Swansea Bay Radio Ltd, currently broadcasting as Nation 80s, has asked Ofcom to limit the requirement to deliver certain speech obligations.
It comes just months after the station was found in breach of its licence for not providing enough speech content.
Owners Town and Country Broadcasting are wanting to remove the need for local speech along with 24 hours news and information.
The regulator has said the request would substantially alter the character of service so has taken it to consultation.
In asking for the change, the station says other local stations such as Swansea Sound, The Wave and Real Radio all provide local content, and therefore concludes that the request would not in any way narrow the range of locally available programmes.
The station launched in November 2006 as Swansea Bay Radio, and has a Measured Coverage Area of 314,466 adults (aged 15+). In June 2012 the licensee changed the name of the radio station to Nation 80s, being the first FM station in the UK to flip to the format.
Existing Character of Service (as set out in Nation 80s published Format):
A LOCAL SPEECH AND MUSIC STATION FOR THE SWANSEA AREA, WITH 24-HOUR NEWS, INFORMATION AND COMMENT AIMED PRIMARILY AT THE 35+ AGE GROUP, WITH A PREDOMINATELY GOLD AND EASY LISTENING MIX OF MUSIC, REGULARLY REFLECTING WELSH CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
The new Character of Service proposed by Atlantic is as follows:
A STATION FOR THE SWANSEA AREA, AIMED PRIMARILY AT THE 35+ AGE GROUP WITH A PREDOMINATELY GOLD AND EASY LISTENING MIX OF MUSIC, REGULARLY REFLECTING WELSH CULTURE AND LANGUAGE
Click here for more details on the Ofcom website.
Posted on Thursday, November 15th, 2012 at 11:38 am by RadioToday UK