Maldon 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. Maldon Community Radio (MCR) NOTE: We may be using the name ‘Oyster FM’ which reflects the area’s large coastline and maritime focus, its worldwide fame for native oysters, and which lends itself to a series of marketing straplines involving pearls, etc. The company has yet to decide on this, so, for the purposes of this application, we will stick to MCR. 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: We are proposing to serve the Maldon District. The majority of people live in the small rural villages, many of which have their origins in connections with the coast or agricultural economy. Many people know the district from its association with sailing, sea-salt, oysters, fishing, barges and marshland. According to the 2011 Census, the population of the district is as follows: Ages Population 0-15 10,825 16-24 5,634 25-44 13,910 45-59 13,785 60-74 12,077 75-84 3,879 85 + 1,519 TOTAL 61,629 1. Maldon District Council has identified an issue of low population density, with the area showing 173 people per kilometre, contrasting with Chelmsford (503) and Braintree (244). 2. A significant portion of the population live either in Maldon (now around 16,000) and Burnham (now around 8,000). The remaining 37-40,000 are scattered across the district into small towns and villages of varying sizes. 3. 28% of the people in the Maldon District are 60+, 4. 17% of the population report that their daily lives are affected by disability, with 7.5 per cent saying disability imposes limits on their daily activities. 5. 64% of the population describes itself as Christian, while 26% state they have no religion. There are 152 Buddhists, 60 Hindus, 99 Jews, 171 Muslims, 28 Sikhs with 199 saying they are religious but not in the categories listed here. 6. Ethnically 96% of the population is White British, the remaining 4% made up of a range of nations including 201 people describing themselves as Gypsy or Irish Traveller. The true figure for this is Maldon Community Radio licence application form thought to be much higher. Source: Maldon District Council: Equality and Diversity Update, Fourth Edition: January 2015. It is highly likely that most of these figures are increasing – there has been a large amount of new build in the district over the last five years. 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 better serve the target community, and where it is technically possible. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/10 1459/community-radio-future-licensing-technical-policy- statement.pdf As you will see from the above, the Maldon District has a low density population, so we are hoping that you will allow us to broadcast with a higher wattage to reach across the district We would like provide service from Maldon to Burnham, across the Dengie Hundred and, if possible, into the north of the Maldon District. This is pretty much as per Saint FM’s 2005 licence application (section 5.1): ‘Our target will be the geographic area of the Dengie Hundred peninsula in the county of Essex and the north bank of the River Blackwater. We are located in the town of Burnham-on-Crouch but hope to reach the residents of the Maldon district’. However, the transmission power granted made it difficult to provide a reliable FM signal and even the reception in the target town, Burnham-on- Crouch, was patchy. We are therefore appealing to you to allow us to increase the range of Saint FM’s current transmitter on Mayland Hill, including the possible use of repeater aerials to ensure black spots in Maldon and Burnham and out towards the north and east, west and southwest of the district are sufficiently covered (see map below). There is no other radio station operating in the area that specifically covers this area – though there are a number of commercial radio stations that include the district in a wider area. Clearly these are rarely able to give the wealth of specific local information and support that the villages and towns in the Maldon District need. BBC Essex does a better job of being local, but, stretching across a big county, cannot hope to be as relevant as we can. The following map will give you some indication of the issue. The red line indicates the boundary of the Maldon District: Community radio application form 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 Maldon Community Radio licence application form in the column opposite. interests of members of its target community or 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 how you will serve your target community and what the station will sound like.