or have handed their licence backand the remainder are preparing to start broadcasting. The second round of licensingis ongoing - Ofcom is currently considering 13 applications from groups based in thesoutheast of England (excluding London and other areas within the M25) and afurther 31 applications from groups based in London or other areas within the M25

motorway.

1.3 Community radio serves a wide range of communities; the majority serve a generalaudience in either an urban area (17%) or a town / rural area (44%). However, manyothers serve smaller communities of interest including those aimed at minority ethnicgroups (14%), young people (9%) and religious groups (7%). 170 of the stationsawarded a licence are in England, 14 in Northern Ireland, 20 in Scotland and 10 inWales.

1.4 The legislation governing community radio sets out the characteristics of communityradio services and defines social gain. Each station has a set of key commitmentswhich forms part of its licence and details how the station will meet these

characteristics and deliver social gain, including for example, its core aims andcommitments in respect of training, access and accountability.

1.5 The legislation also provides for Ofcom to set licence conditions that limit the amountof income that can be generated from on-air advertising and sponsorship. For moststations this limit is 50%; however, two stations have a lower limit (25% and 10%)and a further 18 stations are not allowed to receive any income of this type. Theadditional restrictions are in order to protect smaller commercial services with whosecoverage areas the community services overlap.

1.6 Every station that has been broadcasting for more than a year is required tocomplete an annual report; this report details how a station has performed against its

key commitments and also identifies its sources of income and expenditure, in part toensure that the station has met the legislative requirements on funding. For theperiod April 2008-March 2009 Ofcom received reports from 99 stations (92% of thoserequired to complete a return). Seven reports are outstanding in full or part (stationsthat launched during this period or later are not included in this report).

1.7 The average stations income in 2008/09 was around 79,000, although the medianfigure (the mid-point in the distribution of stations incomes) is significantly lower at50,000, suggesting a small number of stations earn significantly more than themajority. (The reported income of the four highest income stations is as large as the50 lowest income stations combined, at around 1.4 million. If we exclude these fourstations the average income drops to around 67,000, with no significant change in

the median.) Stations serving particular communities reported a higher income thenthe sector average - those serving general audiences in urban areas (an average


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income of 92,000) and those serving minority ethnic communities (an averageincome of 106,000).

1.8 The average income is down by around 20% on the previous years reported figures(the average for 2007-2008 was 101,000) and similarly, the median income is alsodown by around 20%. The relative contribution of different types of income does notappear to have changed substantially in comparison with the previous year. Althoughwe cannot be certain as to the reason for the drop in reported average incomes, theindications are that the recession has had an impact and community radio stationsthemselves often reported that they believed the recession was a major factorimpacting not just on advertising but also grant income.

1.9 The most significant type of income for the sector is grant funding, which accounts foraround 41% of the total. Income from on-air advertising or sponsorship is the nextmost important, accounting for around 23% of the total (23% of stations in this yearsreport did not seek income from advertising or sponsorship at all either because (1)they choose not to (16 stations) or (2) because they were prohibited under their

licence from doing so (seven stations)).

1.10 Public sources of funding usually in the form of grants - account for around 43% ofthe sectors total income. Local authorities are a major source of public funding,accounting for around 17% of the sectors total income whilst the Community RadioFund, administered by Ofcom on behalf of the Department for Media, Culture andSport, accounts for around 4% of the sectors total income. The Community RadioFund remains the individual largest single source of income for the sector althoughwe are aware of a number of other grants in excess of 100,000 that have been paidto individual stations.

1.11 Community radio stations are, on average, spending a little more than their income

on average stations cost 81,000 to run. The major item of expenditure is staff ataround 52%; premises and technical costs are the next most significant items ataround 10% each. The sector average is a deficit of just under 3,000, but thisdisguises a wide range from surpluses of 83,000 down to a deficit of 133,000. 40%of all community stations which have returned annual reports were in deficit and 23%of stations had deficits in excess of 10,000. In general, large deficits are beingfunded by parent organisations whilst any surpluses are invested in the operation ofthe service.

1.12 Community radio stations broadcast live on average for around 77 hours a week, andtypically broadcast a further 10 hours per week of original pre-recorded material. Onaverage, around 32% of stations daytime output is speech, featuring a diverse range

of local organisations and community members. Music output is similarly broad:some stations focus on particular genres that are not commonly heard on the radiowhilst others take a more mainstream approach during the daytime but then branchout into specialist genres in the evening.

1.13 The average station has around 75 volunteers although again there is a widevariation, from 1 to 287 who together give around 222 hours a week of their time intotal. There are now some 159 stations broadcasting and Ofcom therefore estimatesthat volunteers contribute nearly 150,000 hours a month to community radio.

1.14 Ofcom is addressing a number of regulatory issues following receipt (or non-receipt)of individual reports. Ofcom is seeking further information from three stations with

respect to the statutory 50% limit on the amount of income that is received from on-air advertising and sponsorship, seven stations have not yet returned their reports in


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full or part to Ofcom, which is a potential breach of a stations licence, and Ofcom haswritten to one station with respect to its key commitments where Ofcom considersthat the station has not provided enough information to allow Ofcom to assesswhether it is meeting its commitments. If we are not satisfied with the steps taken bystations then we may consider regulatory action.


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Section 2

2 Sector overview

2.1 Community radio forms a distinctive third tier of broadcasting services alongside theBBC and commercial radio. Its distinctiveness is enshrined in the Community RadioOrder 2004 (available atwww.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/20041944.htm) which sets outcertain requirements for community radio, including that services are non-profit-distributing, are provided for an identified target community, deliver defined socialgain objectives, invite access and participation in the service, and are accountable totheir target communities.

2.2 Ofcom first invited applications for community radio licences in September 2004, andfinished this initial round of licensing in May 2006. There were 194 applicants in thefirst round and 107 groups were awarded a licence, with the first station launch inNovember 2005.

2.3 For the second round of community radio licensing, Ofcom invited applications on aregion-by-region basis. The UK was split into eight regions, starting with southwestEngland and south Wales in late 2006 and concluding with London and other areaswithin the M25 in November 2009.

2.4 There is a severe shortage of available FM frequencies in many urban parts of thecountry: when Ofcom first issued the invitation to apply for licences in London andother areas within the M25 it was only able to identify two available frequencies, thepotential use of which was limited to areas in south London only. However, thedecision of the owner of the local commercial radio service for the High Wycombeand Amersham areas of Buckinghamshire to hand back its licence meant that there

was the potential for two more FM frequencies to be used by community radioservices within the M25. Ofcom therefore decided to reissue its invitation andextended the closing date to 3 November.

2.5 As of November 2009, Ofcom has awarded 107 groups a licence in the second roundout of 154 applications considered, and a further 44 applications are underconsideration. Of the 198 second round applications received by Ofcom, 169 werefrom groups in England, 13 from Scotland, nine from Northern Ireland and sevenfrom Wales.

2.6 In total Ofcom has offered licences to 214 community radio stations; of these 159have been issued the stations are on air - with 43 preparing to launch (community

radio stations have up to two years to launch from the date that they are offered alicence).
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/20041944.htmhttp://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/20041944.htmhttp://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/20041944.htmhttp://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2004/20041944.htm


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Figure 1 Community radio stations launch dates by year

2.7 Nine stations decided not to launch and a further three handed their licence backafter they had commenced broadcasting. In general, the reasons for a communityradio service failing relate to funding: a number of groups were hit by unexpectedcash flow issues, and others had placed excessive reliance on a single major sourceof funding that subsequently fell through. One group had a very small core group ofparticipants - which may have impacted upon its ability to attract wider volunteer

input and funding whilst another group suffered from the failure of its parentorganisation. Although community stations have up to two years to launch from thepoint of licence award, both successful and unsuccessful groups have found that thistimeframe still requires prompt action and adequate planning in order to launch avaluable and sustainable service.

