Oldham’s The Revolution has been given the thumbs up by industry regulator, Ofcom to drop adult alternative music from its license commitments.
It’s a u-turn for the station which has struggled to compete with Xfm.
Rumours have persisted about major changes at The Revolution and it’s unlikely that these will go away even with today’s news.
Under construction
As of last week their website has gone down, with a new one promised soon and How-Do has tried several times to speak to owners UKRD and usually gets through to an answering machine.
On the one occasion we spoke to a human, she told us that the official line about The Revolution was "no comment" and that we weren’t allowed to speak to anyone else.
When we checked with Ofcom whether the radio station had put in any further submissions, we were told they hadn’t, but they did express surprise that they weren’t saying anything, particularly as the music submission was published online .
In its original license, the station said it would be playing adult contemporary and soft rock tracks, and then in February 2007 it asked for a format change to bring in the new adult alternative songs.
In its submission to Ofcom, The Revolution said: "Though the tracks which were added were not at that time considered to be substantial in terms of the change itself, it has simply not worked out and as a result, we are seeking the removal of the commitment to play such a music genre as a part of the station format commitment.
"The very reason for the existence of the station is to serve, as its local radio station, the population of Oldham and surrounding area and it is desired that the station be re-focussed upon this objective and to that end, focus upon the style and nature of the output originally intended at the outset."
Ofcom said that this should not create a "substantial change to a station aimed at serving Oldham in a crowded market. The market also now houses, as pointed out in the request, an established Xfm, which also feeds an alternative target. The request is, therefore, allowed."
So UKRD if this is the whole story, why all the secrecy? We'll be keeping our ear to the ground - even if it does mean more soft rock....
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