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Community Radio and Community FM
How to Fill in a Community Radio Licence Application Form – Full Question & Answer Report
Sarah Champion & Phil Korbel
Lawrie Hallett of radio regulators OFCOM faced would-be licence holders at the Community FM 1.5 conference on August 14th 2004. In this guide to filling in the form we give you his answers to their queries section by section with additional commentary provided by Radio Regen Director Phil Korbel. Microsoft Word and Audio versions can be downloaded.
At the Community FM 1.5 conference a group of would-be licence holders spent the day brainstorming about how they should fill in the yellow Community Radio Application Form which was hot off the presses. Despite being accompanied by a pink booklet entitled “Notes to Help Complete the Community Radio Application Form” there were many areas which needed clarification.
In a dense two-hour final session they were able to ask Lawrie Hallett of OFCOM, the author of the application form, detailed questions. The queries were many but here we paraphrase general questions about the application process and those directly relevant to filling in the form itself on a section-by-section basis giving condensed versions of Lawrie Hallett’s answers.
The overall theme is that there is no “right way” to set up a community radio station. As Radio Regen’s Director Phil Korbel says, “OFCOM is the ‘light touch regulator’ – they’re not going to tell you how to do it.” However, your argument and evidence behind your choices must be fully and clearly explained.
Audio of this session plus Lawrie Hallett’s introductory presentation and an interview with him are available on this website.
Phil Korbel writes, “This report should be read after you have made yourself familiar with the application form and its supporting materials – available from www.ofcom.org.uk. Lawrie’s comments are very useful, responding as he is, to questions derived from workshops of would-be applicants. They are not ‘the law’ but the thinking of one of the key OFCOM staff on the day of the conference, and the process may well be altered by events. But be assured that Lawrie knows our sector well and will do everything he can to ensure that stations that fulfil the criteria get on air. This might not be fast enough for you but remember OFCOM are new to this!
“My comments are not authoritative – they are impressions based on my long involvement in the evolution of this system and bits of off-the-record comment from many of the players involved.
“If you have comments on the report please email me on phil@radioregen.org and I will do my best to start a dialogue.”
THE APPLICATION PROCESS:
Will the application form be the entire basis of your judgement on whether or not we get a licence or will you make further enquiries?
“When you have made the application and we have assessed it, if there are particular things we are concerned about we will write to you and ask specific questions and then take your responses into account.”
Phil Korbel: in other words, no huge boxes of supporting materials – OFCOM reckon they’ve covered most bases in the form.
Could you give us a date by which we will receive notification as to whether our application has been successful so we can plan for funding?
“Unfortunately that is not possible because we have no idea how many applications we’re going to get overall, how many will be viable and where they’ll be from. Therefore, we also don’t know what problems there will be in clearing the frequencies to give licences and how long it will take.”
Phil Korbel: best guess is all results by early summer, first by January (but don’t hold your breath!)
Do we need to prepare to go on air immediately a licence is granted or should we start planning once we have the licence?
“Some services will receive a licence in the post on a Monday and be broadcasting by Friday - such as groups already running cable stations or radio projects within their communities. They may feel all they need to do is put the aerial up, set up a transmitter and they’re off. However, they are the exception and we will allow up to two years to get on air.”
The licences are to be for five years. Does this start from the date you get your licence or the date you start broadcasting?
“It starts from the date we issue the licence which IS the date you start broadcasting! There is a difference between you being told you have a licence available to you and actually being a licensed broadcaster.”
So someone could start broadcasting in 2007 and continue until 2012?
“Yes.”
Will unsuccessful licence applicants be given feedback so that they can re-apply in future? Will they be told if the reason is that all the frequencies are taken in their area?
“Although I cannot guarantee this at this stage, I think we will be able to give general observations. We may [be able to] say that we couldn’t give you a licence because ‘there are no frequencies available’ or that ‘to do so would unfairly prejudice the viability of an existing small-scale station’ or because ‘you did not appear to meet the conditions laid down in the Community Radio Order’.
“I don’t think we will be able to go into the specific details of why you failed because we would have to do it for everyone. This would be time-consuming and there may be cases where we can’t point to failure on a particular point. It may be that the general analysis of the application is that it was not strong enough to sustain the service.”