Licence transfers

2.8 Community radio licences may be transferred from one organisation to another.However, Ofcom must consent to such transfers and in order to give such consentOfcom must be satisfied that the proposed new licence-holder is in a position tocomply with all of the conditions included in the licence such as providing the

licensed service and continuing to deliver the stations existing key commitment. Toestablish this Ofcom requests information from the proposed new licence-holderincluding business plans, evidence of available funding to sustain the service and therelevant experience of the proposed directors.

2.9 During the year (2009) to date Ofcom has consented to two licence transfers, for thelicences of Radio Cardiff and Skyline Radio in Hedge End, Hampshire.

2.10 Further information on the licensing process for community radio is available onOfcoms website atwww.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/.

2.11 As Figure 2 shows, community radio services are dispersed across the UK, with 161stations licensed in England, 14 in Northern Ireland, 18 in Scotland and nine in Wales(excluding licences handed back).
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/


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2.12 Each community radio station defines its own target community (or communities)when it applies for a licence. The majority of stations seek to serve a generalaudience within their broadcast areas, but a sizeable minority are targeted at aspecific community within a geographic area (see Figure 3 below).

Figure 3: community radio - types of community served

Type ofcommunityserved

Number oflicencesawarded1

Percentageof licencesawarded

Number on-air(October2009)

Numbercompletingannualreports2008/09

General audience town/ rural

93 44% 62 29

General audience urban

236 17% 30 24

Minority ethnicgroup 29 14% 26 16

Young people 20 9% 13 7

Religious focus 15 7% 11 8

Military 9 4% 9 9

Other

Older people 4 2% 2 2

Arts 3 1% 3 2Disability 1 >1% 1 1

Health promotion 1 >1% 1 0

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexualand Transgender

1 >1% 0 0

Scottish music 1 >1% 1 1Urban music 1 >1% 0 0

Total 214 159 99

2.13 There is a wide variation within some categories of community of interest stations; forexample stations aimed at young people include those specifically for children suchas the two Takeover Radio stations (in Leicester and in Sutton-in-Ashfield) andothers aimed at students in higher education which may include older people in theirtarget audiences. Stations with a religious theme may also vary greatly in their output between their religious affiliations, the amount of speech they broadcast and theextent to which their output is explicitly religious or more mainstream whilst informedby a Christian or Islamic ethos (for example).

2.14 It is also important to note that the boundaries between different types of community

of interest may be fluid; the urban music station Intobeats FM in Bedford will beprincipally focussed on urban music but consequently its target community will bemostly comprised of younger people, whereas some youth stations such as Unity inManchester have urban music at the core of their programming.

2.15 Furthermore, many of the stations serving broad geographic communities have aparticular remit to serve subgroups within those communities the Community RadioOrder 2004 requires that community radio stations seek to serve underserved

1Including licences that have been handed back.

2We have defined an urban station as one based in a town/ city of more than 175,000 people and / or

one that is contiguous to a large conurbation.3Includes services aimed at children and those in further or higher education, as well as young

people more generally.


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communities and we would estimate that at least half of the geographic stationshave some programming specifically aimed at one or more minority or disadvantagedgroup. Generally speaking, the more urban a station the more likely it is to haveoutput aimed at specific sub-groups within the community (reflecting the greaterdiversity within their broadcast areas) that said, a number of the rural stationsbroadcast output for groups such as migrant farm workers.

2.16 Indeed, with some general audience stations, much of the output is split betweendifferent interest groups. Therefore the headline numbers for community of intereststations given above underestimates the true amount of programming and off-airactivity aimed at people who fall into one or more of the sub-groups identified inFigure 3, or other groups, particularly the economically disadvantaged.

2.17 For example, RadioReverb in Brighton has an eclectic schedule including Up andOut (a breakfast show for the LGBT community), Refugee Radio, Songs from theArk (an alternative country music programme), Business as Usual (for Brightonssmall and medium-sized businesses) and Chilli Beat Science which combines

science news with recent dance music.

2.18 For those general audience stations that dont explicitly divide the schedule betweendifferent communities of interest, a common approach is to have daytime weekdayprogramming centred around mainstream music and speech with plenty ofcommunity information, but then moving to specialist music programmes in theevening (usually in recognition of the fact that mainstream audiences tends to movetowards television in the evening). Anecdotally, it appears that this approach iscommon amongst those stations serving general audiences in towns or rural areas.

2.19 Similarly, many community of interest stations offer programming that has a broadappeal beyond their main target community.

The population served by community radio

2.20 Based on our computer modelling of population data and signal reception, Ofcomestimates that around 7.5m adults (9.4m people) are able to receive a communityradio station broadly aimed at them that is, either a general audience service orone that appeals to a particular community of interest of which they are a member.We must stress that this is an approximate figure, as there is a wide variation in theconcentration of spectrum use across the UK and figures for the size of communitiesof interest are estimates only.

2.21 Therefore around 15% of the population is able to receive a community radio service

on FM or AM aimed at them; this, combined with the fact that Ofcom has had torestrict FM applications in a number of urban areas because of a shortage of suitablefrequencies, suggests that demand may still be a long way from being fulfilled.

2.22 The exact parameters for assessing the coverage of community radio services areset out in Ofcoms document The licensing of community radio(www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/prsandl/l_cr_state/). Further details ofhow Ofcom defines technical coverage can be found in Coverage: Planning Policy,Definitions and Assessment, which is available on our web site at:www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/coverage/pp_def/.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/prsandl/l_cr_state/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/prsandl/l_cr_state/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/prsandl/l_cr_state/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/coverage/pp_def/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/coverage/pp_def/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/car/coverage/pp_def/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/prsandl/l_cr_state/


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Community radio reporting requirements

2.23 Each community radio station has a set of key commitments which forms part of itslicence. This is the equivalent of the Format included in every analogue commercialradio licence, but is far more detailed, including, as well as the nature of theprogramme service to be provided and its core aims, details of the licensee'scommitments in respect of the delivery of social gain, training, access andaccountability.

2.24 Community radio licensees are required to submit an annual report on progress anddelivery against their key commitments. We have a template for the annual reportwhich licensees complete and a separate pro forma for financial information.

2.25 Licensees must submit the pro forma financial report each year, so that we can judgewhether they have stayed within the funding limits set by the legislation and set out intheir licence (see below). The report includes information such as major sources ofincome and expenditure. A failure to adhere to the funding limits may be a breach of

a licence condition. For the period April 2008-March 2009 Ofcom received reportsfrom 99 stations. At the time of publication of this report, seven stations had notcompleted their return4

2.26 Most community radio services are allowed under their licence to generate up to 50%of their funding from on-air commercial sources (spot-advertising and sponsorshipopportunities taken together). At the time of licensing, Ofcom can set a lowerproportion of the amount of income that can be derived from on-air advertising orsponsorship. Ofcom does this when it believes that licensing a service may prejudiceunduly the economic viability of another local service. Currently two stations have

such restrictions in their licences (Garrison FM in Catterick with a 25% limit, andRadio Sunlight in Gillingham with a 10% limit). KCC Live in Knowsley also had alower (15%) limit imposed, however, after the licence for the local commercial radioservice with which it overlapped was revoked by Ofcom the restriction was increasedto the standard 50% limit.

. Failure to provide a report is a potential breach of a stationslicence, Ofcom has written to each of these stations offering them the opportunity tomake comments before we consider further action.

2.27 A small number of community radio services (18 in total, of which 14 are on-air) areprohibited under their licence from obtaining any income from advertising orsponsorship where there is an overlap with another local station serving between50,000 and 150,000 adults (aged 15+) within their measured coverage area (MCA). Itis possible that, were this restriction not in place, other community groups wouldconsider applying for a licence in the areas affected. There are currently 66 local

commercial stations which benefit from this prohibition.

2.28 A further legislative restriction, implemented to protect very small-scale commercialstations, is a prohibition from licensing any community radio services which overlapwith another local station serving 50,000 adults (aged 15+) or fewer within their MCA.There are 24 such commercial services of this size broadcasting at present. (Thisprohibition may be removed in the near future, see paragraph 2.30 below.)

