The latest co-location request to Ofcom has come from kmfm Canterbury, which has been granted permission to move studios and presenters to a new complex 15 miles away in Ashford. However, the sales and news team will continue to be based in Canterbury.
In submitting the application, group programme controller Steve Fountain said: "Co-location will allow us to share the superior facilities available at Ashford and reduce our Canterbury overheads and avoid the cost of replacing the ageing studios at Canterbury. While the base of our programming operation would change it would not have any effect on our kmfm Canterbury output, we would continue to have strong locally relevant content on the air."
Output will remain local, and with a coverage area of just 66,000, the co-location request is within Ofcom's published thinking with regard to aiding smaller stations concentrating on output rather than input.
In allowing the request, Ofcom said: "The listener should not be disenfranchised and character of service will not be affected."
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