Industry regulator, Ofcom has agreed that City Talk 105.9 in Liverpool is allowed to play music.
City Talk put in a request, after a relaxation of the rules in February, which until then had prevented stations from fundamentally changing their licence.
"allowing ‘soft-pop’ on the new Format would let Bauer ring-fence Formats in Liverpool by ‘owning’ pop, chart and speech;
"by applying for a speech Format originally, Bauer was simply trying to protect its heritage station (Radio City) from challenge;
"the original Bauer research is still valid, so it should stick with speech or hand the licence back.
"the current City Talk Format has not been seen to fail;
"Bauer may have applied for all-speech to gain the widest opportunities for advertising when sold with Radio City."
Station director, Richard Maddock said that the news was a relief:
“Ofcom’s decision is welcome news as it provides clarity. The team will now look at the business plan, review our current market situation and consider the implications of the Ofcom decision."
Less talk
“On behalf of everyone at all the City stations, I’d like to thank Ofcom for their decision and also thank everyone that has supported our format change request through the 30 day public consultation period. Our commitment to quality, well-produced speech broadcasting at key parts of the day continues as before and we will continue to work hard to deliver the best talk-focused station.”
Some provisos have been added by Ofcom. The Liverpool station will have to provide 100% speech at peak times (breakfast and afternoon drive), focusing on news, information, features and discussion.
However, for the rest of the time it can provide a “mix of speech and soft pop-led music.” The speech must not “generally fall below 50%.”
It will also be required to provide a Saturday afternoon sports show and late-night phone-in 5 days a week. The Radio Licensing Committee said that these could be shared with Radio City.
A further condition is that City Talk does not simulcast any programme with sister station Magic 1548.
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