2.29 It is important to note that during the licence application process Ofcom must assesswhether, more generally, a community radio service is likely to prejudice unduly the

4

Therefore the response rate was around 92%. We do not believe that the seven stations who did notsubmit a report will have significantly affected the findings (by, for example, having very high or lowtotal incomes in relation to the rest of the sector).


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economic viability of any other existing local service. It is possible therefore that insome cases, even if the absolute prohibition on a community radio serviceoverlapping a small commercial service were removed, Ofcom may still decide not tolicense a community radio service because of the serious potential economic harm itmight cause to an existing radio service.

The Community Radio (Amendment) Order 2009

2.30 The Community Radio (Amendment) Order 2009 (the 2009 Order) is expected to belaid before Parliament shortly. On the basis of the Department for Culture Media andSport consultation on amendments to the community radio licensing regime, Ofcomanticipates that the 2009 Order will remove the restriction which prohibits Ofcom fromlicensing community services that may overlap with local commercial radio stationswhich serve a potential audience of fewer than 50,000 adults. If enacted, Ofcomwould be allowed to license a community radio service in such an area in future.However, such community radio services would not be able to take any income fromthe sale of on-air advertising and sponsorship (as with those stations that overlap

with commercial radio services serving a potential audience of between 50,000 and150,000 adults).

2.31 The 2009 Order is expected to implement two other notable changes to thelegislation:

1) Licence extension

The 2009 Order is expected to set out a process by which existing community radioservices may have their licences extended once for a further five years. Ofcomexpects that over 60 stations may seek to have their licences extended in 2010.

2) Removal of the 50% limit on funding from any single source

The 2009 Order is expected to propose removing the current legislative restrictionwhereby Ofcom cannot grant a licence where an applicant proposes to receive morethan 50% of its funding from any one source (this refers to a single organisationrather than a type of funding such as advertising or grants).

2.32 The DCMS consultation (now closed) and statement on Amendments to theCommunity Radio Licensing Regime is available atwww.culture.gov.uk.

Third round of licensing

2.33 The application window for the last region in the second round of licensing is nowclosed. Ofcom is aware of continued demand for community radio services acrossthe UK and we expect in the next few months to consider whether to conduct a thirdround of community radio licensing, and if so, how and when to do this. Ofcomremains committed to enabling any community that wants such a service to haveone, subject to the legislative requirements and frequency availability.
http://www.culture.gov.uk/http://www.culture.gov.uk/http://www.culture.gov.uk/http://www.culture.gov.uk/


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Section 3

3 Community radio stations income

3.1 Community radio stations receive income from a wide range of sources: as notedearlier the legislation specifically requires diversity of income, with rules that currentlyprevent Ofcom from granting licences to applicants who intend to receive more than50% of their income from any one source. The legislation also provides for Ofcom toset limits on the amount of income received from on-air advertising or sponsorship.For most stations this limit has been at 50% of all relevant income5

3.2 Again, as discussed earlier, some stations those that overlap with small-scalecommercial services serving between 50,000 and 150,000 adults are forbiddenthrough conditions in their licences from taking such on-air advertising (18 at

present). Ofcom also has the power to impose a limit of less than 50% on acommunity radio service if it believes the standard 50% limit would prejudice undulythe economic viability of another local service - two stations have such restrictions,one with a limit of 10% and the other at 25% (one of these stations, CatterickGarrison, is broadcasting and completed a report this year).

. Relevantincome means any payment or financial benefit, whether direct or indirect, which isattributable to the services provided under a stations licence.

3.3 Community radio services must also operate on a non-profit distributing basis,ploughing any excess revenues back into the operation of the service.

3.4 Ofcom asked each station completing an annual report to report on its total income,broken down by category. Figure 5 below shows the average income across thesector for the period April 2008-March 2009. It is important to note that there are

variations depending on the type of station and its location, and these variations arediscussed later.

Average income

3.5 The average (mean) income for the sector was around 79,000. However, there wasa very wide range of incomes as illustrated in Figure 4 below. Income ranged from3,000 to over 415,000. The median income (i.e. the value at the mid-point in thedistribution of incomes) in the sector was substantially lower than the mean, at50,000, suggesting a small number of stations generate a significant proportion ofthe sectors income for example, the four richest stations earn as much income asthe bottom 50 combined (around 1.4 million). If we exclude the four highest earning

stations the average income declines to around 67,000, although the median is notsignificantly different (48,000).

5

As noted in paragraph 2.32 above, the rule limiting funding from any one source to no more than50% of total income may be removed in the near future. The restrictions on income derived fromadvertising or sponsorship are likely to remain in place.


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Figure 4: distribution of total income levels across the sector

3.6 Last year Ofcom found that stations average income was just over 100,000 with amedian of around 62,000. Therefore the reported level of decline for both average

(mean) and median incomes was around 20%

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3.7 Ofcom observes that newer stations have lower incomes and considers that this isbecause they have yet to establish themselves in their communities; indeed theaverage income of those stations that have been on air for more than 18 months wasaround 89,000 for this reporting period whereas for those who have beenbroadcasting for less than 18 months the average income was lower at around42,000

indicating a consistent impact acrossthe income spectrum.

7

3.8 In the absence of other changes we would have expected the average income tohave risen - we consider it likely that the recession has had an impact on communityradio stations finances. The only other significant variable that we have found toaffect income is the type of community served. However, when Ofcom consideredthe distribution of the types of station by community served, we found that the rangeof stations submitting reports this year was not significantly different from last year

. However, around a quarter of the stations reporting this year had been on-air for less than 18 months, whereas last year around half of reporting stations hadbeen on-air for less than 18 months.

8

6

If we exclude the four highest earning stations from the calculations for last year and this year, thereis still a decline of around 20% for both mean and median incomes.7

In the last reporting period, the average income for the 32 stations that had been on air from morethan 18 months was 117,000, whilst the 35 stations that had been on air for less than 18 months it

was 86,000.8As noted previously, the return rate for annual reports this year was around 92% (99 out of 106); last

year the return rate was even higher (69 out of 70).

.The average incomes of the largest stations (by income) and others have all fallen in


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comparison to last year. The income of those on air for less than 18 months is lowerthan those over 18 months, but both have fallen in comparison to last year. There areclear indications therefore, supported by comments from stations themselves (seeparagraph 5.51), that the recession has had an impact.

3.9 As shown in Figure 5 below, and consistent with last year, the most important typesof income for the sector continue to be grants (41%), on-air advertising andsponsorship (22%), Service Level Agreements (SLAs) or service contracts (12%)and donations (9%). (SLAs allow community radio stations to engage with relevantstatutory organisations for the delivery of output of social benefit, in return forfunding.)

Figure 5: average income across the community sector

3.10 Although Ofcom provides guidance notes, we acknowledge that different stationsmight take different approaches to the allocation of particular types of income inspecific categories. This is particularly the case for grants, SLAs and funding foreducation/ training, where one payment could conceivably be classified in any ofthese categories and therefore we consider the figures within these categories to beclose approximates (however, we are confident that the figures for overall income are

robust).


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3.11 Where stations are part of a larger community organisation stations may be part ofa further education establishment for example Ofcom has asked that only theincome and expenses incurred in the operation of the radio station are included.However, we do recognise that different stations might have taken differentapproaches in apportioning income or costs to the community radio service.

3.12 Similarly, another important factor to note in considering both income andexpenditure is that most stations broadcast online with a smaller number alsobroadcasting on other licensed platforms (for example as a satellite radio channel onSky TV). In these cases stations have often included the income (throughadvertising) and expenditure within their financial returns, although we have askedthat these are appropriately categorised (for example any advertising income orproportion of advertising income for websites or other radio platforms should bereported as off-air advertising). In the case of advertising income this should berelatively straightforward to apportion: however, other types of income (e.g. a grant)or expenditure (e.g. staff) may be more difficult to apportion to the community radiolicence as opposed to other broadcast types and readers should bear this in mind

when considering the figures. (From a regulatory perspective the key factor forOfcom is the proportion of income received from on-air advertising or sponsorship.)

