Analogue Commercial Radio Licence: Format Change Request Form

Date of request: 27th March 2017 Station Name: STAR Radio North East (Northallerton 102.3 & 103.5) Licensed area and licence The North East number: AL307 - Northallerton Licensee: Alpha Radio Ltd. Contact name: David Coull, UKRD Group.

Details of requested change(s) to Format

Character of Service Existing Character of Service: N/A Complete this section if you are requesting a change to this part of your Format Proposed new Character of Service: N/A

Programme sharing and/or Current arrangements: co-location arrangements “All programmes may be shared between the Durham licence (AL297), the Darlington licence (AL181) and the Complete this section if Northallerton licence (AL307)”. you are requesting a change to this part of your Format Proposed new arrangements:

“All programmes may be shared between the York area Licence AL 135-2 (Minster FM) and the Northallerton licence (AL307)”.

Locally-made hours and/or Current obligations: local news bulletins N/A

Complete this section if you are requesting a

change to this part of your Proposed new obligations: Format N/A

The holder of an analogue local commercial radio licence may apply to Ofcom to have the station’s Format amended. Any application should be made using the layout shown on this form, and should be in accordance with Ofcom’s published procedures for Format changes (available on our website at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/formats-content/changes/ )

Under section 106(1A) of the Broadcasting Act 1990 (as amended), Ofcom may consent to a change of a Format only if it is satisfied that at least one of the following five statutory criteria is satisfied:

(a) that the departure would not substantially alter the character of the service;

(b) that the departure would not narrow the range of programmes available by way of relevant independent radio services to persons living the area or locality for which the service is licensed to be provided;

(c) that the departure would be conducive to the maintenance or promotion of fair and effective competition

(d) that there is evidence that, amongst persons living in that area or locality, there is a significant demand for, or significant support for, the change that would result from the departure; or

(e) that (i) the departure would result from programmes included in the licensed service ceasing to be made at premises in the area or locality for which the service is provided, but (ii) those programmes would continue to be made wholly or partly at premises within the approved area (as defined in section 314 of the Communications Act 2003 (local content and character of services)).

Only one of these five criteria need be satisfied in order for Ofcom to consent to the proposed change. However, even if Ofcom is of the opinion that the proposed change satisfies one or more of the statutory criteria, there may be reasons (depending on the particular circumstances of the case) why Ofcom may not consent to the proposed change. The additional criteria to which Ofcom will have regard when exercising this discretion can be found at: http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/formats-content/changes/ )

Applicants should note that, under section 106ZA of the same Act (as amended), a proposed change that does not satisfy the first or last of these criteria (i.e. a change that Ofcom considers would or could substantially alter the character of the service, or does not relate to the origin of locally-made programmes) must, if it is to be considered further under any of the other three criteria, be consulted upon. #.

In the event that Ofcom receives a request for Format change and considers that criterion (a) or (e) is not satisfied, it will seek confirmation from the applicant as to whether it wishes to proceed with the request (and, if so, whether it wishes to amend or replace its submission in light of the necessity to make it public).

Please set out the statutory criterion, or criteria, set out in section 106(1A) of the Broadcasting Act 1990 that you believe is/are satisfied in relation to this Format change request, and the reasons for this:

The proposed change to ‘Programme sharing and/or co-location arrangements’ for Licence number: AL 307 would not substantially alter the Licence’s character of service.

Nor would the proposed change to ‘Programme sharing and/or co-location arrangements’ for Licence number: AL 307 narrow the range of programmes available to those living in the area or locality in question for which the service is licenced.

The ‘departure’ is conducive to the maintenance or promotion of fair and effective competition, safeguarding and maintaining fair and effective competition in the area.

Northallerton is the County town for North Yorkshire and in the same County as Minster FM (AL 135-2) which broadcasts from York. Furthermore, the Licence for Northallerton (AL 307) has an association with Minster FM as, up to 2009/2010, it shared all programmes with Minster FM when it carried the on-air name ‘Minster Northallerton’. There are therefore well established and long standing ties between the two Licences and the geographical areas in question.

Please provide any additional information and/or evidence in support of the proposed change(s) below. In particular, the applicant may wish to outline how they see that the proposed change fits within Ofcom’s published Format change request policy (http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/formats-content/changes/ ) and also Ofcom’s Localness guidance, which includes our co-location and programme sharing policy (http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/broadcasting/radio/localness/ ).

Northallerton and Thirsk are market towns in the civil parish of Hambleton, a district of North Yorkshire, and in the same county as York, the city and surrounds to which Minster FM (Licence No. AL 135-2) broadcasts.

The town of Northallerton is home to North Yorkshire’s Fire and Rescue Service, the county’s Police headquarters and North Yorkshire County Council (County Hall), all of which are regularly reported on in Minster FM’s existing service.

In addition to broadcasting on-air, online and via App Minster FM broadcasts on the North Yorkshire DAB digital multiplex which covers Northallerton, Thirsk and the immediate and surrounding areas.

The proposed change would not substantially alter the character of service to this Licence and would, due to the proximity of the proposed broadcast centre (York) benefit from this programme sharing request.

Notes # Ofcom may approve a change under any of criteria (b) to (d) without consultation, or after a consultation of less than 28 days, if Ofcom considers that to hold a consultation at all, or for 28 days or more, would result in a delay that would be likely to prejudice the interests of the licensee. Ofcom may also remove for the purposes of consultation any confidential information submitted by the licensee. Version 6 – amended April 2010

Background to the Decision

Alpha Radio Ltd, the licensee of Star Radio (Northallerton) has made a request to change its programme sharing and co-location arrangements.

