Gorgeous FM 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. Gorgeous FM 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: Gorgeous FM was devised and created to serve and support the LGBT+ communities of Birmingham and The Black Country (Wolverhampton & Dudley.) Stonewall, the national charity working for equality and justice for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGBT) people, feel that the government figure of 5-7% of the population being LGB is a reasonable estimate. However, there is no hard data on the number of LGB people living in the UK, as no national census has asked people to define their sexual orientation. National research has shown that 1 in 10 young people are of lesbian, gay or bisexual orientation. This means there are potentially more than 10,000 young people in the Black Country who are lesbian, gay or bisexual or exploring their sexual orientation. The LGBT+ community in The Black Country is eclectic and diverse. Gorgeous FM aspires to include content relevant to all. LGBT+ people have a range of likes, social connections, musical tastes and life issues. One aspect that does bind the community together is the designation Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans or Inclusive. Statistically, younger LGBT+ people are more likely to suffer depression, anxiety and even consider taking their own lives. A recent home office survey shows that LGBT+ hate crime has risen to 9,157 in the period 2016/17. Gorgeous FM believes this contributes to a feeling of being alone with no-one to listen to and communicate with. We passionately believe that an LGBT+ radio station in Wolverhampton and Dudley would provide the comforting voice that some are desperate to hear. LGBT+ people cross the socio-economic spectrum, however, with the added pressure of a less tolerant family background, opportunity for some lags some distance behind others. Gorgeous FM aims to give LGBT+ people of all backgrounds, and their friends, the opportunity to broadcast and have their voice heard. 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. Gorgeous FM community radio licence application form https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/10 1459/community-radio-future-licensing-technical-policy- statement.pdf The city of Wolverhampton and parts of the Black Country. We would like to cover as wide an area around Wolverhampton as possible but have based our technical parameters on the traditional 5km radius. However, if greater power becomes available, taking into account our clearly defined target audience, then we would welcome the increased coverage that would give. 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 1 Classification: CONFIDENTIAL Community radio application form 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. 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: Research has demonstrated the musical „choice‟ of the LGBT+ community. This clearly shows a preference towards classic and contemporary dance and house, old school and club anthems alongside current pop and chart classics. Therefore Gorgeous FM aims to provide an upbeat mix of preferred music, alongside speech content of relevance and value to the local LGBT+ community. Our daytime and evening/overnight music policy will be distinct. Daytimes will cover more „mainstream‟ dance, chart and house and span the last 15 years with an “Old Skool” classic track once an hour. Evening and overnight will allow for a more „genre specific‟ policy including dedicated shows – i.e. Camp Classics, Disco Anthems, Songs from the Shows – to appeal to the eclectic tastes of LGBT+ people. Speech content is a vital part of Gorgeous FM‟s output and must be used to provide news updates, support, discussion and comfort to members of the LGBT+ community who do not have access to other support due to specific circumstances.