3.13 Figure 6 below provides a more detailed breakdown of the various income types thatstations reported this year. It is important to note that no single type of income isreceived by all stations. We highlight the particular issues around advertising below(paragraphs 3.14-3.21), but it is worth noting that some of the less frequently usedsources of income do actually generate more than the average for those stations thatuse them. For example, the sector average for membership schemes is only 500,yet the 19 stations that have membership schemes report an average income fromthis source of around 3,000.


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Figure 6: detailed breakdown of income in the community radio sector 2008/09

Income type Sampletotals

% of sectorincome

Sector average Average forstations inreceipt ofincome type

Total income 7.78m 100% 79k n/aCombined on-aircommercialincome

1.75m 23% 18k 23k (76stations)

Grants 3.23m 41% 33k 38k (85stations)

Servicecontracts/SLAs

0.90m 12% 9k 34k (27stations)

Donations 0.72m 9% 7k 13k (57stations)9

Other

Off-air advertisingand sponsorship

288k 4% 3k 13k (22stations)10

Fundraising,events and

merchandising

148k 2% 1k 3k (46 stations)

Education andtraining

347k 4% 3k 12k (29stations)

Membershipschemes

53k 1% 0.5k 3k (19 stations)

Broadcast accessfees

52k 1% 0.5k 6k (9 stations)

All other income 279k 4% 3k 6k (48 stations)

The impact of community radio legislation on-air commercial income

3.14 There is little reported difference between the average income of those stations thatdo take advertising (81,000) and those that dont (73,000). Of the 23 stations thatdont take advertising, seven are prohibited under their licence from doing so. Theseven stations that are prohibited from taking advertising had a lower reportedaverage income (21,000) however, the small number of stations of this type thatcompleted a report this year mean that we cannot draw definitive conclusions.

3.15 The remaining 16 stations which did not take advertising and sponsorship in the

reporting period choose not to do so for internal policy or other reasons, despite thelicence permitting the station to take up to 50% of its revenue from such income. Thisincludes a number that are supported by financially strong parent organisations thus reducing their need for commercial income. It should also be noted that withinthe community radio movement there has been a historic debate about the role ofincome from advertising; consequently a number of stations prefer not to take suchcommercial income for fear of deflecting from their core purpose. Similarly, some

9This average includes two exceptionally large donations in excess of 100,000. If these were

removed the average income from donations for the remaining 55 stations that had donations wouldbe around 8,000.10

This average includes one station that receives a large amount of advertising from its broadcastsvia satellite. It this is removed the average income from donations for the remaining 21 stations thatreported off-air advertising would be around 7,000.


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stations that target younger people have particular concerns about advertisingtowards this community, especially if the station is supported by one or more formaleducation institutions.

3.16 On average, for those stations that do take on-air advertising and sponsorship, suchincome forms around 29% of total income (excluding in-kind support see below).

3.17 As shown in Figure 8 below, some types of station reported receiving advertisingincome shares that vary from the sector average. For example, stations servingminority ethnic communities received 36% of their income from advertising. Becausesome categories of station had relatively few reports submitted we have not includedtheir data in Figure 8 below as the sample size was too small to robustly report anaverage. Of these, we note that the seven stations serving young people reportedtaking less of their income from advertising, with three of these taking none at all.

3.18 There was no material observed variation in the proportion of income taken by on-airadvertising relative to the length of time a station has been on air.

3.19 17 stations received more than 50% of their cash income from on-air advertising andsponsorship. However, as explained above, the restrictions on income fromadvertising and sponsorship apply to relevant income which may be higher thancash income. This is because, in calculating relevant income, indirect financialbenefits may be taken into account. Such benefits may include items that have beenprovided in kind or voluntarily, for which the station would otherwise have to pay.Examples may include premises which have been provided at peppercorn rates,services such as free marketing, or volunteer input. In June 2008 Ofcom published itsguidelines for stations wishing to use volunteer time as part of station turnover seewww.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/volunteerinput.pdf- this valued anhours volunteering from senior volunteers at 13.13 and for standard volunteers at

9.38.

3.20 The average value of voluntary or in-kind support provided to stations in thereporting period was 56,000 (74 stations reported in-kind support), the majority ofwhich was in the form of volunteer support. Support through the provision ofpremises and professional services was also common. (The average above excludesthose stations which did not report their in-kind support.) The total value to the sectorwas around 4.1 million for this sample. However, as not all stations are required toreport in kind support and therefore some choose not to - particularly those stationsthat did not need to offset any volunteer support against advertising income (seeparagraph 3.19 above) - the real level of in-kind support in the sector is likely to behigher. Figure 12 (page 27) shows that the average number of volunteer hours per

week is 222; in theory this could value the support the average station receives in-kind from volunteers at over 100,000 each year.

3.21 The only stations to report significant variations on the average level of in-kindsupport were military stations, which have a low number of volunteers and thereforelittle reported in-kind support, and stations in London, which reported much highersupport than the average.

Public funding

3.22 Ofcom also asked stations to report on their major funders, regardless of the type ofincome. From this we have calculated the approximate value of public funding

towards community radio just under 44% of the sectors income comes directlyfrom public sources (see Figure 7 below). Last years report found that public funding
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/volunteerinput.pdfhttp://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/volunteerinput.pdfhttp://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/volunteerinput.pdf


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accounted for around 53% of the sectors income. We noted that last year thosestations that had been on air for longer tended to attract a greater proportion of theirincome from non-public sources. Compared to last year, a greater proportion ofstations completing a report this year have been on air for more than two years.

3.23 The most significant individual source of public funding is the Community Radio Fund(the Fund), administered by Ofcom on behalf of DCMS. The Fund is worth up to500,00011 per year and is designed to support the core costs of community radioservices, such as fundraising and management. The typical grant per successfulapplicant is around 15,000, and it is now rare for a station to receive more than onegrant from the Fund in successive years. Further information on the Fund is availableon Ofcoms website atwww.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/Communityfund/. In the period underreview the Fund accounted for around 4% of the sectors total income. (There were asmall number of other individual funders who made grants or SLAs of more than100,000 in the year under review.)

3.24 Local authorities are significant funders of community radio, usually in the form ofgrants but increasingly through SLAs, and they often pay for advertising theirservices.

3.25 Other major sources of public funding include the Welsh Assembly Community RadioFund, grants from central government bodies such as the Arts Council, the Ministryof Defence (for those stations serving military communities of interest), healthproviders, educational establishments and grants from various national lottery awardschemes.

3.26 Because Ofcom asked stations to identify the 10 most significant funders by value, itis possible that some public funds are not included in this total; however, the majority

of stations have fewer than 10 funders excluding advertisers and in-kind supportfrom volunteers and by definition the sums excluded from these totals will be lowerin value.

3.27 We have categorised the source of funding according to the body that makes thedecision on payment of the fund type: therefore funds administered by localauthorities on behalf of central Government are classified as being from localauthorities, whereas money from charities that may have Government support arenot classified as public funds.

3.28 It is also important to note that we have not included in-kind support, for examplethrough the provision of staff (which some university-run stations benefit from, for

example) or premises from a local authority.

11

Not all stations that received a grant from the Fund in 2008/09 were due to complete an annualreport. Therefore, the total reported income from the Fund is lower than the actual total paid out tostations.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/Communityfund/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/Communityfund/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/Communityfund/


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Figure 7: Public funding of community radio stations

Income by type of community served:

3.29 As shown in Figure 3 earlier, community radio serves a diverse range of audiences.Figure 8 below shows how different types of station can have quite marked variationsin both their total average income and the sources of that income.


