Bath FM and Brunel FM (Swindon) have had their yellow card warnings reprieved. Both had fallen foul of Ofcom for failing to meet their localness obligations at the end of last year.
In November 2008 the media regulator found that the two stations – both owned by South West Radio Ltd – were, at times, offering no local news, no local information and on one occasion, no presenter.
Ofcom were particularly concerned about licence breaches particularly in regard to local news and local material, or a lack thereof. Yellow cards duly awarded, the media regulator made both stations aware that they’d be monitored again in the first three months of this year.
Three days monitoring were enough to satisfy what the media regulator refers to as ‘a relatively generous amount of local material’. Prompting Ofcom to conclude – with some reservations – that both ‘Bath FM and Brunel FM are now operating within their respective Formats and the previously-issued ‘yellow cards’ have been removed’.