Phil Korbel: Current thinking as far as I can make out is that a failed applicant will be told in general terms e.g. if there wasn’t a frequency or if there was a weakness in the application. Radio Regen and the CMA are looking for resources to offer greater guidance than this but it will never be definitive.
FILLING IN THE FORM – GENERAL QUESTIONS:
Do our answers have to fit in the box size given on the form?
“The size of the box on the form broadly indicates the amount of information we would like, but the boxes are expandable if you need to write more.”
Phil Korbel: Reading between the lines – stick to the box-size if you can but not to worry if it spills over a bit. A huge over-run might be counter-productive.
What if there is no room for something I think relevant?
“We can’t judge what you don’t tell us. If there are things you want to include for which there doesn’t appear to be a space on the application form they can be included in a covering letter.”
Phil Korbel: as above – Ofcom have asked the questions they need to judge the application so matters outside of these parameters might not be relevant.
Can we choose to leave boxes blank?
“If there is a bit that is not appropriate don’t just leave it blank but tell us why. You should include note that says, ‘NB: not appropriate because…’ That way you are clearly showing that you have considered the question, taken it into account and acted on it.”
Why is OFCOM discouraging letters of support as part of the licence application?
“The idea is to discourage boxes of petitions and letters arriving that are pointless. In the past the Radio Authority had many cases where groups applied for licences, got huge petitions signed and organised letter-writing campaigns with generic photocopied ‘give us a radio station’ templates.”
Phil Korbel: see below for more on letters.
THE APPLICATION FORM – SECTION BY SECTION:
Section Two: ABOUT YOUR ORGANISATION
2.4, 2.5
This gives you the choice of ticking that you are a “Company Limited by Guarantee” or a “Company Limited by Shares” or a charity. If we are none of these, a school for example, would we need to set up a company specifically to run a community radio station?
“Yes, you would because we have to give a licence to an incorporated organisation. An individual or unincorporated body cannot hold the licence. However, this need not be a difficult process. I would suggest you contact the Community Media Association for advice on this.”
Phil Korbel: another source of information would be your local voluntary sector umbrella group.
Does OFCOM have any extra safeguards for a “company limited by shares”?
“We couldn’t find a legal reason for us to preclude the use of a Company Limited by Shares so we have to allow it. However, my strong advice would be not to go down that route and instead set up as a Company Limited by Guarantee.
“You can set yourself up as a Company Limited by Shares with a Memorandum and Articles of Association saying, ‘We are going to operate as a not-for-profit company and plough our profits back into this project’. However, you could later vote at a board meeting to reverse this. If we were to give a licence to a Company Limited by Shares it is likely that we would include as a condition of the licence that if your Memorandum and Articles of Association are to be changed you tell us beforehand.”
There is a phrase in the Community Radio Order to the effect that community radio stations must be run “primarily not for profit” – does that mean a company limited by shares could distribute 49 percent of its profits and still get a licence?
“No. That would go against the spirit of the Order. There is an obscure legal reason why the word ‘primarily’ is in there but we take it to mean that the company is operating not for profit, particularly as there a subsidiary clause says all profits should be ploughed back into the service.”
Although we are required to be ‘primarily not for profit’ under the legislation, would we be allowed to produce a website for our community radio station and would we be allowed to generate income from advertising on this?
“Yes. We don’t regulate websites.”
Section Three: OWNERSHIP
3.1 to 3.14
Because there is a relatively short window for people to get themselves organised and get the application in – the final deadline being 5pm on November 23rd 2004 - it means the companies applying for licences may be newly incorporated. How will OFCOM assess a company’s track record in this case?
“It’s a matter of assessing the people involved in the group as well as the structure of the organisation. You could tell us, ‘We are a newly incorporated organisation but on the board of management there will be people with 25 years of broadcasting experience who have successfully run various projects’.
“As a general rule, that sort of information is generally more important than a company because you could have a very successful company but discover the people who did all the work have left. It’s the individuals that make up the operation that are the most critical area.”
Would OFCOM consider a university’s student union working in partnership with a community body in applying for a Community Radio Licence?
“Yes. Subject to them meeting the requirements of the Community Radio Order they would not be precluded from applying independently either.”
