Ceredigion licence to be re-advertised

The local commercial radio licence for Ceredigion in Wales is to be re-advertised next month after current owners Town and Country Broadcasting said they didn’t want to apply under the ‘fast-track’ relicensing process.

Town and Country tell us they intend to reapply but couldn’t commit to keeping the existing station format which Ofcom would need them to for a licence renewal to go ahead.

In July, Ofcom turned down a format change request from Radio Ceredigion to remove the requirement to broadcast half the output in Welsh and half in English and also to cut the proportion of Welsh-language music tracks in daytime hours from 20% to 10%.

The station was jointly owned by Tindle and Town and Country until earlier this year, when T&C bought the remaining 20% of shares that it didn’t already control.

Ofcom will fully readvertise the licence on 4 October.

Town and Country Broadcasting Managing Director Martin Mumford told Radio Today that the group would be reapplying. “We have invested a considerable amount of time and money to bring the station from the brink of closure last year to a more stable financial footing,” he said. “However, we felt that we could not make the required commitment to Ofcom to reapply under the fast track procedure with the station’s current format.”

Other licence renewals

Ofcom also revealed today that the licences for two other local radio stations are to be progressed through the ‘fast track’ procedure after the current licensees of both said they wanted to reapply. One is the Alton & Haslemere licence currently held by Delta Radio Ltd and broadcasting as Kestrel FM, while the other is the Londonderry licence in Northern Ireland held by Northern Media Group Ltd and broadcasting ast Q102.9.

Meanwhile Channel 103 in Jersey, owned by Tindle Radio has completed the ‘fast track’ procedure and had its licence renewed by a further 7 years.