Fire Radio able to reduce specialist shows

Bournemouth station Fire Radio has been granted permission by Ofcom to reduce specialist programmes from 44 hours per week to 12.

The station made a case for changes to its Format saying the original wording is now over 12 years old and no longer relevant.

The station points out that it currently has the highest requirement for specialist music content for any
local/regional/national licence targeting a young audience.

“The original target audience is now in its mid 30’s & 40’s and by nature a 15-34 year old audience is at the cutting edge of music trend. It is appropriate to revisit wording to ensure the demographic is being served by the station,” the station said in its change of Format application.

“Fire should be today’s radio station – not a station about yesterday’s trends.”

It makes comparisons to other stations with specialist music requirements and says digital station such as Kiss and BBC 1Xtra are making inroads into the market.

Fire will continue to offer a rhythmic based contemporary station and substantially feature Dance and Soul music within its daytime output.

Ofcom approved the request saying there would be no change to the station’s core music proposition.

Existing Character of Service:

A MUSIC LED SERVICE PRIMARILY FOR LOCAL LISTENERS AGED 15-34. THE MUSIC WILL BE ‘RHYTHMIC CONTEMPORARY’ FEATURING DANCE, SOUL AND RELATED GENRES WITH APPROPRIATE SPEECH CONTENT TO APPEAL TO YOUNG LISTENERS, AND IDENTIFIABLE SPECIALIST DANCE/SOUL PROGRAMMES WILL AIR FOR AT LEAST 44 HOURS A WEEK

Proposed new Character of Service:

A MUSIC LED SERVICE PRIMARILY TARGETTING 15-34 YEAR-OLDS; WITH APPROPRIATE SPEECH CONTENT TO APPEAL TO YOUNG LOCAL LISTENERS. THE MUSIC WILL BE ‘RHYTHMIC CONTEMPORARY’ FEATURING DANCE, SOUL AND RELATED CONTEMPORARY GENRES. IDENTIFIABLE SPECIALIST PROGRAMMES FEATURING MAJOR CLUBLAND GENRES WILL AIR FOR AT LEAST 12 HOURS PER WEEK.