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LOCAL RADIO LICENCE: COVERAGE BRIEF
GLASGOW
1.This licence is being offered for the provision of an Independent Local Radio service on the FM (VHF) waveband. The licence is offered for the use, from a single transmission site, of a single frequency on this waveband. Applicants should prepare their coverage proposals on this basis.
2.The closing-date for applications for this licence is Tuesday, 1 July, 2003. Completed application forms must reach the Radio Authority, at Holbrook House, 14 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5DG, by 14.00 on that date. Applications delivered after this time will not normally be accepted. Twenty copies of the main application document should be provided, together with twenty copies of any financial or other confidential appendix, and a single copy of any audience research and/or local support material.
3.This coverage brief provides information specific to the advertised licence for the Glasgow area. Intending applicants must study, in conjunction with this brief, the Notes of Guidance for Local Licence Applicants (October 2000 issue, as subsequently revised), available from the Authority's Director of Development, which provides general information on the submission of a licence application and the requirements of an ILR service. Applications must be submitted on a standard Application Form (Issue 27), also available from the Director of Development.
4.This licence is offered for a service designed to cover the following area:
The city of Glasgow, and surrounding parts of west Central Scotland.
The Authority believes that adequate coverage, as defined in the Authority's guidance document, 'Coverage: Planning Policy, Definitions and Assessment', should be broadly similar to that achieved by the existing Glasgow FM service, Clyde 1, on its main frequency of 102.5 MHz, assuming the use of the transmission site and characteristics detailed below.
5.The Authority anticipates that, if using the site and aerial characteristics detailed below, it is likely that this service would achieve coverage of an area with an adult (aged 15+) population of around 1.7 million.
6.An FM frequency is being cleared for provisional use at an existing transmission site. Details of this site are as follows:
Location:Black Hill
National Grid reference:NS 828 647
Total maximum effective20.0 kiloWatts (10.0 kW
radiated power: horizontal polarisation + 10.0 kW
vertical polarisation)
Aerial pattern:Directional (see attached template)
Aerial height:230m above ground level
Frequency: 105.2 MHz
The attached template is designed to restrict the coverage of the service to the area outlined in paragraph 4 above.
7.Whilst the clearance process is not yet completed, the Authority is aware that there will be a requirement, from this site, to achieve higher suppression levels of spurious emissions in the aeronautical bands than those required in Section 2.3 of the Local Analogue Licence Engineering Code. The size of these additional levels are still under discussion but may be in the order of those shown below, and will need to be achieved at the outputs of all of the transmitters involved:
13.4 dB at 108.9 MHzinvolving 92.1, 95.8, 99.5 and 105.2 MHz
1 dB at 110.1 MHzinvolving 97.6, 100.3, 102.5 and 105.2 MHz
12.8 dB at 110.4 MHzinvolving 94.3, 99.5, 104.7 and 105.2 MHz
8.The Black Hill site is operated by NTL, and is currently used for television, and national and local radio transmission. Use of this site would be subject to agreement with the site operator. Applicants must note that, although clearing a frequency with the DTI Radiocommunications Agency for use at this site, the Radio Authority has not ascertained whether there are any practical constraints or cost implications in using this site or in implementing the aerial characteristics noted above. It will be for applicants themselves, if they wish to propose use of the Black Hill site, to discuss these aspects with the site operator.
9.It is for applicants to decide whether to make use of the site described above, or to propose an alternative site of their own choosing, without prejudice to their application. Applicants who wish to propose an alternative site must note carefully the points outlined in paragraphs 3.5-3.6 of the 'Notes of Guidance for Local Licence Applicants', and in addition should recognise that the submission of an alternative proposal for approval and clearance is a process that may take several months to complete, and that an outcome that is wholly satisfactory to the successful applicant cannot be guaranteed. A more comprehensive account is provided in the 'Notes on Approval Procedures for Sites and Frequencies', one of the supplementary documents listed in the Foreword to the 'Notes of Guidance', available from the Authority. Applicants are strongly advised to obtain and study this.
10.The licensee will be responsible for its own transmission facilities, and will be free to decide whom to appoint for the supply, construction and maintenance of its transmission system and equipment. This will be the case whether the successful applicant chooses to locate the transmitter at Black Hill or at an alternative site.
Total Survey Area
11.Applicants should note that it is usual for a local radio licensee to claim a Total Survey Area (TSA), for marketing and audience research purposes, which is more extensive than the coverage area, as technically defined (see paragraphs 4-5 above), for which a licence is advertised. This reflects the fact that some listeners living beyond the 'measured coverage area' will receive a signal of listenable quality. The existing licensee for the Glasgow area, Radio Clyde Ltd., has chosen to claim a TSA with an adult population of 1,850,000. Applicants are free to decide what TSA adult population figure to use as the basis of their business plan; however, the assumptions which are made should be justified in the application, in responding to the question on advertising revenue forecasts.
Programming proposals
12.In evaluating applications for this licence, the Authority will wish to assess the extent to which each applicant offers to provide a programme service which would cater for the tastes and interests of people living in the area, and would broaden the range of audience choice in relation to ILR services already available; i.e. the existing Glasgow services, Clyde 1 (FM) and Clyde 2 (AM); the Central Scotland regional services, Real Radio and Beat 106; and the small-scale services for Paisley (96.3 QFM), North Lanarkshire (Clan FM) and Dumbarton (Castle Rock FM 103). There is also likely to be some overlap with the ILR services for Ayr, on AM (West Sound AM), Edinburgh (Forth 1 and Forth 2), Fife (Kingdom FM) and Stirling & Falkirk (Central FM).
Application fee
13.The application fee payable for this licence, which is a category B licence (adult population between 1.0 and 4.5 million) on the FM waveband, is £12,000. A cheque for this sum, payable to the Radio Authority, must accompany each application submitted.
Date of licence advertisement: Thursday, 20 March, 2003.
Formal notice of advertisement placed on the Radio Authority website, www. radioauthority.org.uk
Issued by the Radio Authority, Holbrook House, 14 Great Queen Street, London, WC2B 5DG, tel. 020 7430 2724.