Ofcom declines Radio Ceredigion change

Town and Country Broadcasting’s request to alter the format of Radio Ceredigion has been turned down by Ofcom.

The group has also acquired the remaining 20% of the station it didn’t own from Tindle Newspapers after initially purchasing 80% of the business in April 2010.

The station wanted to remove the current requirement that the station’s bilingual output should equate to roughly half and half English and Welsh. Station bosses also wanted to reduce the requirement for Welsh-language music tracks (during daytime hours) from 20 per cent to 10 per cent of music output, giving greater flexibility on the way it broadcasts interviews and features.

Martin Mumford Group Managing Director told RadioToday.co.uk: “We made this request so we could spend less time on regulation and more time making compelling local radio. We’re now drawing a line under these distracting regulatory issues to focus on confirming Radio Ceredigion as the County’s number one local radio station.”

In buying the rest of the station, Martin added: “This is a real vote of confidence in the sustainability of the business. The Radio Ceredigion team has made enormous progress in the past 12 months, taking the station from substantial losses into sustained profitability for the first time in its history. It is a tremendous achievement. We have now acquired the remaining equity in the station so that it is a fully-owned subsidiary of Town and Country Broadcasting’s portfolio of market-leading stations across Wales. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our listeners and advertisers for their continued support of Radio Ceredigion and to our staff who have made it possible”.

Tommo, Radio Ceredigion’s breakfast presenter, twice nominated as UK Commercial Radio presenter of the year said; ”I’m loving every minute of broadcasting on Radio Ceredigion with a show packed with community features, competitions and local information. I’m getting more and more positive feedback about the show every day.”