Five new stations for Midlands

Ofcom has awarded five new community radio licences for Staffordshire and the Midlands.
The regulators also considered three further applications from across Staffordshire and Walsall, but decided not to award licences.

The five stations to receive licences are:
[b]TCR FM (Tamworth, Staffordshire)[/b]
[i]Primarily aimed at younger people in the Tamworth area (those under the age of 30), TCR FM will be a voluntary service providing education and training alongside locally focused music and speech-based programming.[/i]
[b]Switch Radio (Birmingham and Solihull)[/b]
[i]Broadcasting to some of the most deprived locations within north-east Birmingham and northern parts of the Borough of Solihull, Switch Radio will focus on common themes which bind these local communities together.[/i]
[b]Ambur Radio (Walsall)[/b]
[i]Ambur Radio will be focused on the Asian communities but it will also provide some programming for the whole community, including other minority ethnic groups.[/i]
[b]SACDA Radio (Sandwell)[/b]
[i]SACDA Radio will operate a community radio service that produces and delivers programmes for African Caribbeans and other residents of the culturally diverse area of Sandwell.[/i]
[b]Raaj FM (Sandwell)[/b]
[i]Raaj FM will serve the Sandwell Panjabi community, with information and programmes for the varied social, cultural, educational, youth, religious, music, sports, disabled and minority activities and interests of this community.[/i]
Ofcom considered three further applications, from Okay FM in Rugeley along with Walsall's Saddlers FM and WCB FM but decided not to award licences.