Section Four: MANAGEMENT
4.1 – 4.2
In this section the application form asks for details of the individuals who will be responsible for the management and policy-making process. Are OFCOM looking for skills-led entities or management that is representative of the community?
“Both. But again this depends on the specific nature of the project you are proposing. It needs to be representative of the community – although there are cases where bringing in external expertise is useful there’s no point in somebody parachuting in to run a project as this is fraught with danger.
“It’s up to you to highlight on the application form the skills those running the company can offer: whether these be in radio or community [background].”
Would it be possible to have a newly-constituted board formed entirely by community members with no track record if this were part of a “capacity building” scheme to train them not just in radio but in organisation, fundraising, business planning and management?
“It would be up to you to explain that clearly in your application. If you don’t and if we see a management structure and a board which is very weak on all these issues and there is no clarification of why, then would think it a weak application.”
Phil Korbel: looking at the above it seems that OFCOM are being flexible in their approach – the bottom line is having the right skills and links represented in your company/organisation. If you lack representation on your Board make sure it’s there elsewhere (e.g. in a Steering Group) and vice verse. If you lack skills you will have to be very clear about where they are going to be coming from – through training and who with etc.
Section Five: COMMUNITY TO BE SERVED
5.1 – 5.3
There has been a debate in community radio about whether it should be about a “community of interest” or a “community of place” – does OFCOM have a preference?
“No.”
When the licences are given out will OFCOM have quotas for the number of “community of interest” or a “community of place” stations?
“No. If we were to do that what we would not necessarily be granting licences to each station on its own merit which would be unfair.”
Phil Korbel: again, go back to the key principles – in what ways will you be satisfying the key criteria. And remember that, if there is a frequency available, there will be two levels of decision by Ofcom – a) are you community radio and can you run a station and b) if there is competition, are do you fit the criteria the best? Your choice of community to serve might not affect a) but it could affect b).
Section Six: SOCIAL GAIN, ACCOUNTABILITY & ACCESS TO STATION
6.1 to 6.3
How can we be give evidence that we are “addressing community needs” without letters?
“It’s about what linkages you show on the application form with the community – they may be formal and informal. It’s not simply about having the support of the great and the good but it’s about also demonstrating you have made contact at a grassroots level i.e. with people at schools, colleges, youth clubs and religious organisations who think what you are doing is the right thing.”
Phil Korbel: I think that an on-going track record of activity with a partner organisation will be good evidence.
Would personalised letters count?
“We won’t say outright that we won’t take letters but the value that we would attach to them depends on their content and where they come from. We are not saying you cannot put together a collection of letters from people who represent particular strands of the community which individually say, ‘We support this radio service and this is how we’d like to be involved in it.’”
Phil Korbel: I.e a bunch of letters just saying ‘we want community radio’ won’t do the trick.
If letters are sent, what format should they be in?
“The key letters from local organisations, councils, charities, schools, education bodies, funders etc I would put in with the application. The more generic letters of support I would put on a CD and although we wouldn’t turn anything away I would not put your effort into that.”
Could someone receive a licence without having any proof of support from the community?
“No. If you are going to fulfil the social gain objectives, you’re going to have to develop linkages within the community. Community radio is a two-way process and the community is not only a listener and receiver of that programming but they contribute to it. If you can’t demonstrate those linkages with the community exist it would be 99.9 percent impossible to fulfil the licence criteria.”
Is OFCOM intending to do any research within the communities that applications are referring to?
“There are research resources within OFCOM which if we’re concerned about particular applications we will utilise. However, good applications will clearly demonstrate their linkages with the community so research won’t be necessary.”
Should a licence application for an urban area demonstrate the support and the input of local council, social services, education health, strategic planning, police, primary care trust etc?
“These would be a good thing but we don’t want to be prescriptive and say they must be included. There will be perfectly legitimate community groups narrowcasting to a very specific community remit and the local primary health care trust and social services department may not be interested. That doesn’t distract from the quality of the potential service.”
Phil Korbel: OFCOM are also wary of needing a council stamp of approval for (let alone control of) a station, but as Lawrie says, also wants to see them and other key services involved in some way.
6 .4 – 6.8
For the mandatory social gain objectives such as providing “broadcasting services to individuals that are underserved”, do you have to provide evidence?
