Blackburn Youth Radio Community Radio Licence Application Form
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Blackburn Youth Radio community radio licence application form 1. Station Name Guidance Notes What is the proposed station name? This is the name you expect to use to identify the station on air. Blackburn Youth Radio 2. Community to be served Guidance Notes Define the community or communities you are It is a legislative requirement that a service is intended proposing to serve. Drawing from various sources of primarily to serve one or more communities (whether or data (e.g. from the Office of Population, Census and not it also serves other members of the public) and we Survey) and in relation to your proposed coverage need to understand who comprises that community or area, please determine the size of the population communities. The target community will also be concerned and the make-up of the population as a specified in the licence, if this application is successful. whole, along with any relevant socio-economic The legislation defines a ‘community’ as: people who live information that would support your application. or work or undergo education or training in a particular (Please tell us the sources of the information you area or locality, or people who have one or more provide.) interests or characteristics in common. Answer in fewer than 300 words: Blackburn Youth Radio will serve young people (Under 25) who live, work, undergo education or training in the town of Blackburn, Lancashire, and we will reflect the rich cultural, social and ethnic diversity of our town in a positive way. Blackburn is a large town sitting on the River Darwen and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal with a population of 107,294 according to the 2010 mid year population estimates published by Blackburn with Darwen Council. The population is estimated to grow by 4.7% by 2033. It has experienced significant post-industrial decline and the town suffers from a number of serious social problems linked to levels of deprivation. The Audit Commission in its 2007 Comprehensive Performance Assessment highlighted "significant health problems" and increased "levels of repeat victims of domestic violence" as causes for most concern. ONS Statistics have shown that Blackburn remains near the bottom of the tables for life expectancy at 75.7 years for men, and women 80.5 years. Since the 1950s the town has experienced significant levels of inward migration, particularly from India and Pakistan. Resultantly, Blackburn now has the highest proportion of Muslims outside of London. Today Blackburn is 69% White British compared to the national average for England which is 90%. The significant ethnic minorities are Indian (14%) and Pakistani (11%) and over 12% were born outside the EU. The population is relatively young with 35.1% under 25 of which 23.2 are under 15 and 11.9 between 15 and 24. Figures show that Blackburn has poorer than average academic attainment with the Office for National Statistics showing only 23.2% are NVQ Level 4 or above compared to 30.3% forthe North West generally and 34.4 for UK-wide. 17.2% of people have no qualifications whatsoever compared with just 11.1% in the North West and 9.7% nationally. 3. Proposed area Guidance Notes What is the area you propose to serve? Although we believe it is helpful to set guidance that frequency availability may often limit transmission powers to around 25 watts and the coverage radius to around 5km, we are adopting a more flexible approach and will consider applications for wider areas where applicants can demonstrate that the proposed coverage area will Blackburn Youth Radio community radio licence application form better serve the target community, and where it is technically possible.https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_fil e/0020/101459/community-radio-future-licensing- technical-policy-statement.pdf The town of Blackburn in Lancashire and the immediate rural hinterland. Programmes and programme output: Definitions: Studio location: The studio from which the service will be broadcast should be located within the licensed area. Locally-produced: Locally-produced output is output made and broadcast from within the service’s licensed coverage area. (It is anticipated that most stations will produce the bulk of their output themselves, in the locality. However, for some target communities it may be appropriate for fairly high levels of output to originate from outside the licensed area.) Live output: is that which is produced by a presenter in the studio at the time of broadcast. (The amount of live output may vary between different services depending on the needs or expectations of the target community.) Original output: output that is first produced for and transmitted by the service, and excludes output that was transmitted elsewhere before. Original output can be live or voice-tracked. Repeat broadcasts of original output do not count towards the minimum requirement. Peak time: it may be helpful to state what material will be broadcast in ‘peak time’. If you do, please say what you consider peak time to be for your target community (this may vary from station to station). Automated output/voice-tracked material: most stations will carry automated output at some time. The amount of automated or voice-tracked material does not need to be specified in the Key Commitments. Sustaining service/third party produced material: if you intend to broadcast material produced by a different organisation please state what it is and how much (per day or week as appropriate). 4. Programming output Guidance Notes Please fill-in all three questions below The law requires applicants to state their proposals for Question A asks you to describe your programme providing a service that would: service. (i) cater for the tastes and interests of members of its Question B relates to how your output will serve the target community or communities (or for any tastes and interests of your target community. particular tastes and interests in those communities); Question C is about how your service will broaden (ii) broaden the range of programmes available on non- the range of local (non-BBC) services available in BBC local services (commercial and community your area. stations) to members of the relevant community or communities; Later in this form you will be asked to draft your own ‘key commitments’. This will form the basis of your (iii) broaden the overall range of such non-BBC local licence and is what Ofcom will judge you against. It services provided in the area concerned; and should include a summary of your proposed (iv) have a distinct nature, or provide distinct content, programme output as set out below and reflect your from any non-BBC local services with which it would commitment to cater for relevant tastes and interests, overlap. to broaden the range of relevant programmes and Ofcom is required to consider the extent to which an services and to provide a service with a distinct applicant’s proposals will cater for the tastes and nature and content as set out in the Guidance Notes interests of members of its target community or in the column opposite. communities. Ofcom is also required to consider the extent to which proposals for a community radio station would broaden the range of programmes available by way of non-BBC local services (both commercial and community stations) in the area concerned (especially, the extent to which a proposed service would have a distinct nature or provide distinct content from any overlapping non-BBC local services). The information given here should be more detailed than what you set out in your draft key commitments (later in this form), and will help us gain a fuller understanding of Blackburn Youth Radio community radio licence application form how you will serve your target community and what the station will sound like. 4. Programming output A: Please tell us about your programme service. The following questions may help you describe your programme service (but should only be used as a guide): • What will the service sound like? • What music will you play? • What are the main speech elements of the service and how will the social gain/community benefits you propose be reflected on-air? • What is the likely music to speech ratio? • Will this vary at different times of the day or week (or year)? • Do you intend to broadcast live output? If so when and how much do you propose to do? • Will you broadcast in languages other than English (what languages and how much)? • Will your output be original i.e. specifically produced for your service? • Will it be locally produced? • Do you intend to repeat material? Answer in fewer than 1,000 words: What will the service sound like? Blackburn Youth Radio will be youth-orientated and Blackburn-centric. It will reflect the ethnic diversity and inter-cultural mix that represents the youth of Blackburn today with programming produced and presented by young volunteers. What music will you play? Blackburn Youth Radio will be more new/chart-focused than the local commercial radio station (2BR which is licenced to serve 25-54 year olds). The music policy of the station will be dictated by the young people themselves as we will (within the bounds of the Broadcasting Code) allow them to play the music that they want to play and the music requested by their peers. The main playlist (and management thereof) will be looked after by “The On-Air Team” Subcommittee whose responsibility will be to research what music our community wishes to listen to, maintain & refresh playlists and load material onto the system for play-out, supervised by the Station Co- ordinator. Specialist programming in the evenings and at weekends will provide a forum for alternative music genres and be an outlet for local bands and artists who do not get access to the local airwaves via other stations.