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Figure 8: income by type of community served

3.30 Some significant differences in the value of different types of income to differenttypes of station are highlighted in Figure 8 above. Stations serving general audiencesin urban areas and those serving minority ethnic communities (which also tend to be

in urban areas) have incomes noticeably higher than the sector average at 92,000and 106,000 respectively. Stations in towns or rural areas have lower incomes(57,000).

3.31 The data for military stations (not included in Figure 8 above) are mixed: theiraverage income (70,000) is not particularly representative of this group as onestation receives more income than the other eight combined. The average income forthese eight stations is around 35,000. The average for religious stations is alsoquite significantly affected by one high income station without this station, theaverage for the remaining seven stations would be closer to 57,000 as opposed tothe 79,000 average shown in Figure 8. The seven stations serving young peoplethat reported this year had an average income substantially lower than the average

for the sector, at around 51,000 (two of the seven stations that did not completetheir returns in time to be included in this report serve young people).

3.32 Stations serving general audiences in towns / rural areas take a higher proportion oftheir income from grants (53% or 30,000 in absolute terms) than the sector average(which is 41%), whilst religious stations take significantly less (17% - or 13,000).However, religious stations get significantly more of their income from donations 34% on average (27,000).

3.33 Some types of station reported receiving significantly less public funding than othertypes - stations serving minority ethnic communities received only 27% of theirincome from public sources whilst stations serving religious communities received

only 14% of their income from public sources compared to the sector average of44%.


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Income by length of time a station has been on air

3.34 As we found in 2007/08, there appears to be a correlation between the length of timea station has been on air and its total income. 58 of the 99 stations that completed areport for 2008/09 had been on air for more than two years; their average totalincome was around 92,000. Their 41 more recently launched peers had an averagetotal income of around 62,000. However and again reinforcing our findings fromlast year there appears to be little significant difference in the relative importance ofdifferent types of funding as a proportion of total income for stations of different ages.The two notable areas of difference are in SLAs which accounts for around 16%(15,000) of established stations income but only 2% (1,000) of newer stationsincome and also donations, which account for around 11% (10,000) of establishedstations income but only 5% (3,000) of newer stations income.

3.35 Similarly, whilst established stations tended to receive more public money in absoluteterms than the newer stations, there was little difference in the percentage of incomethat came from such sources. Newer stations were more likely to have received a

grant from the Fund (this is in line with the Community Radio Fund Panels statedintention of supporting stations that have not previously received a grant from theFund).

Income by nation and region

3.36 Although community radio stations are dispersed across the UK, some nations andregions have more stations than others. Because some nations / regions hadcomparatively few stations, it is difficult to robustly report national or regional trends.We have identified the significant variations on the average in the table below (wehave not included the findings for the east of England (5 stations reporting), northeast England (3) or Wales (5) as there were too few stations submitting a report for

the period in question to robustly report on trends). (See Figure 9 overleaf.)


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Figure 9: variations in income in the nations and regions12

Nation/region

Percentage oftotal stationsbroadcasting

Significant variation on the average

EastMidlands

9% Higher proportion of income from advertising

London 8% Higher than average total income and higher thanaverage income from other sources13.

NorthernIreland

8% Low proportion of income from advertising and higherthan average income from SLAs14.

North westEngland

12% Higher than average proportion of income fromadvertising15.

Scotland 10% Grant income low proportion of total income, incomefrom SLAs relatively high as were donations16.

South eastEngland

8% Total income lower than average, with advertisingforming a higher than average proportion.

South westEngland

11% Total income lower than average.

WestMidlands

6% Grants represent a lower than average proportion oftotal income, whilst donations are higher than average

total income.

Yorkshire &Humberside

8% Less advertising than the average.

12Number of stations reporting: east midlands 8, London 7, Northern Ireland 8, north west England

13, Scotland 11, south east England 11, south west England 13, west midlands 7, Yorkshire &Humberside 7.13

Two stations are responsible for Londons high level of income from other sources.14

Half of the NI stations reporting are also military stations and two NI stations did not complete a

report.15NW stations tend to serve urban or BME communities.

16One Scottish station received exceptionally large SLA and donation income.


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Section 4

4 Community radio stations costs

4.1 The average community radio station costs just over 81,000 a year to run. Thisrepresents a 20% decline in reported average costs between 2008/09 and 2007/08. Itseems likely that this reduction in expenditure was in large measure driven by thedecrease in average income discussed earlier. As with the sectors income, averageexpenditure disguises a wide range from around 3,000 to just over 510,000. Again,the median figure is much lower at 52,000, suggesting a small number of high coststations significantly increase the average.

4.2 Year-on-year the reported average expenditure on staff declined by just under 20%(42,000 this year versus 51,000 last year). However, staffing remained the mostsignificant cost incurred by community radio stations, accounting for 52% of thesectors total costs.

Figure 10: sector average expenditure

Sample total % of sector total Sector average Average for thosestations with specificcost type

Total expenditure 8.0m 100% 81k n/a

Staff 4.2m 52% 42k 51k (81 stations)

Premises 781k 10% 8k 12k (66 stations)

Technical costs 806k 10% 8k 9k (87 stations)

Other

Volunteer Costs 181k 2% 2k 4k (62 stations)Marketing 181k 2% 2k 3k (62 stations)

Admin 518k 6% 5k 7k (73 stations)All other expenditure 1.4m 17% 14k 16k (87 stations)

Variation in expenditure by type of community served

4.3 As was the case in the previous reporting period, those stations with higher thanaverage incomes (general audience stations in urban areas and stations servingminority ethnic communities) also had higher than average costs in the year to April2009. Conversely, categories of stations with lower than average incomes had lowerthan average costs (for example stations targeted at young people and generalaudience stations in town/ rural areas). This is shown in Figure 11 below. However,

there continues to be a wide range in station costs within most types of station bycommunity served.

4.4 The allocation of costs was once again reasonably consistent across the differenttypes of communities served. The most notable differences were the higher thanaverage staff costs of general audience stations in urban areas (64% versus the 52%sector average) and the lower than average cost of staff as a proportion of theiroverall cost base for stations serving minority ethnic and military communities (42%and 34% of their costs respectively). Military stations were also notable by allocatinga significantly higher than average proportion of expenditure to technical costs (24%versus the 10% sector average). The seven stations serving young people thatcompleted a report this year spent around twice the average proportion of theirexpenditure on premises (20%).


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Figure 11: community radio stations expenditure by type of community served(notable variations highlighted)

Variation in expenditure by length of time on air

4.5 As we noted earlier, the 58 stations in this report that have been on air for more thantwo years once again had a substantially greater average income than the sector asa whole; correspondingly, they also have higher average costs, spending an averageof around 95,000 compared to the sector average of 81,000 (and only 63,000 forthe more recently launched stations). However, there is not a significant variation inthe proportion spent on different expenditure types. These patterns broadly speakingreplicate those observed in last years annual report.

Variation in expenditure by nation / region

4.6 As explained previously, due to the small number of stations reporting in each nationor English region, caution must be exercised when assessing national/ regional

trends. The limited data available suggest that, at present, stations in London and thenorth west of England generally spend notably more than the sector average,whereas stations in the north east of England generally spend notably less than thesector average. These disparities in expenditure may in part reflect regionaldifferences in station income.

4.7 There were some marked regional variations in the distribution of station expenditure.For example, mean staffing costs of stations in north west England constituted anappreciably higher than average proportion of these stations total expenditure, whilstmean staffing costs of stations in the south east constituted an appreciably lowerthan average proportion of total expenditure. Similarly, the proportion of totalexpenditure which the average Northern Irish station spent on technical costs was

significantly higher than the average for the sector. This appears to be a reflection of


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the fact that four of the eight Northern Ireland community radio stations that returnedreports were military stations with significantly higher than average technical costs.

Are stations meeting their costs?