The Northallerton licence currently allows for the service to be provided from the licensed areas of either of the nearby Darlington and Durham licences as well as from Northallerton itself, and to share all of its locally-made programmes with the service(s) provided under those licences. The Star Radio service is currently broadcast under all three licences, and is provided from studios in Darlington.

The proposal, submitted by parent company UKRD Group Ltd, would change the permissions in the Northallerton licence to allow the service to be provided from the licensed area of the York licence instead, and to share all of its locally-made programmes with the service provided under that licence, Minster FM.

Every FM local commercial radio service is required to broadcast a certain amount of locally-made programming, which is specified in its Format. Locally-made programmes are those made within a station’s licensed area or, where Ofcom has approved a wider area relating to that station, that “Approved Area”.

The Approved Area relating to the Northallerton licence is the North-East England Approved Area. However, the York licence is in a different Approved Area (North Yorkshire).

This request would change the Northallerton service’s character of service as set out in its Format, and accordingly can only be agreed by Ofcom if Ofcom considers that one of the statutory criteria set out in section 106(1A) of the Broadcasting Act 1990 is satisfied in relation to the request.

These criteria are:

(a) that the departure would not substantially alter the character of the service;

(b) that the departure would not narrow the range of programmes available by way of relevant independent radio services to persons living in the area or locality for which the service is licensed to be provided;

(c) that in the case of a local licence, the departure would be conducive to the maintenance or promotion of fair and effective competition in that area or locality; or

(d) that in the case of a local licence, there is evidence that, amongst persons living in that area or locality, there is a significant demand for, or significant support for, the change that would result from the departure; or

(e) that, in the case of a local licence – (i) the departure would result from programmes included in the licensed service ceasing to be made at premises in the area or locality for which the service is provided, but (ii) those programmes would continue to be made wholly or partly at premises within the approved area.

It is important to note that the legislation leaves to Ofcom's judgement the decision as to whether to permit a change, even if one of the above statutory criteria is satisfied.

Ofcom has published details of the policy criteria that Ofcom will take into account when considering a request from a service to co-locate and/or share programmes with a service, or services, in a different “approved area”.

However, there may be other factors to be considered, and all requests are treated on a case-by-case basis.

The factors Ofcom has published are the following:

 Size of station: there may be a stronger case for co-location and/or programme sharing where at least one of the stations has a licensed area with a population of fewer than 250,000, and especially those under 100,000, although we would not rule out requests from larger stations in exceptional circumstances.

 Distance and affinity between the areas: there is likely to be a stronger case for co-location where the stations concerned are not too far apart geographically and are able to demonstrate a cultural affinity between the two areas.

 Financial: there may be a stronger case for co-location where stations can demonstrate that co-location is required to ensure the financial viability of the stations concerned.

Decision

Ofcom decided that the change, if approved, would not substantially alter the character of the Northallerton service, and accordingly that the statutory criterion set out in section 106(1A)(a) of the Broadcasting Act 1990 was met in this respect.

In reaching this view, we noted that there are no changes proposed by the Licensee to the ‘Character of Service’ section of the Format, which means that the Northallerton licence will continue to be “A broad hits-based station providing local information for 25 to 54 year-olds in the Northallerton area, with a strong commitment to local news.”

We were cognisant of the fact that music output (constituting the majority of the Northallerton licence’s output) will remain largely unchanged, given that the music overlap between UKRD’s Star Radio and Minster FM services is in the order of between 85% and 90%.

Regarding the delivery of local material, there are no changes proposed to the hours of local programming, nor the amount of local news bulletins the Northallerton licence must provide under its Format. We noted that, while the Northallerton licence would now be sharing all programming with the York licence, it had previously been sharing all programing with the Darlington and Durham licences. Therefore, it is unlikely that the amount of local material relevant to the Northallerton area would be significantly reduced, given that Star Radio is not currently providing a solus service for Northallerton.

Having been satisfied in relation to one of the relevant statutory criteria, we then considered this request under Ofcom's policy criteria. This included our policy criteria specific to co-location and programme change requests.

We concluded that two of the policy criteria relating to co-location and programme change requests were particularly relevant to this case.

The first criteria was ‘size of station’. Ofcom has previously said that there may be

stronger case for programme sharing where at the station has a licensed area with a population of fewer than 250,000 adults. The Northallerton MCA of 35,000 adults makes it one of the smallest commercial radio licences in England.

The other criteria was ‘Distance and affinity between the areas’. Ofcom has said there is likely to be a stronger case for programme sharing where the stations concerned are not too far apart geographically, and can demonstrate a cultural affinity between the two areas. UKRD has been able to demonstrate there is considerable cultural affinity between Northallerton and York, noting that they are both in North Yorkshire and that Northallerton is the county town of North Yorkshire, and that there are well-established and long standing ties between the two geographical areas. For example, Northallerton is home to North Yorkshire’s fire service, the county police headquarters and North Yorkshire County Council, all of which are regularly reported on by Minster FM’s local news team. It is also significant that, under its original owners, the Northallerton licence formerly shared some programming hours with the York licence and was, until 2009, branded as ‘Minster FM Northallerton.’

In summary, therefore, Ofcom agreed this Format change request because it was satisfied in relation to one of the relevant statutory criteria, and for the policy reasons outlined above.

March 2017