“Yes you do, but it is not necessarily that difficult if you can point to the specific types of radio that are missing from the dial locally; say what you are proposing to provide; and then tie that in to the relevance this programming has to the community that you intend to serve.”
What if there are radio services for the community already but they aren’t accessing them and you think you could do better?
“You would argue that your method of serving the community would better deliver social gain.”
Will there be any cross-referencing with government organisations regarding social gain? Could a government target for an area influence the application?
“It could, but not necessarily. Quite clearly the way the Community Radio Order legislation is drafted makes specific reference to government projects and local authorities. It would be beneficial for community radio to be tackling similar objectives. However, if your project did not tackle similar objectives you would not necessarily be precluded from holding a licence.”
Phil Korbel: note ‘similar objectives to’ does not mean ‘being part of’.
Would a council ward’s ranking in the Index of Multiple Deprivation or the generic level of disadvantage facing a community help a group’s bid?
“Yes, it’s self-evident. We decided not to use the Index of Multiple Deprivation as there are so many measurements already. However, the lower the base point from which you are starting clearly the greater need for social gain to be implemented. This is one the few times you can say the greater the level of deprivation, the more it is in your favour. In other words, a competitive situation – competing for a frequency – it would be easier for the the “most deprived” station to demonstrate social gain.
6.9
Regarding our proposals to provide members of our community with “opportunities to participate in the operation and the management” of the station what policies are mandatory and what evidence do we need of those policies?
“There are no mandatory policies per se because again that would be us prescribing what you do, but if there is a section in the application form that says ‘How are you going to do this?’ then you must explain exactly how you will do it. If you can’t explain it then our assumption will be you won’t be able to do it. What we need to hear is what works in your community.”
Would a membership scheme whereby volunteers would pass forward ideas to the management or steering group be acceptable?
“That is a reasonable solution. If there is a steering group and there doesn’t appear to be a way by which members of the community can make contact with that group to influence the station then there would be concern that that wasn’t meeting the requirements of the Order.”
6.10
We are asked to make proposals to ensure that the service is “accountable to the community it is intended to serve”. As a community radio station are we completely accountable to the public or is it consultational like the BBC?
“What we want to see is whether there is a process by which contact is made with the station by members of the community, the station actively considers the content of that enquiry; and actively responds to it. This does not mean that if someone demands a trainspotting programme there has to be one but it does mean you have to consider that enquiry and respond to it accordingly.
“No matter how good a community station is, they will find as they develop there are niches and interests within their community that they are not serving as well as they might – so it’s a case of [laying out in your application] how responsive you will be.”
What proof do we need of our accountability? Is it enough just to say we will be?
“In the documentation, we have referred to the principal that there will be an annual reporting form and one of the things likely to be included will be a sort of ‘complaints log’ asking you what problems you have encountered with your community and how they have these been solved. We won’t expect people to give us chapter and verse on ever complaint . . . but at the end of the day it comes down to making sure that you are able to interact as best you can with your community.”
6.11
You ask us to say how we will provide access and training to our intended community – what if we don’t meet the targets we promise on our application?
“What you’re proposing will not actually be what you do as it’s not possible to be 100% accurate about something that will be happening a year in the future. The further ahead something is in the future the less accurate your estimates will be. It isn’t that you must ring us the second you start to go outside your objectives but if things go wildly out-of-sync then please tell us. If I was running a community radio station and I thought a licence condition was teetering on the brink of being breached, it would always be better to tell the regulator ‘we have potential problem here’ so we have information in advance of a problem.“
Phil Korbel: it is our experience that the more OFCOM are in the loop the more helpful they are. They are now quite realistic about the ups and downs of running full time community radio stations – see below.
6.12, 6.13
As for “Other (Broadcast) Community Radio Objectives” and “Other (Non-Broadcast) Community Activities”, are you looking for definite proposals of projects or examples of what might be possible?
“You have to be realistic that it is something you intend to do. There is no point putting something in there because it looks good with no intention of doing it because in the [annual] reporting we will pick up on that.
“These sections were included to make sure if there was a place to put other Social Gain and Community Objectives that there wasn’t room to reflect elsewhere on the form. The reason for the Broadcast and Non-Broadcast separation was to tease out particular ideas and allow us to clarify where they stand in your overall plans.