4.8 As can be seen from the sectors average income (79,000) and expenditure(82,000), on average the community radio sector as a whole is broadly meeting itscosts. However, there is a wide range contained within these averages, with thehighest surplus at 83,000 and the greatest deficit at 133,000. Moreover, 40% of allcommunity stations which have returned annual reports were in deficit and 23% ofstations had deficits in excess of 10,000. These proportions are similar to thoseobservable in last years returns.

4.9 In general, surpluses appear to have been reinvested in the station; deficits aregenerally funded through parent organisations or from previous years surpluses.

4.10 Not only is there a wide range within the surplus/deficit levels of the sector as a

whole, but levels of surplus/deficit vary significantly within each of the maincategories of station.

4.11 It should be noted that stations financial years were not always equivalent to theOfcom reporting period, and that, for example, grants may have been receivedoutside of this period suggesting a deficit when in fact the station is reasonablysecure.


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Section 5

5 Community radio stations key

commitments and social gain5.1 Community radio services are licensed under the terms of the Community Radio

Order 2004 (the 2004 Order) which modifies some sections of the Broadcasting Act1990 (the Broadcasting Act) as amended by the Communications Act 2003 (together"the Legislation"). The 2004 Order sets out a wide range of requirements whichbroadcasters must comply with in order to be awarded and subsequently to retain acommunity radio licence.

5.2 At the heart of the 2004 Order are the characteristics of community radio serviceswhich define the nature of community radio, as well as various more detailed specificrequirements which Ofcom must take into account when assessing an application for

a community radio licence.

5.3 The specific characteristics of community radio service imposed upon communityradio stations by Article 3 of the 2004 Order require that such services are operated:

for the good of the public;

to deliver social gain (community benefit);

to serve specific communities;

to operate on a non-profit-distributing basis;

to provide operational and managerial opportunities for members of the

target a community (or communities); and

whereby the organisation providing the service is accountable to the communityconcerned.

5.4 The term social gain is further defined by the Legislation, and includes fourmandatory social gain objectives, as well as allowing services to define further socialgain objectives themselves. The mandatory requirements are:

a service for underserved groups;

the facilitation of discussion and the expression of opinion;

the provision of education or training (to non-employees); and

facilitating the better understanding of the particular community and thestrengthening of links within it.

5.5 The Legislation requires Ofcom to include in each community radio licence suchconditions as are appropriate for securing that the character of service, as proposed

in the application, is maintained. As a result each station has specific key


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commitments which form part of the licence. They are based on the promises madein the application, and agreed with each station before it commences broadcasting.

5.6 The key commitments is the equivalent of the Format included in every commercialradio licence. However, commercial radio services are not expected to adhere tosuch a wide range of requirements as community radio services, and as a result theirFormats relate primarily to their broadcast output (i.e. what the listener hears) ratherthan off-air activities that they may undertake.

5.7 The key commitments include:

a description of the community to be served;

a summary of the character of service (a short description of the stations aims);

a description of the programme service;

social gain objectives (including how the station will satisfy the four mandatorysocial gain requirements set out above, and any other social gain objectives ofthe service);

access and participation arrangements; and

mechanisms to ensure accountability to the target community.

5.8 As part of its annual report process, Ofcom asks all stations that have been on-air formore than a year to report back on progress against their key commitments; thesereports are then published by each station on its website and will also be publishedby Ofcom atwww.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/. By the nature of key

commitments, not all of the feedback Ofcom receives is quantifiable; however, thereare some elements that we can usefully summarise to report on for the sector as awhole. Figure 12 below shows some of the key elements that we are able to quantify,along with notable variations on the average.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/


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Figure 12: selected key commitments data

Sectoraverage

Notable variations on the average17

Total live /original

1877 hours /87 hourshours

per week

Stations serving minority ethnic communities, general audiencesin urban areas and those in the northwest of England and London

typically broadcast more live/ original output than average. Stations serving military communities and those in Yorkshire &

Humberside, the south west of England and Northern Ireland tendto broadcast less than the average.

Number ofvolunteers

75 Stations serving minority ethnic communities, general audiencesin urban areas and those in London and the south west ofEngland tend to have more volunteers than the average.

Stations serving religious communities, military communities andthose in Scotland tend to have fewer.

Total volunteerhours per week

222 hours Stations serving minority ethnic communities, general audiencesin urban areas and those in the east midlands and London tend tohave more volunteer hours per week.

Stations serving religious communities, military communities and

those in Northern Ireland, Scotland, south west England andYorkshire & Humberside have fewer.

Speech outputas a percentageof total daytime

output

32% Military stations tend to have less speech output than theaverage.

5.9 Ofcom found no significant difference in the delivery of these key commitmentsbetween stations that had been on air for more than two years compared to thosethat had been on for less than this.

5.10 The vast majority of stations submitting a report have met the bulk of their keycommitments. We have written to one station with respect to its key commitmentswhere we consider that the station has not provided enough information to allow usto assess whether it is meeting its commitments. If we are not satisfied with theinformation provided then we will consider regulatory action, as set out in ourdocument regulation of community radio services available atwww.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/crri/crregulation/.

Programming: original output

5.11 Due to their reliance on volunteers, community radio services are very rarely live for24 hours a day, seven days a week (networking or overnight automation is not

unusual in the radio sector more generally).

5.12 The sector average is 87 hours of original programming each week. The vastmajority is produced locally and most of this output is live (77 hours). However,stations may broadcast as live for a number of reasons; work with inexperiencedand / or vulnerable volunteer broadcasters may demand greater monitoring of output,

17It is important to note that there were too few stations reporting from the east of England (5), north

east England (3) and Wales (5) to robustly report their regional/ national trends. It is also important tonote that half of the reporting stations in Northern Ireland (four of eight) serve military communitiesand that therefore this sub-group is likely to have significantly altered the findings for Northern Ireland

as a whole.18Original hours includes live output and also pre-recorded material that has not previously been

broadcast.
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/crri/crregulation/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/crri/crregulation/http://www.ofcom.org.uk/radio/ifi/rbl/commun_radio/crri/crregulation/


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and volunteer availability can have an impact on the hours at which material can bebroadcast.

5.13 Stations serving general audiences in urban areas and minority ethnic communities(which also tend to be in urban areas) generally broadcast more live or originalmaterial, military stations broadcast much less than the average. The regional trendsreflect this also, regions with the most live and original output were London and thenorthwest of England (both regions where all or most stations are in urban areas).Regions with less live output than the average included the southwest of England,Yorkshire & Humberside and Northern Ireland (although half of the Northern Irishstations reporting this year were military services which reduced the averageconsiderably for this small group).

Programming: speech and music

5.14 When licensing community radio stations, Ofcom must ensure that the proposedservice offers distinctive output compared to other local alternatives. This in turn

means that music and speech output on community radio is exceptionally diverse.

5.15 Many stations specialise in particular genres of music: the two Angel Radio stationsin Havant and on the Isle of Wight target older people and have a focus on popularmusic from 1900-1959, the Cross Rhythms stations (in Stoke-on-Trent, Plymouth,Teesside and Coventry) are aimed at young Christians and feature Christian-themedhip hop, indie and rock amongst others whilst Celtic Music AM in Glasgow playscontemporary and traditional Celtic music.

5.16 Stations serving a general audience often have a mainstream approach during thedaytime but then move to specialist output in the evening. Aston FM in Birminghamhas a focus on urban music every night from 9pm to 3am; it says it has persuaded

many presenters who were formally on illegal stations to come over to Aston FM, andseveral of the previously unemployed presenters are now in full-time employment.

5.17 Speech programming forms a significant component of community radios live output;on average speech formed 32% of stations live daytime output during the reportingperiod.

5.18 The type of speech output varies within and between stations: those serving generalaudiences often have highly localised and relevant information for the community, forexample Radio Scilly19

5.19 Wythenshawe FM, serving an urban population in Greater Manchester, featuresgeneral magazine style programmes alongside specialist programmes including theweekly Healthy Living Show, On the Beat, Out and About and Fire Safety Mattersshows. It also features issue led Focus Weeks on subjects such as domestic abuse including a dramatised account of a womans experience of domestic abuse -refugee awareness and a local regeneration consultation.

has in-depth weather reports specific to the islands and notavailable in other broadcast services.

