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Community Radio and Community FM
Interview with Lawrie Hallett, “The Man from OFCOM”
Sarah Champion
So you want to know where to begin when filling in your Community Radio Application Form? We ask the man who wrote it…
Want to get a community radio licence but daunted by the paperwork? The most important thing you must prove are “your links to your community and your ability to deliver the service you promise”. So says Lawrie Hallett - and he should know being key in drafting the form and guidelines.
Lawrie joined OFCOM in May as Senior Associate of the Radio Planning and Licensing Team. The good news for those hoping for a licence is that he is not some out-of-touch civil servant but had in fact previously lobbied for this new tier of media as part of the Community Media Association. He describes himself as a “been there, done that” radio person, a trained broadcaster whose passion for the medium led him to be a producer of music and speech based radio across the UK and Europe - from local radio to pirates in the days before Kiss FM went legal.
“I’m now on the other side of the fence – poacher turned gamekeeper if you like,” he says, speaking during a break in the Community FM 1.5 conference in Manchester.
Along with Soo Williams, who has been involved with the Access Radio pilot project from the start, Lawrie is now one of the two OFCOM staff tasked with managing the community radio licence applications. They’re backed up by a team with expertise in programming, finance, engineering and law who will contribute to the process of evaluating potential services.
The deadline for completed applications is 5pm on November 26th, 2004. All applications received after this time will be refused. After this will follow the process of studying the bids.
“We don’t make the decisions,” Lawrie stresses. “We will write reports on each of the applications which we will put to the Radio Licensing Committee. They will make the final decisions as to who will receive licences and who will not.”
The question most frequently asked by potential licence holders is there an ultimate station concept that would guarantee them a licence? Does OFCOM have the perfect model of a community radio station in mind?
“No, absolutely not,” he says. “It wouldn’t be fair for us to have that. The station should be a product of the community which it is going to serve. My experience from working in all types of radio up and down the country has taught me that there are always things which are unique about a particular area and a station should reflect that.”
Although he says there is no one perfect radio station model, he does suggest what would make a persuasive argument for a licence.
“For example, in East London you have a big Bangladeshi community where a lot of the women have very little English and there are no services broadcast in the Bangladeshi language. Therefore, someone applying for a licence to serve that community would be able to demonstrate a very important social gain – such as giving health, literacy and education information. I would see that station being looked on very favourably.
“Equally in a remote rural area you might want to have a service that just kept people in touch with each other because your nearest neighbour is half a kilometre away and you can go a week without seeing anyone.
“Different areas have different needs and hopefully that’s what stations will reflect.”
Is there anything he is definitely NOT looking for in a community radio station?
“The geographical coverage is very important. We can’t licence a station to cover the whole of Manchester for example – partly because the order by the government refers to community radio as being very small-scale. Even if the legislation allowed, however, we couldn’t find the frequencies for such stations.”
Lawrie admits that the Community Radio Application Form has had to be longer than he first envisaged in order to meet the requirements of the legislation. He advises applicants to ask OFCOM questions or seek advise from organisations such as the Community Media Association if they are stuck on any points.
“Fill the application form in to the best of your ability but don’t be worried, however, if there are one or two things you are not sure about because the process will be that once the application forms come in we will then ask questions if we don’t have all the information we need. Your responses will be taken into consideration during the application process.”
For those daunted by the paperwork, what is the most important thing a group wanting to apply consider about when putting their package together? Where does The Man from OFCOM advise them to begin?
“You begin with the community. I would ask yourself how much you are involved with your community. How much input can they have to your plans and your broadcasts? How much relevance have you got to that community? All these issues are really important because ultimately, community radio is a means to an end.
“A lot of people will be involved because they want to make radio and that’s fine, but actually it’s about the community they’re going to serve.
“I would start with asking what does this community need and how can we meet those needs through a radio service? The more you can do that the more chance you have of getting a community radio licence.”
For more detailed pointers about the application process, you can download audio and Power Point files from Lawrie Hallett’s presentation to the Community FM 1.5 conference from this website as well as his answers to delegates’ questions about filing in the form. |
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