6.14
What kind of “Other Information” are you expecting in the final box?
“This is the catchall. If you there are other things you want to do that are relevant to the character of the service this is where you would put them.”
Will I be shut down if I don’t deliver exactly what I promise on the form?
“We are not saying ‘What will you deliver?’, we’re saying ‘What do you intend to deliver? What are your objectives?’ If would be unfair and unrealistic to say if you sign up to training 20 people per month and you only do 19 in month three there goes your licence.
“Equally, it’s important that we’re able to see that you broadly meet the terms of what you set out to do. In the generality of delivering social gain, particular targets might be missed but others might be overshot and in the great scheme of things you’re still delivering social gain.”
Section Seven: PROGRAMMING
7.2
This asks how programming will differ from existing (non-BBC) local radio services. This is very difficult with music as there are so many music stations already – is the programming defined by what is or by who is making it?
“The issue about broadening choice and diversity of programming doesn’t mean that you can’t do what other stations are doing. It means you either do it in a different way or you do other things in addition.
“For example, in Manchester you have pilots playing a lot of dance music although there are other dance music stations. This doesn’t mean they are not different services. They target a different audience, are produced by different people and are supplemented by other output by the stations.
“Except in an extreme rural area where there aren’t any other stations, it would be unrealistic to expect a community station not to overlap with existing services in some way.”
7.7, 7.8
These deal with “Broadcast Hours” and “Automated Output”. Existing Access Radio pilots have found these can vary dramatically as volunteers have to fit their shows around work and family obligations. Are OFCOM going to cap the number of hours of automated content and how closely are they going to monitor it?
“Historically regulators have placed limits on the amount of automation a station can carry to stop commercial stations automating their service to make more money at the expense of service quality. With community stations, the priority is achieving the objectives of social gain and if automation helps achieve this it is acceptable. For example, small commercial stations in remote areas such as the Shetland Islands are allowed more automation so staff can be out gathering the next tier of material.
“I would state what percentage of Broadcast Hours you aim for in your first year with the caveat that this is subject to ‘operational constraints’.”
Would a student station be discriminated against if its content had to be automated outside term time?
“One solution would be for a student group to team up to do a stream of broadcasting with a community group wanting to apply for a licence. In terms of the limitations on the numbers of frequencies, these sort of collaborations would be favourably looked upon.”
Section Eight: FINANCE
8.1 This section asks you to fill in a table about “Capital, Set-up Funding and Financial Support”. We understand the purpose of this question is to prove that what you intend to do is a ‘realistic proposition’. However, will a ‘realistic proposition’ be treated the same as a bidder with secured funding when there is competition for a licence?
“Funding per se is not going to be the defining factor because we’re talking about community groups not potential commercial radio operators. OFCOM is realistic enough to realise it is unreasonable to expect prospective broadcasters to have all their funding in place.
“However, if there were two groups applying for a licence and one appears to have a great deal more secure funding, all other things being equal, we would tip towards the group with the better funding because they are likely to succeed in providing the service over the licence period.”
8.3
In this table of Operating Costs we are asked to include Copyright Fees but PRS/PPL have not announced pricing structures yet so what do we put?
“Include the fees as currently available to Access Radio pilots unless that circumstance changes before the application deadline.”
8.4
This section is about “Annual Income and Revenue Funding”– can we include the government’s Community Radio Fund as a possible source of income?
“No. The Community Radio Order and the legislation in the Communications Act last year says that OFCOM can only give funding from the Community Radio Fund to licensed community radio stations. The way this fund is allocated needs to reflect the need of individual stations and we don’t know what those will be yet.”
Phil Korbel: Lawrie adds – ‘we are still thinking about how to do this….’
8.5
This asks “Do you intend to seek commercial revenues?” How do you answer that question if you plan not to take advertising in year 1 and 2 while you are concentrating on social benefit but you may wish to in later years?
“Include a note on the application form stating this. It may be that by the time a station gets to its third year of broadcasting that the regulations may have changed following a review by government and OFCOM.”
Audio of this session plus Lawrie Hallett’s introductory presentation and an interview with him are available on this website [see links below]. |
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