5.20 Community radio stations feature many local organisations in their output, both publicbodies and private / third sector organisations. Ipswich Community Radio has CopThat presented by a police sergeant with 30 years service, who invites a differentcolleague each week onto the show. Guests have included the Chief Constable of

19Radio Scilly won Radio Academy Station of the Year, for fewer than 300,000 people, for the South

West and was one of the three finalists for the national Sony Awards


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Suffolk, a member of the diplomatic protection squad, the Head of Ipswich CID andfemale officers talking about the role of women in policing. The style is irreverent guests talk about their musical tastes and are sometimes asked to read outcomments from their school reports- and the station believes it is doing a great dealto break down peoples stereotypical view of the police. It has also had commentsfrom junior police officers, who enjoy seeing their bosses as real people and not justas authority figures.

5.21 Stations serving particular communities of interest may also feature a wide range oflocal organisations, and will also often carry unique programming specific to theirtarget communities. Radio Dawn, serving Nottinghams Muslim community,broadcast a series of radio shows with live links to pilgrims in Mecca, Madina (SaudiArabia) and Pakistan. The station also held a Hajj Camp which more than 150pilgrims attended. The aim was to explain to them the various aspects of Hajj and theregulations of the country they were to visit.

5.22 Community radio stations carry programming in a wide range of languages. A

number of Scottish and Welsh stations feature Gaelic and Welsh respectively and inNorthern Ireland Raidi Filte broadcasts in Irish (Irish Gaelic). Stations servingminority ethnic communities often broadcast in a range of community languages Radio Asian Fever in Leeds has had broadcasts in Urdu, Urdu Punjabi, GurumukhiPunjabi, Mirpuri / Kashmiri and Hindi. Importantly, such programming is often mixedwith English output - Radio Asian Fever says that it does this to maintain the interestand participation of young people who tend to have English as their first language.

5.23 Stations serving general audiences can also broadcast output in many languages:Aberdeens shmuFM has broadcast shows in Polish, Spanish, French, German,Slovakian, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malyalam, Oriya, Urdu,Punjabi, & Gujrati. Furthermore it features and supports local languages and dialects

including Doric, Scots and Gaelic.

Social gain - serving the underserved

5.24 All community radio stations are expected to serve the underserved, that is peoplewho do not have local radio services currently aimed at them.

5.25 For many stations this mission is implicit in their target community - stations targetingminority ethnic communities are generally aimed at a community that is underservedby definition. Others, serving general audiences, often target specific underservedgroups within their general community.

5.26 For example Hayes FM, which serves a general audience in Hayes in West London,has a range of programmes targeting particularly underserved people; for those over60 it has a programme sponsored by Age Concern on Sundays and on Saturdays ayouth-led programme features children from different schools in the area looking atissues that interest young people, be it entertainment or something with greaterdepth. It also has programmes for the Tamil and Polish communities.

Social gain - facilitating discussion and the expression of opinion

5.27 Community radio stations provide many opportunities for local people to take part indiscussions and express their views, often via their usual speech programming,sometimes in the form of regular discussion programmes and also through one-off

features tied to special events.


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5.28 BC FM, serving a general audience in Bristol, has a Somali show that often featuresdiscussion with agencies such as the police, council and the local Primary Care Trust- local councillors and MPs are regular contributors too. They offer translations intoSomali and receive many phone calls from the community during these programmes.

5.29 CSR, based in Canterbury, broadcast student election hustings,AGM and NUS debates and actively encouraged listeners to voice opinions.University and Student Union officials have often been invited on air along with localMPs and other public figures.

Social gain - training for people not employed by the station

5.30 In addition to the training provided to volunteers, many stations also offer a widerange of training opportunities to their target communities, from informal drop-ins,through short courses and up to fully accredited training programmes (often inpartnership with educational institutions). Work experience placements offer anotherway of providing training to members of the community.

5.31 BRFM on the Isle of Sheppey has built up strong links with three local furthereducation providers and has successfully run training courses for all three, providing40 places per academic term as part of their media studies courses. In addition it hasprovided work experience for students aged 15-18. The station also offers up to 60places per year during term-time as part of the colleges humanities syllabus. Otherwork with children includes a partnership with the islands Healthy Living Centre tooffer training courses for deprived school-aged children throughout the summer, tolearn about radio and media technology and to improve their motivational skills.

5.32 The station also works with local agencies to offer other types of training: through itsrelationship with local training and volunteering charity the Island Partnership it

provides five places per month for volunteers, focussing on the unemployedmembers of its community so they can learn about media and technology skills. TheIsland Partnership offers free courses in these subjects and liaises closely with thestation. The local Business Link also partners with the station to provide freecourses in core skills and advise on how to set up a business and supports return towork programmes. The station also partners with Job Centre Plus and EmploySwale to encourage and motivate the unemployed.

5.33 A number of stations have built partnerships with other local media organisations. Forexample, Siren FM, based at the University of Lincoln, works closely with the BBCand commercial radio stations in the area and many of its student volunteers haveenjoyed work placements at these outlets. Desi Radio in Southall has a good

relationship with BBC London, three of its volunteers have gone on to paidemployment with BBC London, others have had work experience and the station hasalso hosted a BBC journalist. Stroud FM brought in guest speakers from both localcommercial and BBC stations to give Saturday master classes for its volunteerpresenters.

Social gain - the better understanding of the particular community and thestrengthening of the links within it

5.34 Community radio stations seek to better understand and strengthen links within theircommunity through a wide range of mechanisms.

5.35 For example, GFM broadcasts in Gloucester with a particular focus on black andminority ethnic communities. Its Community Link show (Monday-Friday) tackles


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various issues and GFM managed to secure funding from Gloucester City Council toemploy a part-time Community Link co-ordinator to aid the development of thisimportant programme. On the day of US President Obamas inauguration this showincorporated a live link from WKYS FM in Washington DC and enabled GFMlisteners to feel a part of the celebrations on an historic day for black people aroundthe world.

Additional social gain objectives

5.36 In addition to the statutory social gain objectives, many stations commit to furthersocial gain goals.

5.37 This can include a very wide range of activity, common objectives include increasingawareness of local authority services, the promotion of employment, social inclusionand promoting and taking part in community events.

5.38 Link FM in Havering, London has formed a strong partnership with its local authority,

which has provided volunteer presenters, interviewees and speakers on a range ofcommunity interest issues. The Leader of the Council presents a Community LINKprogramme on Fridays, giving exposure to Council plans and activities andencouraging interaction with the community.

5.39 Phoenix FM in Halifax has provided public address systems for a wide range ofevents in the community including for a Mental Health Day event, a SummerUniversity which involved several local schools from Calderdale, it linked with asupport group for the over-80s and held a Sunday afternoon tea party which includedgiving participants the opportunity to do a live broadcast, and over the Christmasperiod it had West Yorkshires Fire Safety team broadcast on the 12 fire safety daysof Christmas and a Christmas Day message from the Mayor Of Calderdale

5.40 Black Diamond in Midlothian encourages its presenters to broadcast in their naturalaccent thus helping to promote linguistic diversity, whilst Diverse FM in Luton hasbeen an active participant in the Kick Racism out of Music and the No More Knivesnational campaigns its young volunteers interviewed representatives from theorganisations and participated in several competitions to bring its communitiestogether with a common interest in mind.

Access and participation

5.41 Volunteering plays a key role in all community radio services the legislation makesit clear that access to, and participation in, the operation of community radio is a key

characteristic of the sector. Volunteers take on all types of roles at communitystations, from back office support staff such as receptionists and cleaners, throughpresenting, training other volunteers and up to board members and stationmanagers. Consequently the time given by volunteers can vary dramatically, from acouple of hours a month to 80+ hours a week. Similarly, some volunteers mayparticipate for a short period of time perhaps over a couple of weeks assisting withthe production of a programme whilst others have been involved with their stationfor many years.

5.42 This wide variation in commitment needs to be borne in mind when looking ataverages across the sector, where we find that the average number of volunteers is75 (with a range from 1 to 287), and the average number of hours given by

volunteers per station in total each week is 222 (with a range from 1 to over 1,000hours per week in the case of specialist arts station Resonance Radio in central


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London, whose artist participants may spend many hours preparing for theirbroadcasts).

5.43 As an example, 7 Waves Community Radio in the Wirral has 64 active volunteers, 61of whom do at least some presenting, 11 are news reporters, eight are technicians,eight work in admin, four volunteer as receptionists and four help with sales (somevolunteers take on more than one role). The radio station is based in a purpose-builtmedia centre alongside a community centre. It has a shared entrance so people canaccess both facilities. The radio station features many of the user groups of thecommunity centre including a local art club for the over-50s, a luncheon club, a menshealthy eating club, a mens keep-fit club, and a youth dance group. Othercommunity groups that it has featured include Irish Community Care, Wirral CulturalDiversity and Wirrals Extended Schools project.

Accountability

5.44 All community radio stations must be accountable to the community which they

serve. For some this can mean democratically elected boards; others seek to ensureaccountability through other means.

5.45 Membership of 10Radio, based in rural Somerset, costs 1 and is open to anyone inthe 10 parishes it serves. The station directors are elected by its membership anddirectors hold bi-monthly board meetings which are open to anyone to attend. Thesemeeting are publicised by the station and regularly attract 30-40 people and haveproved a valuable means of encouraging wider debate about 10Radios operations.

5.46 Although not all stations have direct elections for directors, many have sub-groups orother forums which are open to members of the community or particular sub-sectionsof the community.

5.47 HFM in Market Harborough has a listener panel, meeting every three months todiscuss all aspects of the stations output whilst Kemet FM, aimed at the African-Caribbean community in Nottingham, has set up a Youth Forum which consists of sixmembers of the community between the ages of 14 to 16 who meet monthly todiscuss the current output and offer feedback.

5.48 Many stations are finding that new communications technologies offer increasedopportunities to connect with their audiences and consequently can offer moreopportunities to promote accountability. For example, the website of Radio Teesdale,serving a general audience in Teesdale, was winner of Best Website for a not-for-profit group in the Digital 08 Awards ,whilst Indigo 106.6fm, serving a general

audience in Kirkby Lonsdale and the south Lakes area of the Lake District, hasproactively sought out opportunities in new social media such as MySpace, Bebo,Facebook and Twitter. It said that:

All of these mediums bring new meaning to accountability and responsiveness thatperhaps was not envisaged at the time that the original licence was applied for.Indeed the speed of advance in these networks is such that many were not on thescene at that time. Consequently given peoples lifestyles, these mediums have beenidentified as accessible means of accountability and feedback for many listeners.

5.49 Ofcom has noted an increasing number of complaints regarding accountability,typically from volunteers who have disagreed with some element of how a station has

been run and in some cases have had their membership terminated. It is clear thatdifferent people can have very different expectations about how volunteers may


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targeting advertisers and therefore depriving the community station of revenue.Some stations in London report that the interference they suffer from illegalbroadcasters makes potential funders or advertisers reluctant to get involved with thestation.

Listener figures

5.58 Ofcom asked stations to provide details of any audience research they had carriedout. Many had kept a log of contact data and some had undertaken moresophisticated research. As noted in paragraph 5.55 above the industry standard formeasuring listener figures is known as RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research).However, the cost of RAJAR is prohibitive for most community radio stations and nocommunity radio stations have used it to date.


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Annex 1

1 Stations completing an annual report in

2008/09Station name Location Target community

10Radio Wiveliscombe, Somerset Geographic - town/rural

7 Waves Radio The Wirral Geographic - urban

Afan FM Port Talbot (south Wales) Young people

Aldergrove & Antrim FMAldergrove (NorthernIreland) Military

Aldershot Garrison FM Aldershot MilitaryALL FM Levenshulme, Manchester Geographic - urban

Angel Radio Havant Havant Older people

Angel Radio Isle of Wight Isle of Wight Older people

Asian Star Slough BME

Aston FM Aston, Birmingham Geographic - urban

Awaz FM Central Glasgow BME

Ballykinler FMBallykinler (NorthernIreland) Military

BANG Radio Harlesden, London Geographic - urban

BCB 106.6FM Bradford Geographic - urban

BFBS Lisburn Lisburn Military

Black Diamond FM Midlothian Geographic - urban

Branch FM Dewsbury, Yorkshire Religious

BRfm Brynmawr, Blaenau Gwent Geographic - town/rural

BRFM (Bridge FM) Isle of Sheppey Geographic - town/rural

Brick FM St Boswells, Borders Geographic - town/rural

Bristol Community FM Bristol Geographic - urban

Calon FM Wrexham Geographic - town/rural

Castledown Radio Tidworth, Wiltshire Geographic - town/rural

Catterick Garrison Catterick Military

Celtic Music Radio Glasgow Music - Scottish

Cheshire FM Mid-Cheshire Geographic - town/rural

Chorley FM Chorley (Lancashire) Young people

Colchester Garrison FM Colchester Military

Crescent Radio Rochdale BME

Cross Rhythms City Radio Stoke on Trent Religious

Cross Rhythms Plymouth Plymouth Religious

CSR Canterbury Young people

Desi Radio Southall, west London BMEDiverse FM Luton Geographic - urban


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Diversity FM Lancaster Geographic - town/rural

Edinburgh Garrison FM Edinburgh Military

Express FM Portsmouth Young people

Feile FM Belfast, Northern Ireland Geographic - urban

Forest FM Verwood, East Dorset Geographic - town/ruralForest of Dean CommunityRadio Forest of Dean Geographic - town/rural

Future Radio Norwich Geographic - town/rural

Gloucester FM Gloucester BME

GTFM Pontypridd Pontypridd Geographic - town/rural

Harborough FM Market Harborough Geographic - town/rural

Hayes FM Hayes, west London Geographic - urban

Holywood FM Holywood (Northern Ireland) Military

Hope FM Bournemouth Religious

IndigoFM Kirkby Londsdale, Cumbria Geographic - town/ruralInsight Radio West Glasgow Disability group

Ipswich Community Radio Ipswich Geographic - town/rural

Ir FM Newry Geographic - town/rural

Kemet Radio Nottingham BME

Leith FM Leith Geographic - urban

Link FM Harold Wood Geographic - urban

Lionheart Radio Alnwick, Northumberland Geographic - town/rural

NE1FM Newcastle upon Tyne Geographic - urban

New Style Radio 98.7 FM Birmingham BME

NuSound Radio Newham, London BME

Oldham Community Radio Oldham Geographic - urban

Pendle Community Radio Pendle BME

Phoenix FM Halifax Geographic - town/rural

Phoenix FM Brentwood, Essex Geographic - town/rural

Phonic FM Exeter Arts & Music

Pure Radio Stockport Geographic - urban

Radio Asian Fever Leeds BME

Radio Cardiff Cardiff BME

Radio Dawn Nottingham Religious

Radio Faza 97.1 fm Nottingham BME

Radio Ikhlas Derby BME

Radio Reverb Brighton Geographic - urban

Radio Scilly Scilly Isles Geographic - town/rural

Radio Teesdale Teesdale Geographic - town/rural

Radio Verulam St Albans Geographic - town/rural

Raidi Filte Belfast BME

Resonance FM Central London Arts & Music

Revival Radio Cumbernauld Religious

Saint FM Burnham on Crouch Geographic - town/ruralSalford City Radio Salford Geographic - urban


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Salisbury Plain Garrison FM Bulford Military

Shine FM Banbridge, Norther

Documents

OFCOM - Annual Report on the Sector: 2008/2009